By Peter Nurse

Investing.com -- Stocks in focus in premarket trade on Thursday, March 23rd. Please refresh for updates.

• First Republic Bank (NYSE: FRC) stock rose 11%, PacWest Bancorp (NASDAQ: PACW) stock rose 6.5%, and Western Alliance (NYSE: WAL) stock rose 6.7%, with these regional banks clawing back some losses from a sharp decline in the prior session after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that she is not eyeing plans to guarantee all bank deposits.

• General Mills (NYSE: GIS) stock rose 1.7% after the food processing giant raised its annual sales forecast, benefiting from price increases and resilient demand for its snack bars, breakfast cereals, and pet food products.

• Ford (NYSE: F) stock rose 0.6% after the auto giant predicted its electric vehicle business unit will lose $3 billion this year, but said it remained on track to achieve a pretax margin of 8% by late 2026.

• Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) stock fell 12.4% after the SEC threatened to sue the crypto exchange over some of its products.

• KB Home (NYSE: KBH) stock rose 2.9% after the homebuilder reported strong financial results, but also warned that net orders in the first two-and-a-half weeks of the ongoing second quarter fell 24% from last year.

• Accenture (NYSE: ACN) stock rose 4.9% after the IT services company announced plans to cut about 19,000 jobs in order to cut costs, but also lowered its annual revenue and profit projections, given the worsening global economic outlook.

• Steelcase (NYSE: SCS) stock rose 9.8% after the office furniture company issued a strong earnings report as well as healthy guidance for the current quarter.

• Chewy (NYSE: CHWY) stock fell 6% after Deutsche Bank downgraded the pet food retailer to 'hold' from 'buy', citing disappointing current trading and a concerning 2023 outlook.