09:17 AM EDT, 10/08/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Consumer stocks were edging higher pre-bell Wednesday, with the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund ( XLP ) up 0.2% and the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund ( XLY ) advancing by 0.3%.

Toyota Motor ( TM ) said it signed a joint development deal with Sumitomo Metal Mining for mass production of cathode materials for all-solid-state batteries for electric vehicles. Shares of Toyota Motor ( TM ) were down 0.9% premarket.

Bed Bath & Beyond ( BBBY ) filed for an offering of up to about 6.9 million common shares after issuing warrants as a special dividend to its existing stockholders, a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission showed. Bed Bath & Beyond ( BBBY ) stock was nearly 0.3% higher pre-bell.

Alibaba ( BABA ) has set up an in-house robotics and embodied AI group within its Qwen unit, company executive Justin Lin said. Alibaba ( BABA ) shares were up nearly 0.1% premarket.