U.S. stock futures rose in pre-market trading Wednesday after a three-day losing streak that placed the major averages on pace for monthly declines.
Futures tied to the S&P 500 advanced 0.4%, while futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 50 points, or roughly 0.2%. Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained about 0.9%. Still, a turbulent run for stocks in recent weeks has erased much of the summer’s relief rally, with the S&P 500 officially wiping out half of its bounce since mid-June.
Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) tanked nearly 25% Wednesday morning after the home-goods retailer announced in an anticipated strategic update that it would lay off staff and shutter approximately 150 stores as part of a turnaround effort for its struggling business. The company also said it secured more than $500 million of new financing.
The announcement came shortly after Bed Bath & Beyond also said in a regulatory filing that it may offer, issue and sell shares of its common stock from time to time and may use any proceeds from potential stock sales to repay short-term debt, among other purposes.
Elsewhere in markets, social media giant Snap (SNAP) was in the spotlight following a report late Tuesday that the company expects to lay off 20% of its workforce of more than 6,400 employees. Snap did not respond to a request by Yahoo Finance for comment. Shares sank 6% ahead of the open.
“Headcount reductions were not surprising, but a 20% reduction was more than we had anticipated,” Jefferies technology analyst Brent Thill wrote in a note.
Shares of Hong Kong-listed electric-vehicle maker BYD (BYDDY) sank 8% in early hours trading after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway trimmed its stake in the Chinese company. The move came one month after reports Berkshire was set to exit its entire holding in the electric carmaker sent the stock tumbling.
According to a filing Tuesday, the investor slashed its position in BYD’s Hong Kong-listed shares to 19.92% from 20.04% on Aug. 24 – about 1.33 million securities at an average HK$277.10 ($35.30) apiece, valued at about $47 million.
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Alexandra Semenova is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @alexandraandnyc
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