Check out which companies are making headlines before the bell on Thursday:

Compuware - The software company said it would earn between $0.05 and $0.06 per share for the current quarter and $0.26 to $0.28 per share for the year. Both numbers are well below Street expectations, with Compuware saying that many deals that it had expected to close during the quarter have been delayed by clients who hadn't yet finalized their IT budgets.

Carnival - The cruise line operator is suffering from more mishaps, with the Carnival Triumph breaking loose from its moorings in Alabama because of high winds, with some reports saying that the ship sustained visible damage. The Triumph is the same ship that had to be towed to Alabama last month after an engine room fire caused the ship to lose power.

Microsoft - Bank of America/Merrill Lynch has downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "buy," saying the Windows product cycle and stock buyback programs haven't given Microsoft the expected boost.

The recent soft economic data echos the pattern of strong winter and weak spring of recent years, but analysts don't expect either the weak economic data or subsequent hesitant stock market to last.

Economists expect the second quarter to be weaker than the first, but expect a rebound in the third quarter and beyond. At the same time, stock strategists have also been looking for a pull back so traders are talking about the coincidence of a weaker market and weaker economy coming together.

Several disappointing numbers and Wednesday's stock market decline added to the talk ahead of Friday's key March jobs report, a major market focus. Economists expect to see just under 200,000 nonfarm jobs added, after a surprising 236,000 jump in February.

"That was the monkey wrench for the last week - the U.S. data has come in on the soft side," said Win Thin, senior currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman. "I think tomorrow's jobs report will be important for setting the tone for second quarter trading. We'll see."

Oil futures plunged nearly 3 percent decline in the biggest one day percentage loss since November 20.

Traders point to the sell-off across the board in commodities - with gold, silver and copper at multi-month lows - as well as oil prices breaching key technical levels as the reasons for the decline. West Texas Intermediate futures slumped to settle at $94.45 per barrel, below the 50-day moving average.

(Read More: Double Whammy of Inventories, Data Hit Oil)

Check out which companies are making headlines after the bell Wednesday:

Compuware - The software company said it expects to post earnings of between 5 cents a share and 6 cents a share, excluding one-time items, on revenue of $237 million to $241 million in the fourth quarter, sharply missing current expectations for 15 cents a share on sales of $273 million. Shares tumbled after being temporarily halted following the news in extended-hours trading.

"While we are very disappointed in our fourth-quarter results, we nonetheless remain confident that the actions we have taken to improve our competitive position and drive profitable growth are working and will enable us to fully unleash the value of this company," said CEO Bob Paul in a press release.

(Read More: Stocks Close Lower on North Korea Fears)

Lululemon Athletica - The yogawear company said its chief product officer Sheree Waterson will leave the company, as the firm gave an update on a March announcement that it was recalling pants that were unacceptably sheer. Shares slipped in extended-hours trading.

The sharp selloff in the Dow Transportation index this week is causing some strategists to wonder if the market may finally see its long-awaited pullback.

The Transportation index—which led the market higher in the last few months—surged 13 percent for the first quarter, while the Dow Jones climbed 11 percent in the same period. The Transports, considered by some to be an economic bellwether are up 22 percent since the market rally began in November, while the Dow is up 16 percent and the S&P 500 is up 14.8 percent.

But this week, the Dow Transports declined more than 1 percent each day and broke below the 50-day moving average in a third day of selling Wednesday. The last time the index dropped 1 percent or more a day, in a three day period, was back in July.

By Wednesday, the broader stock market joined the sell off, logging its worst one-day performance in over a month. The losses came a day after the Dow and S&P 500 both closed at record highs.

(Read More: Is the Stock Rally in Jeopardy?)

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn on Wednesday batted down rumors that he is selling his stake in Netflix.

The video streaming company's shares fell early in Wednesday's session, amid speculation that Icahn could be selling his stake.

In a telephone interview, Icahn told CNBC that he has "not sold one share of Netflix since buying it." Icahn said he generally does not comment on rumors, but he believes there may be investors spreading such rumors and trading on the misinformation.

Such rumors have now circulated several times over the past few months, he said.

Icahn Associates is the third largest shareholder of Netflix with roughly 5.5 million shares, or about 9.9 percent of the outstanding shares as of Dec. 31, 2012. Icahn continues to believe that the company will add subscribers at a more rapid rate than Wall Street consensus estimates.

Separately, Mark Newton, Chief Technical Analyst at Greywolf Execution Partners, says the stock's breakdown below $175, which has held since early February, is technically important. He said the slide should lead to additional weakness in the days ahead, with key targets down near $142.

The stock is in the red in afternoon trading, though well off the lows of the session since CNBC reported Icahn's comment on "Squawk on the Street" this morning.

Netflix so far has not commented on the activity in its stock.

First, a soft ISM, now a soft ADP.

March ADP at 158,000 was a huge miss over the consensus of 194,000; that is not a good sign for the nonfarm payroll report on Friday. Since ADP revised its methodology late last year, it has been much more accurate in its relation to the jobs report.

This is likely one of the main reasons we have seen a stock market at new highs, but with a very strange feature: consumers rule, cyclicals lag. Consumer index up 3.1 percent last two weeks, Cyclical index down 2.2 percent.

It's been all about Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Altria, and Procter & Gamble ... meanwhile steel and energy have been a mess, Bank of America and Citigroup trickle lower, while tech is mixed.

Why is this happening? There is good evidence that European investors are putting money into the U.S. markets; indeed, there is good evidence that the U.S. is where most international investors want to be. So why are consumer names in the U.S. outperforming cyclicals?

Check out which companies are making headlines before the bell on Wednesday:

ConAgra Foods - The food producer earned $0.55 per share for its third quarter, a penny shy of estimates, while revenues were slightly short as well. The company expects margin improvement initiatives to take hold in coming quarters.

Tesla Motors - The automaker announced a joint financing partnership with Wells Fargo and U.S. Bancorp. Under the program, the banks will provide 10 percent down financing for purchase of a Model S.

Vodafone Group - Verizon Communications said that while it is willing to buy out Vodafone's 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless, it has no plans to do so now, nor does it have any intention to make an offer for the entire company as had been speculated in media reports earlier this week.

With the broader U.S. stock market hitting new highs, more retail investors have been tip-toeing back into the stock market. And while history indicates that the return of mom-and-pop investors signals an end to the market rally, this time around more strategists say that calling a top could be premature.

Mutual funds and exchange-traded funds recorded net inflows of $4.5 billion in the last week, according to data from Thomson Reuters' Lipper service, with equity funds accounting for nearly $740 million in total net sales. Mutual funds continued to dominate inflows for the 12th straight week, with inflows of $2.3 billion last week, bringing total mutual inflows to $75.2 billion for the year so far.

The inflow is usually a bullish indicator for markets, especially as outflows have been more common in years following the financial crisis.

"After several years of outflows, we've been seeing better inflows so far this year, and we think we have a ways to go," said John Fox, co-manager of the FAM Value Fund. "It's driven today by people who feel that they've been missing out, but we're still in the early innings of retail investors coming back."

(Read More: Why Market's Best Weapon Could Run Out of Gas)

Check out which companies are making headlines after the bell Tuesday:

Tesla - The electric car maker announced it is starting a lease-to-own program for its Model S vehicles. U.S Bank and Wells Fargo will provide 10 percent down financing on a Model S purchase. Tesla shares edged higher in extended-hours trading.

(Read More: S&P 500, Dow End at Record Levels; HPQ Drops)

Zynga - The company announced it will will roll out two real-money versions of its casino and poker games in the UK over the next few days, marking the gaming giant's first offerings in the online gambling space. Shares jumped in extended-hours trading. (Read More: Is Virtual Reality the Next Big Thing in Gaming?)

Verizon - The wireless telecommunications company denied an earlier report that it is looking to partner with AT&T to acquire British cellphone company Vodafone. However, the Dow component said it would be a willing buyer of Vodafone's current 45-percent share of Verizon's wireless venture. Vodafone dropped in extended-hours trading.