Pre-Bell｜U.S. Futures Edge Higher; FedEx Rallies 3%; NIO Gains 2%; Apple Rises 1%; Micron Falls 2%; Bullish Drops 3%

U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Friday, pausing after the main indexes rallied to record highs in the previous session, while parcel delivery firm FedEx rose after a quarterly results beat.

Market Snapshot

At 7:50 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis rose 6 points, or 0.01%, S&P 500 E-minis rose 4.75 points, or 0.07%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 25 points, or 0.1%.

Pre-Market Movers

Tesla - Electric-vehicle maker Tesla was rising 0.5%. The stock ended Thursday’s session down 2.1%, putting an end to a winning streak of seven trading days. Coming into Friday, Tesla shares have gained nearly 25% this month, or 5.3% this week,boosted bya report the company settled a California lawsuit over its driver-assistance technology, CEO Elon Musk buying shares for the first time since 2020, and an interest-rate cut from the Federal Reserve. Tesla also received an upgrade to Outperform from Neutral from analysts at Baird.

Apple - JPMorgan has raised its price target on Apple to $280.00 from $255.00 while maintaining an Overweight rating, citing favorable early demand for the iPhone 17 series. Apple shares gained 1.2% in premarket trading.

Intel - Intel was falling 0.3% in premarket trading after rising 23% on Thursday to $30.57, a 52-week high, followingNvidia’s purchase of $5 billionin the chip maker’s stock. Intel’s gain Thursday was its largest percentage increase since Oct. 29, 1987, when it rose more than 26%, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

Nvidia - Nvidia declined 0.4%. It closed up 3.5% on Thursday at $176.24 and snapped a three-session losing streak. Shares of the leading maker of artificial-intelligence chipshave risen 31% this year.

AMD - AMD’s biggest rival in graphics processing units is teaming up with its biggest rival in central processing units. The shares fell 1% in premarket trading on Friday, after droppng 0.8% on Thursday.

Micron Technology - Micron Technology was down 2.1% ahead of the start of trading on Wall Street after the memory chip maker rose 5.6% on Thursday and set a record high of $168.89. Micron extended its winning streak to 12 consecutive sessions, its longest streak on record, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Micron has gained 43% over the span.

FedEx, UPS - FedEx jumped 3% after the logistics giant reportedfiscal first-quarter adjusted earningsof $3.83 a share, topping analysts’ estimates of $3.62, while revenue of $22.2 billion also beat Wall Street forecasts. Domestic package volumes rose 5%, FedEx said, while domestic package revenue grew 8% from a year earlier. The company said it expects fiscal 2026 revenue growth of between 4% and 6% versus analysts’ estimates of 1%, and adjusted earnings of between $17.20 and $19 a share, compared with Wall Street projections of $18.36. Shares of rival United Parcel Service rose 1% in premarket trading.

Lennar - Home builder Lennar was down 2.7% in premarket trading after posting fiscal third-quarter earnings that missed analysts’ forecasts. Lennar earned $2.29 a share in the period, or $2 excluding mark-to-market gains on technology investments, on revenue of $8.8 billion. Analysts had expected earnings of $2.10 on revenue of just under $9 billion. Lennar’s gross margin, a closely watched metric at a time when home builders are cutting prices and offering buyer incentives to sell homes, was 17.5%, shy of consensus estimates that called for 17.8%.

Bullish - Bullish shares dropped 3.2% in premarket trading. The shares soared 21% on Thursday after the crypto exchange cleared a key hurdle necessary for its entrance into the US market.

Jefferies Financial - Jefferies Financial Group rose 0.9%. The Wall Street Journal reported that Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group’s commercial banking subsidiary, SMBC, agreed to increase its equity ownership in Jefferies to up to 20% in the open market, from about 15%.

Netskope - Netskope, the AI cybersecurity-software company, rose 6.5% in the premarket session to $23.12. The stock opened at $23 a share in its trading debut Thursday and closed at $22.49, up 18% from the initial public offering price of $19.

Chinese ADRs - Some Chinese ADRs gained in premarket trading on Friday. XPeng and NIO rose 2%; Alibaba rose 0.9%; JD.com rose 0.5%.

Market News

The Largest September "Triple Witching Day" in History, with over $5 Trillion in "Options Expiring"

This Friday will witness the largest September “triple witching day” in history, with over $5 trillion worth of U.S. stock options and futures contracts set to expire on the same day, injecting further uncertainty into market dynamics.

The 'triple witching day' occurs on the third Friday of each quarter, when stock index futures, stock index options, and individual stock options contracts in the U.S. market all expire simultaneously.

According to John Marshall, an options expert at Goldman Sachs, options with a notional value of over $5.3 trillion are expected to expire this Friday, including $3 trillion in S&P 500 index options and $935 billion in individual stock options.

Trump Sets the Stage for His Highly Anticipated Friday Call with Xi Jinping

US President Trump on Thursday set high expectations for his Friday call with Chinese President Xi Jinping. He described a deal over TikTok as all but completed and added that he is looking to make progress on broader issues like tariffs.

The president spoke about a deal around the social media app in the past tense — even as some issues remain publicly unresolved — promising that the final company will be controlled by "all American investors."

Trump added during the appearance in the UK that he is also looking to discuss an array of issues with his counterpart, saying. "On a much bigger scale, we're pretty close to a deal."

The highly anticipated call between the leaders of the world's two largest economies is set for Friday, reportedly at 9 a.m. ET.