Wednesday's Pre-Market: CrowdStrike, Powell to testify, Bitcoin, Asia's Tech Industry, and Target

CrowdStrike shares surge on earnings beat, strong full-year guidance

CrowdStrike shares surged after the company reported a strong beat on the top and bottom lines.
The cybersecurity firm has now reported GAAP net income for the past four quarters.
Management reiterated a 2030 goal of $10 billion in annual recurring revenue.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell heads to Capitol Hill on Wednesday with markets intent on getting more clarity about how the central bank plans on proceeding with monetary policy this year.
Central to the question of how the Fed acts from here on out is its view on inflation and how Powell expresses that.
Powell’s testimony before Congress comes at a ticklish time for markets: After breaching historic highs, major stock averages have sold off this week.

Bitcoin reached a new all-time high for the first time in more than two years, topping $69,210, according to Coin Metrics.
Bitcoin notched its previous record of $68,982.20 on Nov. 10, 2021.
With bitcoin on a hot streak, up 45% this year already, investors have warned about a cooling as unrealized profit margins approach extreme levels.

While we are not seeing a broader based recovery in non-tech sectors, the tech sector has been recovering, said JPMorgan.
“Asia has done reasonably well in the second half of last year. China industry benefited, North Asia obviously benefited more from it,” said Bruce Kasman, chief economist for JPMorgan, in a media briefing on Tuesday.
But the recovery is not uniform across all components in tech, said JPMorgan, naming the semiconductor industry as the bright spot amid the AI boom.

Target forecast another year of lackluster sales as it reported better-than-expected holiday-quarter results.
The retailer said it will launch a new membership program.
Target grew profits from the year-ago quarter.