U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Monday, with investor focus on key inflation data and employment readings that are due later this week for further clues on the Federal Reserve's interest rate trajectory.
Market Snapshot
At 8:20 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 93 points, or 0.27%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 9.5 points, or 0.22%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 52.25 points, or 0.35%.
Pre-Market Movers
VinFast stock continues to fly 18% higher in premarket trading on Monday. VinFast shares were up 40.4% to $68.77 on Friday.
The unbelievable run for shares of Vietnamese electric-vehicle maker VinFast Auto makes it the second-most valuable car stock on the planet, behind only Tesla. It is also the most valuable EV start-up ever. Management might want to consider taking advantge of the high price.
Xpeng — U.S.-traded shares of the Chinese electric vehicles company jumped 5% Monday premarket. Xpeng announced it would buy Didi's smart electric car business in a deal worth $744 million.
3M — Shares rallied more than 5% after Bloomberg News reported the company tentatively agreed to resolve more than 330,000 lawsuits related to its defective earplugs, The company will pay more than $5.5 billion in the settlement, according to the report.
Mister Car Wash — The car wash stock climbed 5.7% in premarket trading following an upgrade to overweight from neutral by Piper Sandler. The firm said Mister Car Wash has upside potential over the next two years.
CrowdStrike — Shares of the cybersecurity company fell 2.6% in premarket trading after Morgan Stanley downgraded CrowdStrike to equal weight from overweight. The investment firm warned in a note to clients that Crowdstrike's upcoming earnings report could show slowing revenue growth ahead.
Akero Therapuetics — The biotech company's shares added 2.2% after UBS initiated Akero with a buy rating and a price target that implies sharp gains ahead. UBS thinks the company's treatment for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis could create an underappreciated market opportunity worth more than $20 billion.
Chinese stocks — Alibaba and JD.com rose 1.3% and 1.6%, respectively after the Chinese government said it would reduce a tax on trading, among other measures, to boost its stock market.
RPT Realty — Shares of the real estate investment trust rallied more than 11% on news RPT is being acquired by Kimco Realty for $2 billion in stock. The deal is expected to close in early 2024. "Approximately 70% of RPT's portfolio aligns with our key strategic markets," Kimco CEO Conor Flynn said in a statement.
Abcam — Shares of protein consumables supplier Abcam fell more than 3% after Danaher announced it would acquire the company in a deal valued at around $5.7 billion. Danaher shares gained less than 1%.
Market News
Nio Signs Partnership Deal With Singapore Hospitality Operator Ascott
Nio Power, Nio's energy business unit, signed an agreement on August 27 with the Chinese arm of Singapore-based hospitality operator The Ascott Limited to work together on building charging and battery swap infrastructure and enhancing user experience for both companies, according to a post the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker posted on its mobile app today.
Ascott is a wholly owned lodging business unit of Singaporean real estate giant CapitaLand Investment, with operations in more than 220 cities across more than 40 countries in Asia Pacific, Central Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the US.
Nio stock jumps 2% in premarket trading on Monday.
Thorne HealthTech Gains 28% on Go-Private Merger With L Catterton
Thorne HealthTech Inc. stock was up 28.81% in premarket trades on Monday after it said it agreed to be taken private by L Catterton for $10.20 a share in cash in a deal valued at $680 million.
The price amounts to a premium of 94% over Thorne HealthTech’s unaffected closing share price on July 20. Thorne Health’s independent special committee and board of directors have each approved the merger deal. The transaction is expected to close jn the fourth quarter.
Virgin Galactic Sets Flight Window for Third Commercial Spaceflight
Virgin Galactic Holdings announced on Monday that the Galactic 03 flight window will open September 8. The space tourism in continuing a monthly cadence of spaceflights. The Septemer mission would be the company’s fourth spaceflight in four months.
The three Galactic 03 crew members are the first of Virgin Galactic’s group of Founde’ astronauts – the first customers whose forward-thinking vision and early ticket purchases helped make the dream of regular commercial spaceflights a reality. Of note, the Galactic 03 crew bought their tickets as early as 2005 and have been an active part of the company’s vibrant Future Astronaut community.
Google's AI "Counteroffensive Taking Shape," Baird Says
Google is still firmly entrenched in competition with Microsoft over artificial intelligence supremacy, but investment firm Baird said the counteroffensive for Sundar Pichai's company is finally "taking shape."
Analyst Colin Sebastian, who has an outperform rating and $140 price target on Google, noted that the two upcoming AI developments, including the launch of the Gemini large language model, along with the next version of its tensor processing units are likely to help the company as a whole.
"Each of these (among a robust list of other AI developments) should benefit both core Google apps (Search, YouTube, Maps, Shopping, etc.) and Google's Cloud services," Sebastian wrote in an investor note. "From a sentiment perspective, we believe next week's Cloud Next conference should offer proof points on Google’s faster pace of updating and externalizing key AI capabilities."
Faraday Future Drop 11% After News of Reverse-Stock Split
Shares of electrical-vehicle maker Faraday Future Intelligent Electric dropped 11% in premarket trading on Monday, following news the company will effect a 1-for-80 reverse share split after the close of trading.
The stock was recently down almost 15.95% at 15 cents on Friday, a three-month low. The stock opened at 18 cents and was trading as high as 20 cents before news of the reverse split.