These are some of the companies making the biggest moves before the bell:

• Foot Locker — Shares tumbled about 9.7% after the sneaker retailer posted a holiday-quarter loss and provided weak guidance for the current year. Struggling to meet its financial goals, Foot Locker’s finance chief said the company is expecting its profitability goal, which it had announced during its March 2023 investor day, to now be delayed by two years.
• CrowdStrike — Shares jumped more than 23% after the cybersecurity company’s fourth-quarter earnings topped estimates. The firm’s $845 million in revenue was also higher than the estimated $839 million. On top of that, management reiterated a 2030 goal of $10 billion in annual recurring revenue.
• Palantir Technologies — Shares rallied 7.5% on news that Palantir received a contract from the U.S. Army worth $178.4 million to develop ten artificial intelligence-powered ground stations as part of a project called Titian, or Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node.

For the complete list, read here.

— Pia Singh

In prepared remarks to be delivered on Capitol Hill on Wednesday and Thursday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reiterated that the central bank was not yet ready to start cutting interest rates.

“In considering any adjustments to the target range for the policy rate, we will carefully assess the incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks,” Powell said. “The Committee does not expect that it will be appropriate to reduce the target range until it has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2 percent.”

To be sure, he also said rate policy is “likely at its peak for this tightening cycle. If the economy evolves broadly as expected, it will likely be appropriate to begin dialing back policy restraint at some point this year.”

— Fred Imbert

The private sector saw job growth in February, but at a slower clip than economists expected, according to data from payroll processing firm ADP released Wednesday.

Firms added 140,000 positions for the month, which is an improvement from the upwardly revised 111,000 figure seen in January. But February’s increase was slightly below the forecast for 150,000 from economists polled by Dow Jones.

— Alex Harring, Jeff Cox

UBS explored the parallels between today’s bull market and the 1990s bull run, finding some notable similarities and differences.

Strategist Bhanu Baweja noted today’s stock market rally, driven by narrow tech leadership, is similar to the second phase of the 90’s stock market. In the first phase, stocks rose steadily between the years 1995 to 1998; in the second phase, equities shot up between the years 1998 to 2000, when the dot-com bubble burst.

Even so, Baweja said any comparisons to the dot-com bubble are unwarranted, saying the rally today is based on stronger underlying businesses.

“[There’s] no bubble ready to go pop. There are notable differences between then and now in realised margins, earnings, free cash flow, in signals from options markets, and in IPO/M&A activity,” Baweja wrote on Wednesday. “While we do have sector specific enthusiasm today, it’s based on delivered shareholder returns. Then we had sector-specific euphoria based on hype.”

Still, the strategist noted that “[today’s] macro doesn’t support a sustained bull run,” citing weaker productivity growth, lackluster real disposable income growth, factors that will need to “start looking up for the bull run to persist.”

— Sarah Min

Palantir jumped more than 6% in premarket trading after announcing an arm contract valued at more than $170 million.

The counterterrorism software provider said it won a contract from the Army Contracting Command – Aberdeen Proving Ground. Through the agreement, Palantir will develop 10 prototypes of the TITAN ground station system, which stands for tactical intelligence targeting access node.

Palantir has notably outperformed the market this year, rallying more than 38% since 2024 began.

— Alex Harring

Foot Locker dropped more than 5% before the bell Wednesday after offering weak guidance for full-year earnings.

The shoe retailer told investors to expect between $1.50 and $1.70 in earnings per share for the full year, excluding items. That underwhelmed analysts polled by LSEG, who forecasted $1.86.

Foot Locker’s soft outlook overshadowed a better-than-expected fourth quarter. The New York-based company earned 38 per share, excluding items, on $2.38 billion in revenue, exceeding analyst expectations of 32 cents and $2.28 billion.

Shares have climbed more than 10% so far in 2024.

— Alex Harring

Eight Australian companies have made commitments to invest around 5.2 billion Australian dollars ($3.4 billion) in Malaysia, according to a government minister.

“We’re looking at both digital economy and the green economy,” the country’s minister for investment, trade and industry, Tengku Zafrul Aziz, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia,” noting that data center operator AirTrunk, backed by Macquarie Asset Management, was among the firms that have showed interest in the country.

This comes a day after Malaysian prime minister Anwar Ibrahim reportedly said major Australian companies have shown interest to invest about RM24.5 billion ($5.1 billion) in the country, during an official visit to Melbourne.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

Australia’s economy grew 0.2% quarter over quarter in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The reading was driven by government expenditure and private business investment. It was also slightly below a Reuters poll estimate of a 0.3% rise.

“Growth was steady in December, but slowed across each quarter in 2023,” Katherine Keenan, ABS head of national accounts, said.

“Government spending and private business investment were the main drivers of GDP growth this quarter.”

Real GDP in the twelve months through December was 1.5%, slightly above a Reuters poll forecast of a 1.4% increase.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

South Korea’s inflation rate rose for the first time in three months to come in at 3.1%, higher than the 2.8% in January and also more than the 2.9% expected by a Reuters poll.

The country’s core inflation rate, which strips out prices of food and energy, came in at 2.5%.

South Korea’s central bank was the first major central bank to stop its rate hikes early in 2023, holding its base rate in 3.5%.

— Lim Hui Jie

Bogged down by tech stocks, all three major stock indexes ended Tuesday’s trading session lower.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite all notched their second negative sessions in a row and worst daily performance since February 13.

Nvidia was the most positive stock for both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, while Microsoft led the losses for both indexes.

On the other hand, JPMorgan was the most positive stock within the Dow on Tuesday. Shares of Salesforce led the 30-stock lower during the day’s trading session.

— Lisa Kailai Han, Christopher Hayes

These are the stocks moving the most in extended trading:

• Nordstrom — Despite beating fourth-quarter earnings and revenue expectations, shares slid nearly 10% after the department store chain provided disappointing full-year 2024 guidance.
• CrowdStrike — The cybersecurity stock soared 19% after fourth-quarter earnings topped estimates.
• Box — The cloud storage stock jumped 8% after posting fourth-quarter revenue that matched analyst expectations, according to LSEG.

Read the full list of stocks moving here.

— Lisa Kailai Han