U.S. stock futures declined Monday morning as investors returned from a holiday weekend and geared up for another busy week of corporate earnings results.
Market Snapshot
At 7:50 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 19 points, or 0.06%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 8 points, or 0.18%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 39.25 points, or 0.28%.
Pre-Market Movers
Twitter – Twitter shares jumped 4.5% in the premarket after the company’s board of directors adopted a so-called poison pill to preventTesla(TLSA) CEO Elon Musk from increasing his stake in the company past 15%. That follows Musk’s $54.20 per share bid for Twitter last week.
Sirius XM – The satellite radio operator’s stock fell 2% in premarket trading after Morgan Stanley downgraded it to “underweight” from “equal-weight.” Morgan Stanley said auto market headwinds would negatively impact Sirius XM, and also noted the stock’s outperformance over the past year.
Nektar Therapeutics – The drugmaker’s shares cratered 24.4% in the premarket after it halted all trials involving its key cancer drug. The experimental treatment did not produce the desired results in multiple studies.
Bank of America – Bank of America reported quarterly profit of 80 cents per share, 5 cents a share above estimates. Revenue also topped Street forecasts on strength in consumer lending. Bank of America shares rose 1.1% in the premarket.
Bank of New York Mellon – The bank beat estimates by a penny a share, with quarterly earnings of 86 cents per share. Revenue was essentially in line with analysts’ predictions. Its results were helped in part by higher interest rates.
Synchrony – The financial services company reported quarterly profit of $1.77 per share, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 a share. Revenue came in above estimates as well. Synchrony’s board also approved the addition of $2.8 billion to the company’s stock buyback plan as well as a 5% dividend increase to 23 cents per share. Synchrony added 1% in the premarket.
Southwest Gas – The utility said its board had authorized the review of a full range or strategic alternatives, after receiving what it called an “indication of interest” well in excess of investor Carl Icahn’s $82.50 per share offer.
DiDi Global Inc. – Didi shares posted an 18.3% premarket loss after the China-based ride-hailing firm reported a 12.7% drop in fourth-quarter revenue compared to a year earlier. Didi also said a shareholding meeting would be held on May 23 to vote on delisting from the New York Stock Exchange.
Wendy's – Wendy’s fell 1.8% in the premarket after BMO Capital downgraded the restaurant operator’s stock to “market perform” from “outperform.” BMO said Wendy’s is less well-positioned for a tighter consumer spending environment than some of its industry peers.
Progressive – Progressive was downgraded to “underweight” from “neutral” at Piper Sandler, which thinks the insurance company is likely to miss consensus earnings estimates due to too much optimism surrounding rising auto insurance rates. Progressive fell 1.6% in the premarket trading.
Market News
China’s economy accelerated in the first quarter of the year, even as lockdowns closed factories and kept tens of millions confined to their homes in March, according to official data that economists say overstates the strength of the world’s second-largest economy.
Key Singapore exports rose for the 16th straight month in March, helped by a surge in gold, according to data from trade agency Enterprise Singapore (ESG) on Monday (Apr 18).
Manufacturers including Tesla Motors began preparing on Monday to reopen their Shanghai plants as China’s most populous city speeds up efforts to get back to normal after a nearly three-week COVID shutdown.
Twitter adopted a measure that would shield it from hostile acquisition bids, taking steps to thwart billionaire Elon Musk’s unwelcome offer to take the company private and attempt to make it a bastion of free speech.
DiDi Global Inc. will hold an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on May 23 to vote on its delisting plans in the United States, the Chinese ride-hailing giant said in a statement on Saturday.
With recession calls on Wall Street picking up as the Federal Reserve embarks on what could be up to eight interest rate hikes this year,Goldman Sachs no longer wants to be left out of the growing crowd. It now see the odds of a recession as roughly 15% in the next 12 months and 35% within the next 24 months.
Softbank Group Corp’s Shu Nyatta and Paulo Passoni, two of the three managing partners at the SoftBank Group Corp.’s Latin America Fund, said they are leaving to start their own venture business focused on late-stage startups in the region.
China Eastern Airlines said it has resumed passenger flights of its Boeing737-800 model aircraft after grounding the planes for nearly a month, following a crash of one of the planes that killed all 132 people on board.