Stock Futures Point Higher

Stock futures are indicating a slightly higher opening on Thursday following a positive performance by the S&P 500. The Federal Reserve's plan to increase interest rates during its upcoming meeting is now uncertain due to a recent U.S. inflation report. Investors will receive another inflation update with the release of the producer price index, which measures wholesale-level inflation.

Companies to Watch

• Ford (F) saw a modest increase of 0.1%, while General Motors (GM) rose by 0.2% ahead of a deadline set by the United Auto Workers union. The head of the UAW, Shawn Fain, mentioned that negotiations between the union and automakers, including Stellantis (STLA), have not progressed significantly regarding wage increases. The possibility of a strike looms if an agreement is not reached.
• Arm Holdings, a chip design company, successfully priced its initial public offering at $51 per share. This places the company's valuation at $54.5 billion on a fully diluted basis. Arm shares will begin trading on the Nasdaq under the symbol "ARM" today. Other chip makers, including Nvidia (NVDA), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM), Intel (INTC), and Qualcomm (QCOM), experienced positive momentum in anticipation of Arm's debut.
• Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) revealed that it sold 5.5 million shares of HP Inc. (HPQ). This is the first stock sale by Berkshire Hathaway since acquiring a 12% stake in HP Inc. earlier this year.
• Semiconductor supplier Semtech (SMTC) suffered a decline of 3.9% after issuing a forecast for a third-quarter loss between 9-22 cents per share. Analysts had estimated adjusted earnings of 12 cents per share on revenue of $247.7 million.
• After the market closes today, earnings reports are expected from Adobe (ADBE), Lennar (LEN), and Copart (CPRT).

It will be interesting to observe how these developments influence the stock market throughout the day.