Pre-Bell｜U.S. Futures Mixed; Microsoft Rises 1%; Micron and Adobe Gain 3%; Super Micro and Warner Bros. Jump 6%

Wall Street futures were mixed on Friday after the three main U.S. indexes hit record highs in the previous session, packing up a week of economic data that did not temper expectations of interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.

Market Snapshot

At 7:50 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 89 points, or 0.19%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 4.5 points, or 0.07%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 14.75 points, or 0.06%.

Pre-Market Movers

Microsoft - Microsoft rose 1.2% after reaching a deal to extend its partnership with OpenAI. The current AI investment boom began with ChatGPT’s debut in late 2022, and it wouldn’t have been possible without funding fromMicrosoftand access to its Azure cloud. But the relationship has frayed, as both companies’ AI ambitions outgrew their partnership.

Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount Skydance - Warner Bros. Discovery rose 5.8% following the stock’s surge Thursday of 29%—its largest daily percentage increase on record—after The Wall Street Journal reported Paramount Skydance was preparing atakeover bidthat would be backed by the Ellison family. Paramount’s majority cash bid would be for the entire company including its cable networks and movie studio, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Paramount Skydance, meanwhile, was up 0.4% in premarket trading. It closed up 16% on Thursday to $17.46, a 52-week closing high, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

Super Micro Computer - Super Micro Computer rose 5.9% after beginning shipments of its artificial-intelligence Blackwell Ultra solutions powered by Nvidia chips to customers worldwide. The systems includes Nvidia’s plug-and-play HGX B300 system and GB300 NVL72, which are used for training AI models.

Micron - Japan will subsidise up to 536 billion yen for Micron’s Hiroshima plant, Industry Ministry said. Micron shares gained another 3.4% in premarket trading after jumping 7.6% on Thursday.

Adobe - Adobe was rising 3.2% after posting fiscal third-quarter earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street estimates and issuing forecasts for the fourth quarter and fiscal year that also topped expectations. The creative-software company said 99% of Fortune 100 companies have used artificial intelligence in an Adobe app, and more than 40% of its top 50 enterprise accounts doubled their annualized recurring revenue spending since the start of fiscal 2023. Coming into Friday, Adobe has declined 21% this year.

Figma - Figma, an Adobe rival, was up 1.3% following a 9.6% jump Thursday. A deal for Adobe to acquire Figma for $20 billion in 2022 fell through on regulatory concerns, particularly from he European Commission and the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority.

Baidu - Baidu shares jumped 4.9% in premarket trading. China's Alibaba and Baidu have started using internally designed chips to train their AI models, partly replacing those made by Nvidia, The Information reported on Thursday, citing four people with direct knowledge of the matter.

RH - RH was down 7.7% after the home furnishings retailer’s second-quarter earnings widely missed consensus estimates and revenue came up short of Wall Street targets. The company also reduced its current fiscal-year revenue outlook, saying it expects revenue growth of 9% to 11%, down from its prior guidance of 10% to 13%. RH said its updated outlook “reflects a $30 million cost of incremental tariffs, net of mitigation, in the second half.”

Figure Technology Solutions - Figure Technology Solutions was down 1% in premarket trading at $30.80. Shares of the company, which uses blockchain technology to help generate home equity lines of credit, opened Thursday at $36 and ended the session at $31.11, a gain of 24% over its initial public offering price of $25.

Opendoor Technologies - Shares of Opendoor Technologies fell 3.5% after the real estate tech platform closed Thursday at $10.48, up 79% during the session, marking the stock’s largest daily percentage increase on record. Driving the stock higher was the naming of Shopify Chief Operating Officer Kaz Nejatian as its new chief executive and reappointing co-founders Keith Rabois and Eric Wu to the board. Coming into Friday trading, Opendoor shares are up nearly 560% so far this year.

Molson Coors - Molson Coors Beverage was down 1.8% at $48.27 after being downgraded by Barclays to Underweight from Equal Weight. The price target on shares of the brewer was raised to $50 from $49.

Ibex Limited - Ibex shares surged 27.1% after the business process outsourcing provider reported fourth quarter earnings and revenue that significantly exceeded analyst expectations, driven by strong performance across its top verticals.

Crypto Stocks - Some crypto stocks jumped in premarket trading. Upexi rose 10%; Bitfarms rose 7%; DeFi Dev rose 5%; BitMine rose 4%; SharpLink Gaming rose 3%; Bullish, Circle, and Coinbase rose 1%.

Market News

Microsoft, OpenAI Reach Non-Binding Deal to Allow OpenAI to Restructure

Microsoft and OpenAI said on Thursday they have signed a non-binding deal for new relationship terms that would allow OpenAI to proceed to restructure itself into a for-profit company, marking a new phase of the most high-profile partnerships to fund the ChatGPT frenzy.

Details on the new commercial arrangements were not disclosed, but the companies said they were working to finalize terms of a definitive agreement. This marks a step forward in OpenAI's prolonged talks with Microsoft as the former seeks to raise capital under a more common governance structure and eventually go public to fund artificial intelligence development.

Microsoft invested $1 billion in OpenAI in 2019 and another $10 billion at the beginning of 2023. Under their previous agreement, Microsoft had exclusive rights to sell OpenAI's software tools through its Azure cloud computing platform and had preferred access to the startup's technology.

Paramount Skydance Preparing Bid for Warner Bros Discovery, Source Says

Paramount Skydance is preparing a bid to buy Warner Bros Discovery, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday, potentially bringing together two storied Hollywood studios and reshaping the entertainment industry.

A bid for Warner Bros Discovery would be backed by the Ellison family, which includes Skydance head David Ellison and his father, billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news, citing unnamed sources.

The audacious bid, coming just weeks after Skydance bought Paramount Global for $8.4 billion, would unite some of the best-known entertainment brands under a single corporate shingle, bringing together DC Comics superheroes like Superman and Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants, science-fiction franchises like "The Matrix" and "Star Trek" and two major news networks, CBS News and CNN.