Here’s what we’re watching ahead of Friday’s opening bell.
- U.S. stock futures wavered, suggesting that the S&P 500 will end the week near a record level following a rally powered by major technology stocks.
- Futures tied to the S&P 500 were nearly flat, while Dow futures added 0.2%. Nasdaq-100 futures dropped 0.3%, suggesting that large technology stocks may pause Friday.
What’s Coming Up
- U.S. wholesale inventories for February, due at 10 a.m., are expected to rise 0.5% from the prior month.
- The Baker Hughes rig count is out at 1 p.m.
Market Movers to Watch
— Okta shares added 2.7% premarket. The cloud-services company’s shares jumped more than 7% on Thursday after it announced its move into two multibillion-dollar markets, Identity Governance Administration and Privileged Access Management, that will increase its total addressable market to $80 billion from $55 billion by early 2022.
— Levi Strauss shares jumped 4.6% ahead of the bell. The apparel company’s profit and sales fell in the fiscal first quarter but were better than analysts expected.
— Provention Bio plummeted 35% in off-hours trading. The biopharmaceutical company said the FDA said it “identified deficiencies that preclude discussion of labeling and post-marketing requirements/commitments at this time” related to a diabetes-prevention drug. Several analysts downgraded their price targets for the stock.
—Shares of Gulf Resources , a chemical-products manufacturer with a market cap of $46.5 million, shot up 23% ahead of the bell after it delivered its latest earnings report.
