Here's everything you must know before Thursday's opening bell:
-U.S. stock futures rose modestly on Thursday, April 12, amid escalating tensions in the Middle East and signals from the Federal Reserve about the direction of its monetary policy.
Investors were mulling signals from the Fed about when and how often the central bank plans to raise interest rates. Minutes from the Fed's meeting in March, released Wednesday, showed greater confidence that inflation would rise to the Fed's 2% target over the coming year.
-Earnings reports are expected Thursday from Delta Air Lines (DAL) , Rite Aid (RAD) and BlackRock (BLK) .
-Facebook's (FB) Value Rose $17 Billion During Zuckerberg's Testimony. Shares of the social media giant, an Action Alert PLUS holding, rose 0.8% on Wednesday following Zuckerberg's second day of testimony before U.S. lawmakers. Together with Tuesday's 4.5% spike, Facebook shares have now pared their year-to-date losses to 5.8%.
-Tesla (TSLA) has targeted November 2019 as the production start for its Model Y sport utility vehicle.
-Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) shares were down 14.3% in premarket trading after retailer said fiscal-year earnings would be below analysts' forecasts.
