Markets set for a positive open
U.S. stock futures edged higher early Tuesday morning, as traders await July inflation report on Wednesday to help them make bets on the Federal Reserve’s next decision on interest rates.
At 5:20 a.m. ET, future contracts linked to the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average were indicating a 70 point opening bell gain, while those tied to the S&P 500 jumped 8 points, or 0.19% to 4,149.
Nasdaq Composite futures advanced 13.25 points, or 0.1% to 13,196.
The Labor Department will release July CPI report on Wednesday. Expectations are for the report to show inflation peaked last month after hitting a 41-year high of 9.1% in June.
Bed Bath & Beyond up 8% premarket
Meanwhile, the so-called ‘meme’ stocks were on the rise, as well, with Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) extending yesterday’s 39.8% rally with a 8.68% pre-market gain to $12.4 a share.
Shares of movie theater AMC Entertainment (AMC) rose 2.46% to $24.55 apiece. Koss Corp. (KOSS) was marked 3.75% higher to $9.69 a share.
According to data compiled Ape Wisdom, a site that tracks ticker mentions on Reddit’s Wallstreetbets message board, BBBY was the most mentioned ticker in the last 24 hours.
Novavax plunges on cut to outlook
On the earnings front, Novavax (NVAX) shares were sharply lower in premarket hours Tuesday after the biotechnology company halved its revenue forecast for the full year. \
Novavax said late Monday it expects 2022 total revenue to be in the range of $2 billion to $2.3 billion, down from its previous guidance of $4 billion to $5 billion.
Chief Executive Officer Stanley Erck attributed the trimmed outlook to a collapse in demand from the U.S. market and from Covax, an international vaccine alliance.
For the second quarter, Novavax posted a loss of $6.53 a share, compared with a loss of $4.75 per share in the same period last year. Revenue came in at $185.9 million, down from $298 million in the prior-year quarter.
Analysts had expected the company to report earnings of $5.54 a share on revenue of $1.02 billion.
Novavax stock lost $17.90, or 31.27% to $39.35 a share in premarket hours.
