Lucid, Tesla, Nvidia, Cisco: What to Watch When the Stock Market

On Nov 17, 2021

Futures are wavering ahead of another set of earnings reports from retailers and technology firms. Here’s what we’re watching on Wednesday:

Lucid Group on Tuesday became the latest electric-vehicle startup to top automotive icon Ford Motor in market value. Its shares were rising again premarket, by 8%.
And the biggest EV maker of them all was also logging gains, after Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday continued his selling spree, unloading another 934,000 shares for roughly $973 million. The stock was up 1.5% premarket.

Target shares slipped 2% premarket. The retailer said sales rose in the most recent quarter as holiday sales kicked off early and that it has been able to stock up ahead of Black Friday, joining other retail giants that have sidestepped supply-chain snarls.
TJX and Victoria’s Secret are due to report earnings before the open.
La-Z-Boy shares gained 3.9% premarket after the furniture maker said its fiscal second-quarter sales hit a record high, with the company able to increase its capacity to meet heightened demand.
Star Bulk Carriers gained 3.7% premarket. The shipping company’s profit surged in the latest period and revenue more than doubled amid a supply-chain crunch that has helped dry bulk volumes recover.
Pfizer shares nudged up 0.8% premarket. The drugmaker on Tuesday said it asked U.S. health regulators to authorize its oral Covid-19 drug for use in high-risk patients, putting the pill on a path that could make it available for people to take at home by the end of the year.
Cisco Systems, Nvidia , Bath & Body Works and America’s Car-Mart are due to report after the close.

South Korea has been one of the world’s best-performing big stock markets, with its value topping $1.6 trillion in August, according to data from the World Federation of Exchanges. But it has since been hit by rising interest rates, slowing global growth, a clampdown on household borrowing and concern that memory-chip prices may have peaked.

Write to James Willhite at james.willhite@wsj.com