By Joe Woelfel

Stock futures were up modestly with Wall Street expecting the Federal Reserve on Wednesday to hold interest rates steady. The U.S. central bank's announcement on rates will be made at 2 p.m. Eastern time.

These stocks were poised to make moves Wednesday:

Nvidia rose 1.4% in premarket trading after CEO Jensen Huang, at the chip maker's annual AI GTC conference on Tuesday, announced a more powerful version of its Blackwell AI chips, two AI desktop computers, an expanded autonomous-driving partnership with General Motors, and new AI models for robots. Nvidia shares fell 3.4% on Tuesday, the second day of Nvidia's conference, and were the session's worst performer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. GM, meanwhile, slipped 0.3% in premarket trading.

Tesla was up 3.6% in premarket trading after tumbling 5.3% on Tuesday and 4.8% on Monday. It has declined 44% this year, in part because of weaker sales and heightened competition, worries that CEO Elon Musk's political activities have been turning off buyers, and politically motivated protests at Tesla facilities. Musk appeared on Fox News's Hannity program on Tuesday and addressed the protests. "It's really come as quite a shock to me that there's this level of ... hatred and violence from the [political] left," said Musk. "Tesla is a peaceful company, we've never done anything awful."

Autodesk rose 0.8% after The Wall Street Journal reported that activist investor Starboard Value was preparing to wage a proxy fight at the design-software maker. Starboard holds a stake of more than $500 million in Autodesk. The Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, said Starboard intends to nominate a minority slate of director candidates ahead of Autodesk's's annual meeting.

Gilead Sciences fell 2.8% after the Journal reported the Health and Human Services Department was weighing plans to drastically cut the federal government's funding for domestic HIV prevention. The Journal report cited people familiar with the matter. Gilead makes HIV prevention treatments Biktarvy and Descovy.

HealthEquity was tumbling 14% after the health-savings account custodian said it expects adjusted earnings in fiscal 2026 of $3.57 to $3.74 a share, the midpoint of which is below analysts' expectations of $3.71. The company also said it anticipates fiscal 2026 revenue of $1.28 billion to $1.31 billion, the midpoint of which is below Wall Street estimates of $1.3 billion.

Earnings reports are expected Wednesday from General Mills, Williams-Sonoma, Ollie's Bargain Outlet, Five Below, Sportradar, and Signet Jewelers.

General Mills, the packaged-food company, is forecast by Wall Street to report fiscal third-quarter earnings of 96 cents a share, down from $1.17 a year earlier, on sales of $4.96, down 3%. The stock rose 0.1% in premarket trading.

Write to Joe Woelfel at joseph.woelfel@barrons.com

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March 19, 2025 06:10 ET (10:10 GMT)

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