Stock futures rose Monday after the federal government averted a shutdown, adding to the positive sentiment from Friday when a report showed U.S. inflation had cooled more than expected.
These stocks were poised to make moves Monday:
Honda and Nissan said they planned to merge in 2026, with the boards of both Japanese auto makers formally approving the start of merger talks on Monday. The companies said a definitive merger agreement would be signed in June 2025. Honda and Nissan will create a joint holding company that would integrate the operations of both carmakers. U.S.-listed shares of Honda surged 16% on Monday and rose 3.8% in Tokyo. Nissan shares gained 1.6% and have risen more than 30% since the companies announced last week they were exploring a merger.
Qualcomm was up 3% in premarket trading after a jury in Delaware sided with the chip maker in its long-running licensing dispute with Arm Holdings, the chip design company. Arm had claimed that Qualcomm violated the terms of a licensing agreement it had with Nuvia, a company that Qualcomm purchased in 2021 for $1.4 billion. But the jury sided with Qualcomm, which countered the technology that was transferred from Nuvia was covered under its own license agreement with Arm. Shares of Arm declined 2.9%.
Shares of Eli Lilly rose 2.4% after the Food and Drug Administration approved Zepbound, the company's weight-loss drug, for moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea in adults with obesity. Eli Lilly said Zepbound was the "first and only prescription medicine for adults" with the condition. Lilly shares were extending gains from Friday when they rose 1.4% after rival Novo Nordisk saw its U.S.-listed shares tumble 18% following a late-stage trial that found experimental drug CagriSema didn't work as well as expected. In premarket trading, Novo Nordisk was up 6.3%.
Tesla was rising 2.9% in premarket trading. The stock fell 3.5% on Friday, making it the S&P 500's worst-performing stock in the session. "To me, [ Tesla stock] was wildly overbought and long hedge funds needed a reason to take some profits," says Future Fund Active ETF cofounder and Tesla shareholder Gary Black. Coming into Monday, Tesla shares have risen 69% this year and 67% since the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election.
Rumble stock surged 45% to $10.45 after the video platform entered an agreement for a $775 million investment from cryptocurrency company Tether. Tether agreed to purchase about 103.3 million Rumble shares at $7.50 a share. Rumble said it anticipates using $250 million to support growth initiatives, with the remaining proceeds to fund a self-tender offer for up to 70 million Class A common shares.
