Finance

With inflation continuing to prove stickier than the government and the central bank had hoped, traders increased bets that interest rates will need to be hiked further in order to curtail price rises.
Strategists at BNP Paribas said in a note Wednesday that the “broad-based strength” in the U.K. inflation print makes a 25 basis point hike to interest rates at the Bank’s June meeting a “done deal.”

British Prime Minister Liz Truss attends a news conference in London, Britain, October 14, 2022.
Daniel Leal | Reuters

LONDON — U.K. borrowing costs are nearing levels not seen since the throes of the bond market crisis triggered by former Prime Minister Liz Truss’ disastrous mini-budget.
New data on Wednesday showed that the U.K. consumer price inflation rate fell by less than expected in April. The annual consumer price index dropped from 10.1% in March to 8.7% in April, well above consensus estimates and the Bank of England’s forecast of 8.4%.

With inflation continuing to prove stickier than the government and the central bank had hoped, now almost double the comparable rate in the U.S. and considerably higher than in Europe, traders increased bets that interest rates will need to be hiked further in order to curtail price rises.
Most notably, core inflation — which excludes volatile energy, food, alcohol and tobacco prices — came in at 6.8% in the 12 months to April, up from 6.2% in March, adding to the Bank of England’s concerns about inflation becoming entrenched.
Strategists at BNP Paribas said in a note Wednesday that the “broad-based strength” in the U.K. inflation print makes a 25 basis point hike to interest rates at the Bank’s June meeting a “done deal,” and raised their terminal rate forecast from 4.75% to 5%.

They added that the “sustained strength of inflation and potential concerns around second-round effects are likely to persist, prompting another 25bp hike in August.”
The Bank of England hiked rates for the 12th consecutive meeting earlier this month, taking the main bank rate to 4.5% as the Monetary Policy Committee reiterated its commitment to taming stubbornly high inflation. The benchmark rate helps price a whole range of mortgages and loans across the country, impacting borrowing costs for citizens.

This sentiment was echoed by Cathal Kennedy, senior U.K. economist at RBC Capital Markets, who said the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee can be accused of having underestimated, and continuing to underestimate, the “second round inflation effects that are currently fueling domestic inflationary pressures.”
“[Wednesday’s] CPI print probably removes any degree of debate around a further increase in Bank rate at the June MPC (currently our base case), but the market has moved beyond that and is now pricing even more than two full 25bps rate increases after that,” Kennedy noted.
As a result of these hawkish market bets, U.K. government bond yields continued to rise early on Thursday. The yield on U.K. 2-year gilt climbed to 4.42% and the 10-year yield rose to almost 4.28%, levels not seen since Truss and former Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng’s package of unfunded tax cuts unleashed chaos in financial markets in September and October last year. More

The logo of NVIDIA as seen at its corporate headquarters in Santa Clara, California, in May of 2022.
Nvidia | via Reuters

Check out the companies making headlines after hours.
Nvidia — Nvidia shares surged 19% in extended trading. The chipmaker gave stronger-than-expected revenue guidance for the fiscal second quarter, while also reporting beats on the top and bottom lines in its fiscal first quarter. The stock has already more than doubled this year.

Snowflake — Snowflake tumbled 11% after hours. The cloud computing company gave weaker-than-expected second-quarter product revenue guidance, according to StreetAccount. Snowflake beat analysts’ expectations for earnings and revenue in the first quarter, per Refinitiv.
American Eagle Outfitters — Shares slid 15% after American Eagle Outfitters said it expects second-quarter revenue to fall in the low single digits, instead of up 1.6%, according to consensus expectations from Refinitiv. The clothing retailer reported a mixed quarter, with per-share earnings coming in line with estimates, while revenue beat expectations.
Guess? — Shares popped 3% after the apparel company raised its dividend and hiked its full-year earnings and revenue guidance.
e.l.f. Beauty — Shares of e.l.f. Beauty jumped 10% in extended trading. The cosmetics company reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings that beat expectations on the top and bottom lines. The company reported adjusted earnings of 42 cents per share on revenue of $187 million. Analysts polled by Refinitiv expected earnings of 20 cents per share on revenue of $156 million. More

Customers exit an Abercrombie & Fitch store in San Francisco.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
Citigroup — Citigroup shares fell nearly 3%. The bank announced plans to spin off its Mexico business Banamex through an initial public offering after its efforts to find a buyer for the unit failed.

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Palo Alto Networks — The cybersecurity company saw its shares jump nearly 8%. The action came a day after Palo Alto Networks posted a better-than-expected quarterly report and strong earnings guidance. The company reported adjusted earnings of $1.10 per share and revenue of $1.72 billion. Analysts polled by Refinitiv had estimated earnings of 93 cents per share and $1.71 billion in revenue.
Netflix — Shares rose 1.2%. On Tuesday, the company started notifying customers of its password-sharing rules in the U.S. Oppenheimer said the crackdown on account sharing should help the stock.
Analog Devices — Analog Devices dropped 8% in midday trading. The semiconductor manufacturing firm gave weaker-than-expected guidance for the fiscal third quarter, despite beating expectations on the top and bottom lines in its second quarter. Analog Devices expects adjusted earnings of about $2.52 per share in the third quarter, compared to analysts’ forecasts of $2.65 per share, according to FactSet. The company expects revenue of about $3.10 billion, less than the $3.16 billion estimate.
Tesla — Shares of Elon Musk’s electric vehicle maker dipped about 2% midday. Disappointing quarterly results from Chinese rival Xpeng sent EV stocks lower. Xpeng missed estimates on revenue and posted a wider loss than analysts expected, per Refinitiv. The company also forecast a decline in vehicle deliveries.
Energy stocks — Shares of oil companies rose Wednesday. The move came a day after Saudi Arabia’s energy minister indicated potential OPEC+ output reductions. The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) was up 0.3%. Marathon Oil and APA both gained roughly 1%.

Semiconductor stocks — Semiconductor shares declined Wednesday. A spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Commerce spoke out against Japan’s chip export restrictions to China a day earlier. Shares of Microchip Technology were down 6%. NXP Semiconductors fell 4%, while On Semiconductor shed 3%. Nvidia also declined 2% ahead of its earnings announcement after the bell. 
Moderna — The biotech company’s shares fell more than 4%. The drop marks a sharp reversal for the stock, which has popped in recent days amid news of the new XBB variant wave of Covid cases in China. Beijing officials reportedly estimate this could result in 65 million new weekly cases by the end of June.
Abercrombie & Fitch — Shares of the apparel retailer soared 26% after the company reported fiscal first-quarter earnings and revenue that beat analysts’ estimates, according to Refinitiv. The apparel retailer also issued strong guidance for the fiscal second quarter and full year.
Urban Outfitters — Shares of the retail company spiked about 16%. On Tuesday, Urban Outfitters issued a fiscal first-quarter report that beat expectations on the top and bottom lines. The company generated 56 cents in earnings per share on $1.11 billion of revenue. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv had penciled in 35 cents of earnings per share on $1.09 billion of revenue. Barclays upgraded the stock to overweight from equal weight after the earnings report.
Accolade — Shares jumped nearly 7% following an upgrade to buy from neutral from Bank of America. The firm said the health benefits assistance company has a “steady growth engine.”
Stem — Stem shares climbed 5%. Evercore ISI initiated coverage of the stock with an outperform rating, saying the energy storage company is a leader in a rapidly growing market given the rise in clean energy technologies. The firm said in a Tuesday note Stem is “well-positioned to capture a significant market share,” and is a “growth story.”
Corning — Shares gained 2% a day after Corning announced it would hike prices for its display glass products 20%. The company said the price adjustment is intended to offset ongoing high energy and material costs. Corning said it expects demand to grow in the second half of 2023. 
Kohl’s — The retail giant got a 5% lift in its shares after it reported an unexpected first-quarter profit Wednesday and reaffirmed its full-year outlook. The company said its stores have improved productivity and noted sustained momentum at Sephora at Kohl’s.
Agilent Technologies — Shares of the laboratory technology company declined almost 8%. On Tuesday, Agilent posted guidance for earnings and revenue in the fiscal third quarter was lower than anticipated, according to Refinitiv. However, the company posted beats on the top and bottom lines for the previous quarter.
Intuit — The tax software company’s shares declined 7% a day after Intuit issued quarterly results. While Intuit’s fiscal third-quarter earnings came above analysts’ estimates, the company reported a revenue miss, according to Refinitiv data. The company’s earnings outlook for the current quarter also missed analysts’ expectations. 
— CNBC’s Samantha Subin, Alex Harring, Yun Li, Brian Evans, Jesse Pound and Tanaya Macheel contributed reporting. More

The celebrated tome “Capital in the Twentieth Century”, by Thomas Piketty, a French economist, runs to 204,000 words—longer even than Homer’s “Odyssey”. But the book’s central argument can be distilled to a single, three-character expression: r > g. As long as “r”, the real rate of return to capital, exceeds “g”, the real rate of economic growth—as Mr Piketty calculated it did over the course of the 20th century—then inequality will supposedly widen. The simplicity of the message won Mr Piketty widespread acclaim. It also spawned a resurgence in the popularity of economic expressions. An influential one, i > g, is a variation on the Piketty rule. It applies when nominal interest rates (or risk-free returns) exceed nominal growth. The troubling conclusion from this expression applies to debt. In an i > g world, growth in revenues, wages or tax receipts that a debtor earns will be slower than the interest accumulating on their borrowing, meaning debt levels have the potential to explode.An i > g world is unfamiliar to America and most of the West. Since the end of 2009 nominal growth has been higher than nominal rates (aside from the first half of 2020, when the covid-19 pandemic crashed the economy). Now America is about to cross the threshold. In the first quarter of 2023 robust annualised real economic growth, of 4.5%, and troublesomely high inflation meant that nominal gdp rose at an annualised rate of 8.3%, easily exceeding nominal interest rates of around 5%. A panel of economists surveyed by Bloomberg, a data firm, anticipate that in the second quarter of the year growth will slip to just 0.4% and inflation to 3.3%. Nominal growth is forecast to be just 3.7%—well below nominal rates of around 5.2%. “This is when the rubber really meets the road for the economic cycle,” notes Carl Riccadonna of bnp Paribas, a bank. “This is the point at which, if you’re a business, your revenues are now growing more slowly than your cost of financing.” Wage growth will lag debt growth. Governments’ interest bills will grow faster than tax receipts. A single quarter of this might be bearable. Unfortunately, economists expect the situation to last a year or more. The precise impact depends on the extent to which debt reprices as interest rates rise. The vast majority of American homeowners have 30-year fixed-rate mortgages. This generous financing will protect them against a pincer-like combo of slowing wage growth and rising interest expenses. Nevertheless, consumers carrying other kinds of debt—including revolving credit-card balances and private student loans—will feel the pinch. Many companies carry a mix of fixed and floating-rate debt, meaning they will also be somewhat insulated. But the maturities of their debts tend to be much shorter than those of mortgages. A large portion of corporate fixed-rate debt is due to roll over in 2024. Companies that are preparing to refinance are getting nervous. Raphael Bejarano of Jefferies, an investment bank, points out that many corporate treasurers have been spooked by just how difficult it has been to issue debt over the past year. “Many of them are looking at their big maturities in 2024 and trying to roll some of that debt a little earlier, even at higher rates,” he says. What they really fear is being unable to roll their debt over at all. The most-exposed companies include many that have been recently snapped up by private-equity barons. Private-credit loans taken on by their firms’ portfolio companies tend to have floating rates. During the last major credit cycle, in 2008, many private-equity firms were able to hang on to their overleveraged acquisitions by negotiating with lenders, which were mostly banks. This time around they will be going toe-to-toe with private-credit lenders, many of which also employ hefty private-equity teams and will be more than happy to take on overleveraged firms. In a sign of what may be to come, on May 16th kkr, a giant private-assets firm, allowed Envision Healthcare, a portfolio company in which it invested $3.5bn at a $10bn valuation in 2018, to fall into bankruptcy and be seized by its lenders. When surveying this scene, it is reassuring to note interest rates have been high for some time, the American economy has fared reasonably well and even bank failures seem to have represented a flesh wound rather than a fatal one. But all of this has happened in a different context. It is far easier to swallow a high cost of capital when it is matched by high returns on said capital. And that will not be the case for much longer. ■ More

Federal Reserve officials were divided at their last meeting over where to go with interest rates, with some members seeing the need for more increases while others expected a slowdown in growth to remove the need to tighten further, minutes released Wednesday showed.
Though the decision to increase the Fed’s benchmark rate by a quarter percentage point was unanimous, the meeting summary reflected disagreement over what the next move should be, with a tilt toward less aggressive policy.

At the end, the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee voted to remove a key phrase from its post-meeting statement that had indicated “additional policy firming may be appropriate.”
The Fed appears now to be moving toward a more data-dependent approach in which myriad factors will determine if the rate-hiking cycle continues.
“Participants generally expressed uncertainty about how much more policy tightening may be appropriate,” the minutes said. “Many participants focused on the need to retain optionality after this meeting.”
Essentially, the debate came down to two scenarios.
One that was advocated by “some” members judged that progress in reducing inflation was “unacceptably slow” and would necessitate further hikes. The other, backed by “several” FOMC members, saw slowing economic growth in which “further policy firming after this meeting may not be necessary.”

The minutes do not identify individual members nor do they quantify “some” or “several” with specific numbers. However, in Fed parlance, “some” is thought to be more than “several.” The minutes noted that members concurred inflation is “substantially elevated” relative to the central bank’s goal.

‘Closely monitoring incoming information’

While the future expectations differed, there appeared to be strong agreement that a path in which the Fed has hiked rates 10 times for a total of 5 percentage points since March 2022 is no longer as certain.
“In light of the prominent risks to the Committee’s objectives with respect to both maximum employment and price stability, participants generally noted the importance of closely monitoring incoming information and its implications for the economic outlook,” the document said.
FOMC officials also spent some time discussing the problems in the banking industry that have seen multiple medium-sized institutions shuttered. The minutes noted that members are at the ready to use their tools to make sure the financial system has enough liquidity to cover its needs.
At the March meeting, Fed economists had noted that the expected credit contraction from the banking stresses likely would tip the economy into recession.
They repeated that assertion at the May meeting and said the contraction could start in the fourth quarter. They noted that if the credit tightness abated that would be an upside risk for economic growth. The minutes noted that the scenario for less impact from banking is “viewed as only a little less likely than the baseline.”
The minutes also reflect some discussion on the talks to raise the national debt ceiling.
“Many participants mentioned that it is essential that the debt limit be raised in a timely manner to avoid the risk of severely adverse dislocations in the financial system and the broader economy,” the summary stated.

Markets betting May was last hike

Release of the minutes comes amid disparate public statements from officials on where the Fed should go from here.
Markets expect that the May rate increase will be the last of this cycle, and that the Fed could reduce rates by about a quarter percentage point before the end of the year, according to futures market pricing. That expectation comes with the assumption that the economy will slow and perhaps tip into recession while inflation comes down closer to the Fed’s 2% target.
However, virtually all officials have expressed skepticism if not outright dismissiveness toward the likelihood of a cut this year.
Most recently, Governor Christopher Waller said in a speech Wednesday that while the data hasn’t presented a clear case for the June rate decision, he’s inclined to think that more hikes will be needed to bring down stubbornly high inflation.
“I do not expect the data coming in over the next couple of months will make it clear that we have reached the terminal rate,” Waller said, referring to the end point for hiking. “And I do not support stopping rate hikes unless we get clear evidence that inflation is moving down towards our 2% objective. But whether we should hike or skip at the June meeting will depend on how the data come in over the next three weeks.”
Chair Jerome Powell weighed in last week, providing little indication he ‘s thinking about rate cuts though he said that the banking issues could negate the need for increases.
Economic reports have shown that inflation is tracking lower though it remains well above the central bank’s goals. Core inflation as measured by the Fed’s preferred personal consumption expenditures index excluding food and energy increased 4.6% on an annual basis in March, a level it has hovered around for months.
A bustling labor market has kept the pressure on prices, with a 3.4% unemployment rate that ties a low going back to the 1950s. Wages have been rising as well, up 4.4% from a year ago in April, and a research paper this week from former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the trend represents the next phase in the inflation fight for his former colleagues.
As for the broader economy, purchasing managers’ indexes from S&P Global hit a 13-month high in May, indicating that while recession could be a story later in the year, there are few signs of a contraction now. The Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow tracker of economic data shows growth at a 2.9% annualized pace in the second quarter.
Correction: In Fed parlance, “some” is thought to be more than “several.” An earlier version misstated the difference. More

TSA PreCheck and Global Entry are federal “trusted traveler” programs that generally speed up wait times at airport security or customs lines.
The programs have received a record number of membership applications and enrollment wait times have increased in some cases, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
They make sense for frequent travelers, especially during busy periods, but aren’t for everyone, experts said.

Izusek | E+ | Getty Images

The 2023 summer travel season is expected to be a busy one, making federal programs like TSA PreCheck especially helpful for flyers, according to experts.
Such programs carry fees but generally save travelers time at the airport. However, relatively long processing times — as with recent passport applications — mean it may be difficult for some new applicants to take advantage before traveling this summer.

“You have so many people wanting to travel now, especially after the pandemic,” said Sofia Markovich, a travel advisor and founder of Sofia’s Travel. “It’s just like passport renewal, where there have been these huge delays.”
That said, programs like TSA PreCheck and Global Entry are “definitely worth it” for frequent flyers, she added.
More from Personal Finance:Travel costs fell in April. The dip may be short-livedMissing one $2 expense could derail a whole national park tripTravel to Europe is no longer a ‘ bargain-basement’ deal
“They make sense all year round, but especially when it’s the busy season,” Markovich said.
TSA PreCheck aims to cut down the screening time in airports. Travelers wait in a different — and often shorter — line from the standard security line. In April, 94% of PreCheck passengers waited less than five minutes at the security checkpoint, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

The agency aims for wait times of 10 minutes or less with PreCheck, and 30 minutes for typical lanes.
TSA PreCheck — available for departures from certain U.S. airports — costs $78 for new enrollees. A membership lasts five years, and renewals cost $70.

The upfront fee for new members amounts to $15.60 a year. Several credit cards cover the fee as a customer perk.
Aside from a potentially shorter security line, there’s also a convenience factor, experts said.
Since the application entails a passenger risk assessment — including fingerprinting for a background check — members don’t have to remove their shoes, belts or light jackets when going through airport security. They can also keep electronics and “3-1-1” compliant liquids in carry-on bags. (The 3-1-1 rule allows each passenger to carry one one-quart-sized bag’s worth of bottled liquids weighing no more than 3.4 ounces apiece in their hand luggage.)
“It’s pretty tough for most people to argue against that,” Sally French, a travel expert at NerdWallet, said of the fee. “It’ll alleviate so much stress down the road.”
PreCheck is one of a handful of “trusted traveler” programs offered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in partnership with other federal agencies.

Among the other programs is Global Entry, which offers expedited U.S. customs screening when returning from a trip abroad. A five-year membership carries a $100 nonrefundable fee and includes TSA PreCheck.

When the programs may not make sense

There are some instances in which the programs — and their fees — may not make sense for travelers, experts said.
The programs are most cost-effective for people who travel frequently, for example. The TSA recommends Global Entry for people who travel internationally four or more times a year.
TSA PreCheck also doesn’t guarantee that travelers will save time, experts said. The standard security line could be the shorter one, depending on the airport and departure time.
TSA PreCheck and Global Entry applications for first-timers may also be somewhat cumbersome, experts said. That’s largely due to the necessity of an in-person assessment. Appointments — especially those for Global Entry — aren’t always easy to get and may require an out-of-the-way visit (perhaps to an airport) to complete.

You have so many people wanting to travel now, especially after the pandemic.

Sofia Markovich
founder of Sofia’s Travel

Global Entry application processing times can also take four to six months, according to the DHS. In 2022, the average time to enroll for Global Entry was 93 days, the department said.
Longer wait times are due to a record number of applications for membership in the trusted traveler programs, according to the DHS. Google search traffic for “TSA Precheck” is around its highest level in five years.
Most TSA PreCheck applicants must complete an online application, and get approved within three to five days of their in-person enrollment appointment, on average. However, it can take 60 days or longer, the TSA said. (As of Feb. 1, U.S. Customs and Border Protection began releasing interview appointment slots for enrollment centers on the first Monday of every month by 9 a.m. local time, according to the DHS.)
TSA PreCheck also isn’t available at all airports or airlines. It’s currently available at more than 200 airports and via more than 85 participating airlines, according to the TSA.

If a traveler’s home airport doesn’t have it — most likely to happen at a small regional facility — it may not be worth the time and expense, French said.
Travelers have another program option called Clear if they’re worried about not getting approved for TSA PreCheck in time for a trip, French said.
Clear, run by a private company and not a government-affiliated program, expedites the identity verification portion of security screening by using a retina or fingerprint scan. (This differs from TSA PreCheck. Clear members must still remove shoes, belts, electronics during the physical screening process, unless they also have TSA PreCheck.)
A membership is more costly — $189 a year though discounts are available to certain travelers. Travelers can enroll at the airport, typically within a few minutes. More

Citigroup announced Wednesday it plans to pursue an initial public offering of its Mexico business, Banamex, making formal a long-telegraphed spinoff.
The bank expects to complete the separation in the second half of 2024, with a public offering likely to follow in 2025, it said.

Jane Fraser, chief executive officer of Citigroup Inc., during an interview for an episode of “The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations” at the Economic Club of Washington in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, March 22, 2023. 
Valerie Plesch | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Citigroup announced Wednesday it plans to pursue an initial public offering of its Mexico business, Banamex, making formal a long-telegraphed spinoff.
The bank expects to complete the separation in the second half of 2024, with a public offering likely to follow in 2025, it said. The company hasn’t yet decided on a listing destination, but a dual listing in Mexico and the U.S. could be possible, a source familiar with the plans told CNBC.

“After careful consideration, we concluded the optimal path to maximizing the value of Banamex for our shareholders and advancing our goal to simplify our firm is to pivot from our dual path approach to focus solely on an IPO of the business,” CEO Jane Fraser said in a press release.
Citigroup had been exploring a potential sale of the business. Media reports as recent as this month said a deal was close to being finalized at a valuation of roughly $7 billion.
Citigroup bought Banamex for $12.5 billion in 2001. The bank first said in 2022 that it would be exiting the business, which operates about 1,300 branches with more than 12 million retail clients and about 10 million pension fund customers. It counts approximately 38,000 employees.
The company also said Wednesday it would resume share buybacks this quarter. Shares of Citigroup fell nearly 2% in premarket trading Wednesday.
— CNBC’s Leslie Picker contributed to this report.
This is breaking news. Please check back for updates. More

People walk near a Kohl’s department store entranceway on June 07, 2022 in Doral, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images

Check out the companies making headlines in premarket trading Wednesday
Moderna — The biotech company added 2.4% amid renewed Covid-19 concern in China after an uptick in infections.

V.F. Corporation — Shares in the clothing and shoemaker added 3.3% on the back of better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter results. The company earned an adjusted 17 cents per share, topping a Refinitiv forecast of 14 cents per share. Revenue of $2.74 billion was also slightly above expectations.
XPeng — The electric vehicle maker slipped 4.7% after an earnings miss. XPeng also issued weaker-than-expected revenue guidance for the second quarter. Still, CEO He Xiaopeng said he is “confident in taking our Company into a virtuous cycle driving product sales growth, team morale, customer satisfaction and brand reputation over the next few quarters.”
Palantir Technologies — Shares were 2.2% lower in premarket trading, on pace for their first decline in three sessions. Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest recently bought more than $4 million worth of Palantir shares, the firm’s website showed.
Analog Devices — Analog Devices dropped 5.3% in premarket trading on the back of weaker-than-expected third-quarter guidance for the fiscal third quarter. Analog Devices expects adjusted earnings of about $2.52 per share in the third quarter, compared to forecasts for $2.65 per share, according to consensus estimates on FactSet. It expects revenue of around $3.10 billion, less than the $3.16 billion estimate. In a statement, CEO Vincent Roche said, “Looking to the second half, we expect revenue to moderate given the continued economic uncertainty and normalizing supply chains.”
First Horizon — The regional bank added 2.3% in premarket trading following an upgrade to buy from hold by Jefferies. The firm said the bank has top-tier capital strength and is at a discount to peers.

Palo Alto Networks — Shares of the cybersecurity rose nearly 5% in premarket trading after Palo Alto Networks reported a fiscal third quarter that topped analyst estimates. The company reported $1.10 in adjusted earnings per share on $1.72 billion of revenue. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv had penciled in 93 cents of earnings per share on $1.71 billion of revenue. Palo Alto’s fourth-quarter earnings guidance was also higher than expected.
Kohl’s — The retailer popped more than 13% after reporting better-than-expected results and a surprise profit for the recent quarter. Kohl’s also reiterated previous guidance.
Intuit – The tax and accounting technology maker suffered a 5% drop after the company missed revenue expectations, according to Refinitiv, for its fiscal third quarter. That result was thanks in part to a decline in tax returns, Intuit reported.
— CNBC’s Jesse Pound, Samantha Subin, Alex Harring, Sarah Min and Tanaya Macheel contributed reporting More