Early Look

Thursday, March 6, 2025

After what seemed to be the start of a stock market bounce back on Wednesday, US futures are down sharply overnight as S&P futures (Spuz) erase all of yesterday’s gains following a volatile day of trading, driven by President Donald Trump’s one-month pause on tariffs targeting automakers. Trump revealed a one-month delay on tariffs affecting cars entering the US from Canada and Mexico after speaking with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau which helped sentiment, but the market’s relief from trade policy may be short-lived as more uncertainty lies ahead. The broad 25% duties imposed on Canada and Mexico on Tuesday remain in effect with no resolution in sight and more reciprocal levies are set to begin in April. Tech uncertainty is also weighing markets, as shares of MRVL and MDB tumble after results and guidance last night in semis and software. More tariff concern impact as Walmart (WMT) has asked some Chinese suppliers for major price cuts, with the U.S. retail giant’s efforts to shift the burden of President Donald Trump’s tariffs facing strong push back from firms in the Asian nation, Bloomberg News reported. Small Cap Stocks (IWM) are in a technical correction and closing in on bear market territory after plunging 15% from their November high while the Nasdaq fell as much as 10% from its December highs. On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rebounded by 529 points, or 1.2%, regaining ground after plunging more than 1,300 points over the last two sessions. The S&P 500

 and Nasdaq Composite added 1.3% and 1.6%, respectively, btu are all down big overnight. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index rose 286 points to 37,704, the Shanghai Index gained 39 points to 3,381, and the Hang Seng Index surged 775 points to 24,369. In Europe, the German DAX is up 100 points to 23,181, but the FTSE 100 declines -81 points to 8,674. Oil prices fell for a fourth straight day on Wednesday as trade wars threatened global demand, and the OPEC+ output increase reverberated but are edging higher this morning.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 485.60 points, or 1.14%, to 43,006.59.
• The Nasdaq Composite gained 267.57 points, or 1.46%, to 18,552.73.
• The Russell 2000 Index advanced 21.22 points, or 1.02% to 2,100.75.

• 8:30 AM ET                  Continuing Claims…est. 1.88M (prior 1.862M)
• 8:30 AM ET                  International Trade Balance for January…est. (-$127.4B), vs. prior (-$98.4B)
• 8:30 AM ET                  Nonfarm Productivity for Q4…est. +1.2%
• 8:30 AM ET                  Unit Labor Costs for Q4…est. +3.0%
• 10:00 AM ET                Wholesale Inventory M/M for January…est. +0.7%
• 10:30 AM ET                Weekly EIA Natural Gas Inventory Data
• 7:00 PM ET                   Fed’s Bostic Speaks on Economy

• Earnings After the Close: AKA AOUT APEI ARCT AUR AVGO BBAI CLAR COO COOK COST CTSO DCTH DOMO ERO FDUS GAP GEVO GHLD HCP HDSN HPE IOT LOCO MLNK MNMD NDLS SERV WLDN YPF

• Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and telecom Conference, 3/3-3/6, in San Francisco, CA
• China Import, Export, Trade Balance data for February

• Reuters reported that Mexican state oil company Pemex is in talks with buyers in Asia and Europe after U.S. President Trump imposed a 25% tariff on Mexican crude, while Canadian crude received a lower 10% levy.
• The White House said in a statement that Trump is expected to host and deliver remarks at the “crypto summit” before prominent CEOs, founders, and investors from the industry on Friday

• Victoria Secret (VSCO) Q4 adj EPS $2.60, vs. est. $2.30; Q4 revs $2.11B vs. est. $2.08B; Q4 comparable sales up 5%; guides Q1 adj operating income $10M-$30M vs. est. $46.9M and FY adjusted operating income to be $300M-$350M; sees Q1 sales $1.3B-$1.33B vs. est. $1.4B and FY revs $6.2B-$6.3B vs. est. $6.21B.

• Methode Electronics (MEI) Q3 adj EPS ($0.21) vs est. ($0.12), adj EBITDA $11.4Mm vs est. $20.07Mm on revs $239.9Mm vs est. $265.52Mm; guides Q4 sales $240-255Mm vs est. $293.52Mm and pre-tax income ($1)Mm to $3Mm vs est. $9.287Mm.

• Core Scientific (CORZ) earned 215 bitcoins in February from its owned fleet of miners. As of month end, the Company operated approximately 159,000 owned bitcoin miners, representing approximately 96% of the bitcoin miners operating in its data centers and a total energized hash rate of 18.4 EH/s.
• Franklin Resources, Inc. (BEN) preliminary month-end assets under management (AUM) of $1.58 trillion at February 28, 2025, compared to $1.58 trillion at January 31, 2025.
• Lending Tree (TREE) Q4 adj EPS $1.16 above consensus loss (-$0.05); Q4 revs $261.5M vs. est. $238.12M; Q4 Insurance business revenue $171.7M, growth of 188% y/y; sees Q1 revenue $241M-$248M vs. est. $247.74M; sees Q1 variable marketing margin $75M-$79M, adjusted EBITDA $25M-$27M.

• Cross Country Healthcare (CCRN) Q4 adj EPS $0.04 vs. est. $0.12; Q4 revs $309.94M vs. est. $306.17M; Q4 adj Ebitda $9.27M vs. est. $12M; Q4 gross margin 20%.
• Veeva Systems (VEEV) Q4 adj EPS $1.74 vs est. $1.58, adj op Inc $307.7Mm vs est. $275.1Mm on revs $720.886Mm vs est. $699.1Mm; guides Q1 revs $726-729Mm, vs est. $730.35Mm and adj EPS $1.74-1.75 vs est. $1.63; sees FY revs $3.04-3.055B vs est. $3.055B and adj EPS approx $7.32 vs est. $6.91.
• Zymeworks (ZYME) Q4 EPS ($0.31) vs est. ($0.10) o revs $31Mm vs est. $45.2Mm.

• Marvell Technologies (MRVL) shares fall; Q4 adj EPS $0.60 vs. est. $0.59; Q4 revs $1.817B vs. est. $1.8B, driven by strong growth in our data center end market, where revenue increased 78% y/y; sees Q1 adj EPS $0.61 plus/minus 5c vs. est. $0.60 and revs $1.875B, plus/minus 5% vs. est. $1.87B.
• Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA) shares rose overnight after unveiling its latest open-sourced AI model. The platform marked a big leap over the previous version, using just a fraction of the data DeepSeek’s R1 employs.
• Rigetti Computing (RGTI) Q4 EPS ($0.68) vs est. ($0.08), op Inc ($18.5)Mm vs est. ($16)Mm on revs $2.3Mm vs est. $2.5Mm.
• Yext Inc. (YEXT) Q4 adj EPS $0.13 vs est. $0.13 on revs $113.1Mm vs est. $112.8Mm; guides FY adj EBITDA $100-103Mm vs est. $102.89Mm.
• Zscaler (ZS) Q2 EPS $0.78 vs. est. $0.69; Q2 revs $647.9M vs. est. $635.35M; noted growing adoption of Zero Trust and AI is driving strong demand for platforms, resulting in yet another strong quarter that exceeded our guidance on both top and bottom line; sees Q3 EPS $0.75-$0.76 vs. est. $0.74 and revs $665M-$667M vs. est. $667.25M; raises FY EPS to $3.04-$3.09 from $2.94-$2.99 and billings $3.15B-$3.17B from $3.12B-$3.15B.
• Genesys, a private equity-backed customer service software company, delayed what would have been one of the largest initial public offerings of the year, citing a sliding stock market, people familiar with the matter said. The company’s advisers told people in recent days that it would push back the IPO by at least a few months, rather than try to go public in April or May as it had planned – The Information reported