U.S. stock futures showed modest gains on Tuesday, the final trading day of a strong quarter for equities. Traders were monitoring upcoming economic data and geopolitical developments in the Middle East. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indexes were on track for their best quarter in six years, and the Dow was set for its biggest quarterly gain since 2022. Several key economic reports, including the JOLTS job openings and the Conference Board's consumer confidence index, were anticipated later in the day. Geopolitical risks, interest rate uncertainty, and the earnings outlook were cited as factors influencing market sentiment.
AeroVironment (AVAV) experienced a significant premarket surge of 30%, stemming from a robust jump in quarterly revenue and an earnings beat. The company reported revenue of $642 million, exceeding Wall Street estimates of $559 million, and adjusted earnings per share of $1.84, compared to an expected $1.46. Its funded backlog increased by 65% year-over-year to $1.2 billion. The autonomous systems segment particularly excelled, generating $492 million in revenue against expectations of $402 million. This performance highlights growing demand from government and defense sectors, supported by increasing global defense budgets.
Abivax (ABVX) shares also surged by 27% in premarket trading. Conversely, Concentrix saw its shares drop by 22.7% after the customer experience firm lowered its forecasts for annual revenue and adjusted profit. Additionally, shares of Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs dipped by 1.2% and 0.5% respectively, following a downgrade by Oppenheimer, which recommended reallocating capital to alternative asset managers. Traders are pricing in at least one rate hike by the Federal Reserve by the end of 2026, and Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's comments at a Portuguese economic conference were highly anticipated.
