Thursday saw a modest rise in the S&P 500 and stock futures, following a U.S. inflation report that signaled the Federal Reserve might not hike interest rates in its forthcoming meeting. Investors are also looking forward to another inflation measure, specifically the producer price index that evaluates inflation at the wholesale level.
In the automotive sector, shares of Ford (NYSE:NYSE:F) and General Motors (NYSE:NYSE:GM) saw minor increases of 0.1% and 0.2% respectively as the deadline for a potential United Auto Workers union strike drew near on Thursday. The union's leader, Shawn Fain, indicated significant divergence between the union and the Big Three automakers, which include Stellantis (NYSE:NYSE:STLA), particularly concerning wage increase priorities. Following 11:59 PM on Thursday, the union was prepared to strike all three companies using new strategies.
Arm Holdings' initial public offering was priced at $51 per share on Thursday, reaching the top of its projected range and valuing the chip design company at $54.5 billion on a fully diluted basis. Arm's shares are slated to begin trading on Nasdaq under the stock symbol "ARM." Prior to this debut, shares of other chip manufacturers such as Nvidia (NASDAQ:NASDAQ:NVDA), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM), Intel (NASDAQ:NASDAQ:INTC), and Qualcomm (NASDAQ:NASDAQ:QCOM) all experienced increases ranging from 0.2% to 0.9%.
On the other hand, HP Inc.'s (NYSE:NYSE:HPQ) stock declined by 1.2% after Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa) (NYSE:BRK.B), led by Warren Buffett, disclosed it had sold 5.5 million shares of the personal computers and printers manufacturer. This transaction marked the first sale of HP Inc.'s stock since Berkshire Hathaway acquired a 12% stake in early 2022.
Semtech (NASDAQ:NASDAQ:SMTC (NASDAQ:SMTX)), a supplier of semiconductors, reported a decrease of 3.9% due to its projection of a fiscal third-quarter loss of 9 cents to 22 cents per share on revenues ranging from $190 million to $210 million. This forecast fell below analysts' expectations, who had anticipated adjusted earnings of 12 cents a share on revenue of $247.7 million.
Lastly, earnings reports are expected post-market close on Thursday from software company Adobe (NASDAQ:NASDAQ:ADBE), home builder Lennar (NYSE:NYSE:LEN), and online auto auction firm Copart (NASDAQ:NASDAQ:CPRT).
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