Shares of Micron were up 1% in premarket trading, ahead of the semiconductor producer’s anticipated release of its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings results after today’s market close. Investors will be waiting to hear if global demand for semiconductors can offset Chinese bans against the export of chipmaking metals.

Analysts polled by the StreetAccount expect revenue of $3.95 billion, slightly above the midpoint of guidance for revenue at $3.90 billion. Analysts also forecast a loss of $1.15 per share. That would be smaller than the company guidance for a loss of $1.19 per share.

Year to date, shares of Micron are up nearly 36%.

Orders for long-lasting goods unexpected increased in August, thanks largely to a boost in defense aircraft and machinery, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

Durable goods, which include such items as airplanes, appliances and computers, rose 0.2% on the month, reversing a 5.6% slide in July and better than the Dow Jones consensus for a decline of 0.5%.

Excluding transportation, orders increased 0.4% but fell 0.7% when excluding defense.

—Jeff Cox

The U.S. dollar index was near session highs at 106.349 in early trading Wednesday. That’s the highest level of the year going back to Nov. 30, 2022 when the index reached a high of 107.195.

The dollar index is up 2.6% this month, headed for its best month since May when it gained 2.62%. If it closes the month up by more than 2.62%, it will be the best month since February when the index rose 2.72%.

The dollar index is up 3.33% this quarter, or its best since the third quarter of 2022 when the index climbed 7.1%.

— Sarah Min, Gina Francolla

Popular media stocks inched up before the bell Wednesday as Hollywood writers and studios approved a labor contract that brings an end to a nearly 150-day labor strike.

The deal — valid until May 2026 — includes a minimum 5% pay increase, with additional bumps pay bumps in 2024 and 2025. Under the contract, artificial intelligence material won’t qualify as source, or literary material.

The guild also negotiated a new residual payment based on viewership and show popularity.

Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney, Comcast and Paramount inched up less than 1% before the bell. Netflix added 0.6%.

— Samantha Subin, Sarah Whitten

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.

Check out some of the companies making headlines in premarket trading.

Costco — Shares of the club retailer fell more than 1% even though Costco’s fiscal fourth-quarter response came in better than expected. The company generated $4.86 in earnings per share on $78.9 billion of revenue. Analysts surveyed by LSEG were looking for $4.79 per share on $77.9 billion of revenue. Comparable sales were up just 0.2% in the U.S., however.

ChargePoint – The electric vehicle charging stock popped more than 4% after UBS initiated coverage of ChargePoint with a buy rating, saying that the recent stock performance creates an attractive risk-reward.

XPO — The trucking company climbed about 2% following an upgrade to outperform from Evercore ISI. Analyst Jonathan Chappell forecast greater margin expansion and pricing power from the company.

Read the full list here.

— Brian Evans

U.S. Treasury yields declined Wednesday, easing from the multiyear highs reached in recent weeks.

The 10-year Treasury yield was last trading more than 5 basis points lower at 4.501%. In the previous session, the 10-year yield climbed to 4.566%, its highest level since Oct. 18, 2007 when it yielded as high as 4.570%.

Meanwhile, the 2-year Treasury yield was last down by more than 2 basis points to 5.052%. Yields and prices have an inverted relationship and one basis point equals 0.01%.

Stocks have come under pressure recently as rising bond yields give traders an attractive alternative to equities. All three major averages are headed for a losing month.

— Sarah Min

A likely shutdown of the U.S. government drew closer despite a last-ditch attempt from the Senate to get a spending bill through.

The upper chamber on Tuesday advanced a short-term measure that would have provided funding through Nov. 17 by means of a continuing resolution.

Though the move received strong bipartisan support, it’s unclear whether House Speaker Kevin McCarthy would try to push the legislation through given conservative Republican opposition to short-term spending measures.

Without further spending authority, the government is likely to shutter Oct. 1.

—Jeff Cox

Costco Wholesale shares slumped 1.5% before the bell even after the retailer topped fiscal fourth-quarter earnings expectations on the top and bottom lines.

The company reported earnings of $4.86 per share on $78.9 billion in revenue. Analysts polled by LSEG had called for EPS of $4.79 on $77.9 billion in revenue.

Shoppers frequented more stores but also trimmed spending during the period, with the average transaction amount declining 4% globally and 4.5% in the U.S. Meanwhile, traffic rose 5% in the U.S.

Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti said on an earnings call that sales of more expensive items — besides for food — were weaker in the U.S. and that declining gas prices impacted revenue.

— Samantha Subin, Melissa Repko

Target said it will close nine stores in major cities, pointing to violence, theft and crime.

The company said Tuesday that closures will take place in New York City, Seattle, the San Francisco-Oakland area and Portland, Oregon. Impacted stores will shut down Oct. 21.

Shares of the retailer slipped 0.3% in premarket trading on Wednesday.

— Alex Harring

Problems in the housing market are starting to put pressure on stocks, Wolfe Research’s Chris Senyek wrote.

“Our sense is that the recent equity market drawdown has caused the “virtuous mini-cycle” to start reversing course. In our view, extreme housing unaffordability is also going to start weighing heavily on sentiment,” the firm’s strategist wrote.

Senyek’s comments come a day after the Commerce Department reported new home sales data that missed economist expectations.

— Fred Imbert, Michael Bloom

European markets opened mixed Wednesday as investors continue to assess inflation, interest rates and the health of the global economy.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was down 0.1% in early trade, with sectors spread across marginally negative and positive territory. Utilities stocks dropped 0.6% to lead minor losses, while tech and oil and gas stocks each saw a 0.2% uptick.

— Hannah Ward-Glenton

For the first eight months of the year, profits at China’s industrial firms extended a double-digit drop, but the pace of declines eased slightly in August.

Profits fell 11.7% year on year as of August, a smaller contraction than the 15.5% drop for the first seven months.

China’s National Bureau of Statistics said the profits of industrial enterprises climbed 17.2% year on year in August, which is the first monthly growth since the second half of 2022.

— Lim Hui Jie

Japan’s central bank board was split over when should the Bank of Japan should start to raise interest rates, according to minutes from its monetary policy meeting in July.

This was in light of inflation then hitting 15 straight months above the BOJ’s 2% inflation target.

A member said that there is a “still a significantly long way to go before revising the negative interest rate policy, and the framework of yield curve control needed to be maintained.”

However, a different member noted that achievement of the 2% “in a sustainable and stable manner” seemed to have “clearly come in sight” and that it would be possible to assess if the BOJ would achieve this target around January to March next year.

— Lim Hui Jie

Hong Kong’s trade declined at a slower rate in August, with imports and exports falling by 0.3% and 3.7% year on year respectively.

This is compared to July’s drop of 7.9% for imports and 9.1% for exports.

Total trade for August came in at 742.18 million Hong Kong dollars, a 2% fall year on year.

— Lim Hui Jie

Despite the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500’s strong year to date gains, corporate earnings need to recover for the market rally to broaden out, according to Landsberg Bennett Private Wealth Management chief investment officer Michael Landsberg.

“Earnings must improve in order to see any kind of broader stock market gains, as the S&P 500 has had three quarters in a row of year-over-year decelerating earnings,” Landsberg said.

“The markets have had a nice run, particularly in tech, and they needed time to cool off, which is partly why we have seen broader market declines over the past two months. Higher interest and money market rates create more competition for stocks, which adds to the pressure on the market,” he added.

According to Landsberg, the firm rebalanced its client portfolios in the summer to reduce tech exposure given its dramatic rally over a six-month period.

“This is a normal cycle activity where some sectors heat up and others cool off,” Landsberg said.

— Hakyung Kim

Here are some of the stocks making the biggest moves in extended trading.

Costco — Shares fell nearly 2% despite the company posting an earnings and revenue beat in the previous quarter. The company posted $4.86 earnings per share on $78.94 billion in revenue. Analysts had estimated per-share earnings of $4.79 on $77.09 billion in revenue, according to LSEG. Meanwhile, e-commerce sales slipped 0.8% compared to the same period in the previous year.

MillerKnoll — The furniture company’s shares rallied 16.2% after it reported its 2024 fiscal first-quarter earnings. MillerKnoll topped analysts’ estimates for earning and revenue in the previous quarter, its second-quarter revenue guidance came in softer than expected.

AAR Corp — Shares of the aircraft services company gained 2.4% after beating analyst forecasts on earnings and revenue in the first quarter of the 2024 fiscal year. The company reported $550 million in quarterly sales, up 23% from the prior year.

— Hakyung Kim

U.S. stock futures ticked up Tuesday.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 46 points, or 0.13%. Meanwhile, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures inched up 0.13% and 0.06%, respectively.

— Hakyung Kim