Wall Street futures gained on Monday as Tesla shares rose, while investors awaited inflation data due later this week for clues on the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest-rate path.
Market Snapshot
At 8:20 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 60 points, or 0.17%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 20.5 points, or 0.45%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 116.5 points, or 0.75%.
Pre-Market Movers
Tesla rose 6.2% to $263.82 after shares of the electric-vehicle maker were upgraded to Buy from Hold by Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas, who also boosted the stock’s price target to a Wall Street high of $400 a share, up from $250. The upgrade centers around artificial intelligence with Jonas writing that Tesla “has developed an advanced supercomputing architecture that pushes new boundaries in custom silicon and may put Tesla at an asymmetric advantage in a $10 trillion total addressable market.”
Qualcomm jumped 5.33% after the semiconductor company extended an agreement to make modem chips for Apple ‘s (AAPL) iPhones through to 2026.
American depositary receipts of Alibaba fell 0.7% in premarket trading. Hong-Kong listed shares of Alibaba declined 3% after Daniel Zhang, former chairman of the e-commerce giant, stepped down as chairman and chief executive of its cloud business unit. Alibaba is aiming for a public listing of its cloud unit, the company’s second-largest business by revenue.
J.M. Smucker is nearing a deal to acquire Twinkies owner Hostess Brands for about $4 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Hostess Brands’ value currently stands at about $3.7 billion. Hostess Brands was up 14% in premarket trading. Smucker shares dropped 2.5%.
Kenvue was up 3.6% to $22.06. Shares of the company, which sells such products as Band-Aid, Listerine, Neutrogena, and Tylenol, were upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank and the price target was left unchanged at $27.
Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is working on a new artificial-intelligence system intended to be as powerful as the most advanced model offered by OpenAI, the Journal reported. Meta aims for the new AI model to be ready next year, according to the Journal, which cited people familiar with the matter. Meta shares rose 1.3%.
RTX, the aerospace and defense company formally known as Raytheon Technologies, dropped 3.1% after lowering its sales guidance due to a “rare condition in powder metal used to manufacture certain engine parts.”
Apple shares were up 1.32% in premarket trading, a day before the tech giant’s annual fall launch event, dubbed “Wonderlust” this year. The event is expected to focus on the debut of the iPhone 15. The most notable change to the phone likely will be a shift to the widely used USB-C standard port from Apple’s proprietary Lightning connectors.
FuelCell Energy, a fuel cell technology and hydrogen production company, reported a narrower-than-expected fiscal third-quarter loss. Shares gained 0.7% in premarket trading.
Adobe rose 0.5% to $563.01 after the stock’s price target was raised to $660 from $600 at Jefferies. The software company reports earnings later this week.
Alphabet rose 0.3% as the Department of Justice finally will bring its three-year-old antitrust case against Google to trial beginning Tuesday. The DOJ argues that the Alphabet unit has an illegal monopoly in the internet search market.
Market News
Alibaba’s Ex-CEO Zhang Quits as Ma’s Lieutenants Take the Helm
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s former chief Daniel Zhang has decided to quit just months after agreeing to lead its cloud division, introducing another layer of uncertainty to China’s largest e-commerce company just as it’s navigating a complicated breakup.
The executive assumed that post after ceding his dual roles of chief executive officer and chairman to Eddie Wu and Joseph Tsai, respectively. Wu and Tsai, both close confidantes of Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma, formally took up their positions on Sunday.
Meta Is Developing a New, More Powerful AI System
The parent of Facebook and Instagram is working on a new artificial-intelligence system intended to be as powerful as the most advanced model offered by OpenAI, the Microsoft-backed startup that created ChatGPT, according to people familiar with the matter. Meta aims for its new AI model, which it hopes to be ready next year, to be several times more powerful than the oneit released just two months ago, dubbed Llama 2.
SoftBank's Arm Eyes Pricing IPO at Top of Range Or Above
Arm, the chip designer owned by SoftBank Group Corp, is getting close to securing enough investor support to attain the fully diluted valuation of $54.5 billion it was seeking in its initial public offering (IPO) at the top of its indicated range, and is considering asking investors to value it higher, people familiar with the matter said on Sunday.
Following strong demand from investors, Arm will likely be able to price the IPO at the top or above its $47-to-$51-per-share range when its underwriters close their books on Wednesday on the biggest U.S. stock market debut in two years, the sources said.
Twitter Downloads Hit Lowest Level in a Over a Decade
Twitter is now downloaded less often than it has in over a decade after an abrupt rebrand and an escalation of controversy driven by its owner Elon Musk.
Since the start of July, the app's downloads have fallen by almost 30% compared to the preceding two months, according to data from app performance tracker Apptopia. That was the same month Musk decided to rename the company X, ignoring conventional branding wisdom and the wishes of CEO Linda Yaccarino. Compared to the same period last year, just prior to Musk's $44 billion takeover, downloads are down 18%.
Vietnam Air, Boeing Near $10 Billion Deal for 737 Max Jets
Vietnam Airlines JSC will sign an initial agreement to buy 50 Boeing Co. 737 Max jets in a deal valued at about $10 billion at list prices, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The financially challenged airline plans to sign a memorandum of understanding during President Joe Biden’s visit to Vietnam, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.