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Stocks Fall Pre-Bell Ahead of Alphabet, Tesla Earnings

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Stocks Fall Pre-Bell Ahead of Alphabet, Tesla Earnings

The main US stock measures were pointing lower in Wednesday's premarket activity as investors await the latest financial results of technology giants Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) and Tesla (TSLA) and monitor the ongoing Middle East conflict.

The S&P 500 declined 0.3%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down 0.1% and the Nasdaq was off 0.7% before the opening bell. The indexes ended Tuesday trading higher following a three-day slump.

Google parent Alphabet and electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla are scheduled to report their quarterly earnings after the markets close, along with Texas Instruments (TXN), IBM (IBM), ServiceNow (NOW) and CSX (CSX).

Philip Morris International (PM), GE Vernova (GE), AT&T (T), Northern Trust (NTRS) and RPM International (RPM) are expected to post their results before the bell, among others.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil gained 4.2% to $87.91 a barrel in premarket action, while Brent increased 4.1% to $94.76.

The US Central Command said Tuesday its forces completed another round of strikes against Iran as part of attempts to degrade its ability to threaten commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

At the ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting in the Philippines on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Iran of not being serious about peace talks with the US, CNBC reported.

Rubio reportedly said a key sticking point in talks with Iran was Tehran's demand for the right to control traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, arguing that allowing any country to control an international waterway would set a dangerous precedent.

Treasury yields were mixed before the open, with the two-year rate down 0.1 basis points to 4.26% while the 10-year rate inclined 0.2 basis points to 4.63%.

In a social media post on Tuesday, President Donald Trump said the import of all generic drugs into the US will be subject to zero tariffs for a two-year period, effective Aug. 1. Tariffs on the drugs would then rise to 100% for one year before increasing to 200% thereafter, according to Trump.

"This is done in order to reshore generic pharmaceutical production into America, with a penalty to those companies that decide not to build plant and equipment within the stated period of time given to them," Trump said.

Wednesday's economic calendar has the weekly mortgage applications bulletin at 7 am ET, followed by the weekly EIA domestic petroleum inventories report at 10:30 am.

Shares of Super Micro Computer (SMCI) jumped 17% before the bell after the company said it received more than $60 billion in new orders during its fiscal fourth quarter and raised its gross margin outlook. Dell Technologies gained 4.6% after closing the previous session up 6%.

Alaska Air (ALK) decreased 1.3% as the airline issued a downbeat third-quarter earnings outlook and swung to a second-quarter loss. Rocket Lab (RKLB) advanced 4.5%.

Gold traded up 1.2% at $4,124 per troy ounce, while bitcoin was down 0.7% at $65,922.

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Bajaj Auto Posts Record Fiscal First-Quarter Profit, Revenue on Strong Domestic, Overseas Demand
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Bajaj Auto Posts Record Fiscal First-Quarter Profit, Revenue on Strong Domestic, Overseas Demand

Bajaj Auto (NSE:BAJAJ-AUTO, BOM:532977) reported record quarterly profit and revenue in the fiscal first quarter ended June 30 on the back of strong demand for its two-wheelers and electric vehicles at home and overseas.Consolidated net profit rose 45.9% to 32.3 billion Indian rupees from 22.1 billion rupees a year earlier, according to a bourse filing Tuesday.Earnings per share climbed to 106.80 rupees from 75 rupees.Revenue from operations surged 37% year over year to an all-time high of 172.4 billion rupees, the company said, citing record quarterly volumes.Quarterly sales volume stood at 1.4 million units, up 29% from 1.1 million units a year prior. The increase was mainly driven by a 54% jump in exports and an 11% increase in domestic sales.The upbeat performance was also boosted by the first full-quarter consolidation of Bajaj Mobility AG, the Austria-based parent of European premium motorcycles manufacturer KTM Group.During an earnings call, Bajaj Auto's Joint Managing Director Rakesh Sharma acknowledged that the company delivered its "highest quarterly performance across all parameters.""We are looking at moving exports to beyond the 250,000 per month level this quarter and onwards. As you will recall, we were just a few quarters earlier trying to knock at 200,000," Sharma said.The company's record figures came despite inflationary pressures."The commodity inflation we absorbed in this single quarter was greater than the totality of the inflation that we've experienced over the previous two financial years put together," Bajaj Auto CFO Dinesh Thapar told analysts during the earnings call."That, I believe, gives you a sense of the sheer intensity and enormity of the issue that we were faced with on the cost environment."Thapar added that pricing actions taken in April and June offset nearly half of the inflationary hit.In June, India's producer price inflation accelerated to an all-time high of 9.57%.Looking ahead, Bajaj said it plans an "exhaustive portfolio makeover" within the next six weeks, including introducing a new 150cc and 125cc under the Pulsar brand.

BOM:532977NSE:BAJAJ-AUTO
Update: Hungary Probes BYD Investment After Ex-Foreign Minister Takes Job at Carmaker
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Update: Hungary Probes BYD Investment After Ex-Foreign Minister Takes Job at Carmaker

(Updates throughout for clarity and to add a statement from Hungary's Government Communications Office and to correct reference to the date of BYD's electric trucks announcement)Hungary has launched an investigation into state support for BYD's (HKG:1211, SHE:002594) investment after former Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó left the government to join the Chinese automaker as an executive.Prime Minister Péter Magyar told lawmakers on Monday that authorities will review decisions, negotiations and state commitments related to BYD's investment approved during the previous government. The probe will examine subsidies, tax breaks, permits, environmental exemptions and publicly funded infrastructure provided for the Chinese automaker.Magyar alleged that Szijjártó helped BYD expand in Hungary with "hundreds of billions" of forints in public funding, diplomatic backing and state infrastructure while in office."We will examine all the decisions, negotiations and state commitments made by Péter Szijjártó that were related to the BYD Hungary investment," the Associated Press quoted Magyar as saying. "We will investigate who made these decisions, who prepared them, what professional warnings were ignored, and how much burden they left on Hungarian taxpayers, workers, local communities and the environment."BYD did not immediately respond to' request for comment, while Hungary's Communications Office declined and said it is "unable to provide any additional information or copies of internal communications while administrative reviews are ongoing."Szijjártó announced his resignation from parliament July 15 to join BYD. His post on Facebook described the new role as a prestigious opportunity to work for one of the automotive industry's biggest success stories.While serving in government, the AP reported that Szijjártó, who was appointed to lead the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in September 2014, played a key role in attracting Chinese investment to Hungary.Previous announcements show that in May 2025, BYD secured state support worth 20 billion forints after it picked the capital city of Budapest for its European headquarters and for a research and development center. A month later, BYD also unveiled a 75.7 million-euro investment to expand its electric bus factory in Komárom to manufacture electric trucks.BYD's first passenger vehicle plant on the European continent is also being built in Hungary, as announced in 2023. BYD Executive Vice President Stella Li told Reuters in June 2026 that the facility will start production within the year, which is about a year later than expected."Hungary is the number one priority right now," Li told the news outlet then. The executive added that the automaker was prioritizing production in Europe and that work on a planned factory in Turkey has been put on hold.Reuters also noted that BYD's sales in Europe surged 270% in 2025 to nearly 188,000 vehicles, while sales rose 144% year to date through May to more than 100,000 units.

HKG:1211SHE:002594
Update: Wall Street Snaps 3-Day Losing Streak in Tech-Led Bounce
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Update: Wall Street Snaps 3-Day Losing Streak in Tech-Led Bounce

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