Virgin Galactic, FedEx, Tesla: What to Watch When the Stock Market Opens Today
December 18 2020 - 9:35AM
Dow Jones News
By Mischa Frankl-Duval
Here's what we are watching as markets kick into gear
Friday.
-- U.S. stock futures traded close to the flatline as investors
monitored whether Covid-19 infections and worsening economic data
would push lawmakers to cement a coronavirus-aid package.
Futures tied to the S&P 500 rose 0.1%, suggesting the
benchmark stocks gauge will open relatively unchanged after
notching another record close Thursday. Futures tied to the
technology-focused Nasdaq-100 rose 0.2%.
Read our full market wrap here.
What's Coming Up
Today is quadruple witching, a quarterly event which sees
options and futures on indexes and stocks expire simultaneously.
Quad witching days are typically some of the busiest trading
sessions of the year.
Nike is due to report quarterly earnings after the closing
bell.
The Conference Board publishes its index of leading economic
indicators at 10 a.m. ET.
Market Movers to Watch
-- FedEx shares dropped 2.9% premarket despite the company
reporting higher revenue and profits.
-- Shares in Virgin Galactic fell more than 10% in offhours
trading. Its shares stumbled this week after a test flight launched
on Dec. 12 failed to reach space as planned.
-- Darden Restaurants fell 1.8% premarket. The operator of Olive
Garden and other outlets posted a higher profit for its fiscal
second quarter despite sales falling 19%. It also named CEO Eugene
Lee Jr. as chairman. -- Shares of DuPont rose 2.9% in premarket
trade after the company said its board of directors had approved
the separation of its Nutrition & Biosciences business.
-- Remote medical technology company BioTelemetry jumped almost
18% after Philips agreed to acquire it.
-- Cloud contact center software provider Five9 rose 1.4%
premarket. Morgan Stanley yesterday raised its price target on the
stock.
-- Tesla shares rose 1.8% in offhours trading, having risen more
than 5% on Thursday. The company enters the S&P 500 index on
Monday, a move that will likely trigger frenzied trading.
Market Fact
The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all reached both intraday highs
and closing records Thursday. Nine of the 11 major S&P 500
sectors notched gains, with some of the biggest advances coming out
of the health-care, technology and real-estate sectors.
Chart of the Day
Companies controlled by private-equity firms recently have
borrowed heavily to pay dividends to their owners. The payouts can
load their companies' balance sheets with heavy debt at a
precarious moment.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 18, 2020 09:20 ET (14:20 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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