Stock futures rise Wednesday to start a new month of trading: Live updates

Stocks making the biggest moves premarket

Here are the companies making headlines before the bell on Wednesday:

Click here to read more companies making moves before the open.

— Pia Singh

Kohl’s sinks after reporting fourth-quarter lossStock Chart IconStock chart icon

Kohl’s fell after reporting fourth-quarter results

Kohl’s reported a loss of $2.49 per share on $5.78 billion of revenue. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv had expected positive earnings of 98 cents per share on $5.99 billion of revenue. CEO Tom Kingsbury said in a press release that sales were pressured by the “ongoing inflationary environment.”

The company also said it expected sales to decline between 2% and 4% in 2023.

— Jesse Pound

Mortgage demand from homebuyers drops to a 28-year low

Mortgage rates moved higher again last week, pushing buyers back to the sidelines just as the spring housing market is supposed to be heating up.

Mortgage applications to purchase a home dropped 6% last week compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index. Volume was 44% lower than the same week one year ago, and is now sitting at a 28-year low.

Mortgage rates have moved 50 basis points higher in just the past month. Last February, rates were in the 4% range.

For more, read the full story here.

— Diana Olick, Tanaya Macheel

Morgan Stanley upgrades Sarepta

Morgan Stanley said Sarepta Therapeutics could rally more than 50% on the approval of a key drug.

“On SRPT’s 4Q earnings call, [management] highlighted recent commentary following the mid-cycle review of SRP-9001 suggesting that the FDA is comfortable with the surrogate endpoint and acknowledged no safety-related issues … The risk/benefit skews positive given the manageable safety profile,” Morgan Stanley said.

— Hakyung Kim

March market history

March is typically a strong month for the market, according to The Stock Trader’s Almanac. The Dow Jones Industrial average and S&P 500 gained, on average, 0.9% and 1.1% respectively for the month, making it the fifth-best month for the U.S. stock market.

It’s been quite a volatile month in recent years with the Dow dropping 13.7% in 2020 as Covid emerged and gaining 6.6% in 2021. Last year, the Dow gained 2.3% on the month.

There tends to be late-month weakness that eats away at some of the month’s early gains, according to The Stock Trader’s Almanac, as investors take profits into the end of the first quarter.

— John Melloy

UBS upgrades Procter & Gamble

Procter & Gamble could see big gains ahead, according to UBS.

“P&G has been the worst performing stock across our [home and personal care] coverage universe YTD, which is partially due to the unwind in the group but also concerns around the ability for P&G to deliver outsized EPS  growth/positive  revisions  looking ahead,” UBS said in a note. “We view  concerns  on  the  latter  as misplaced and believe an earnings inflection is on the horizon looking out to FY24.”

— Hakyung Kim

China economic data helping to boost markets

Strong data out of China boosted hopes the country’s economy was returning to growth after loosening up Covid lockdown rules. China’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose to 52.6 in February, a second-straight month of expansion and the fastest pace since April 2012.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index soared more than 4% in response to the data and U.S. futures were boosted overnight.

Stock Chart IconStock chart icon

Dow Jones futures – 1-day

Rebecca Patterson is looking to defensives, T-bills for near-term market insurance

Rebecca Patterson, known for her earlier leadership at Bridgewater, is preparing for a near-term market downturn.

In order for the Federal Reserve to ease its interest rate-hiking campaign, Patterson said there needs to be a lot more economic weakness and inflation will likely need to be brought down to the Fed’s target level or below—both of those scenarios having “low probabilities.” 

“I do think we’re looking at equity market downside later this year and I would be watching that interplay between the consumer, companies and the labor market, and, of course, the Fed and those borrowing costs,” Patterson, the former Chief Investment Strategist at Bridgewater Associates, said Tuesday on CNBC’s “Fast Money.”

The strategist added that the consumer is growing cautious, which she said could bode poorly for companies–increasing the risk of layoffs and hit on earnings–if they start spending less. 

For near-term insurance, Patterson said she is investing in the six-month U.S. Treasury bill and is starting to invest modestly in defensive stocks. She noted that six-month Treasury yields rose to 5.14% on Tuesday, reaching its highest return rate since 2007.

Patterson published an op-ed on CNBC.com Tuesday about the three drivers she sees as potentially shaping the future of the U.S. economy.

— Pia Singh

How the major indexes performed in February

Tuesday’s closed marked the end of February’s trading month. Here’s how the three major indexes performed in the month:

That marks a turn from January’s rally as investors tried to shake off 2022’s downturn. February’s slide pushed the Dow below where it started the year, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite are still holding on to some of what each gained in January.

— Alex Harring

Stocks making the biggest moves after hours

These are the stocks making the biggest moves after the bell:

See the full list here.

— Alex Harring

Stock futures open down

The three major futures indexes opened in the red.

Nasdaq 100 futures led the way down, dropping 0.3%. Futures tied to the S&P 500 and Dow slid 0.2% and 0.1%, respectively.

— Alex Harring