Stock futures were mostly higher Thursday following a volatile session Wednesday in which President Donald Trump denied he was preparing to fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. The Nasdaq Composite closed at a record high.
These stocks were poised to make moves Thursday:
U.S.-listed shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing rose 4% as the world's largest contract chip maker reported a record profit in the second quarter as robust chip demand for artificial-intelligence applications held up despite currency headwinds and uncertainty about U.S. tariff policy. Second-quarter net profit jumped 61% as quarterly revenue grew 39% to NT$933.8 billion. In U.S. dollar terms, revenue climbed 44% to $30.07 billion. The company said it expects third-quarter revenue of between $31.8 billion and $33 billion.
United Airlines reported second-quarter adjusted earnings of $3.87 a share that beat analysts' expectations of $3.81, but the carrier revised its full-year guidance. United said that while it has seen an acceleration in demand and double-digit acceleration in business demand starting in early July, which it attributed to "less geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty," it was updating its per-share profit guidance for 2025 to between $9 and $11. In April, United said it expected earnings of $11.50 to $13.50 a share in a stable environment and $7 to $9 a share in a recessionary environment. The stock fell 2.5%.
Second-quarter adjusted earnings at Alcoa of 39 cents a share topped analysts' expectations of 32 cents. The aluminum producer said it incurred roughly $115 million of tariff costs on imports of aluminum to the U.S. from Canada in the period but to mitigate costs it redirected aluminum produced by the company's Canadian smelters to customers outside the U.S. Shares were up 0.7%.
Sarepta Therapeutics will undergo a restructuring that will cut 36% of its workforce, or 500 employees, and save the gene-therapy company about $120 million in 2026. Sarepta also said it named Ryan Wong as chief financial officer, succeeding Ian Estepan, who will become chief operating officer. The stock soared 33%.
MP Materials Corp. was falling 8% after the rare-earths miner said it would be selling $500 million of common stock in a public offering. MP said it "currently intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to fund the acceleration and expansion of our operations, including the 10X Facility, for strategic growth opportunities and for general corporate purposes." MP Materials closed Wednesday up 0.6% at a record high of $58.55.
Archer-Daniels Midland fell 6% after President Trump said Coca-Cola agreed to use real cane sugar in the U.S. ADM is a maker of high fructose corn syrup that is used in certain Coke products. Ingredion, which also is a supplier of high-fructose corn syrup, fell 5.2%.
Earnings reports are expected Thursday from Netflix, GE Aerospace, Abbott Laboratories, Pepsi, Interactive Brokers, Elevance Health, Travelers, and U.S. Bancorp.
Netflix was up 0.5% in premarket trading ahead of second-quarter earnings from the streaming giant. Wall Street expects Netflix to post earnings of $7.08 a share on sales of $11.06 billion, up nearly 16% from a year earlier.
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