U.S. stock index futures inched up on Friday as signs of easing price pressures and slowing economic growth raised hopes the Federal Reserve could end its monetary tightening campaign soon.
Market Snapshot
At 8:27 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 28 points, or 0.08%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 9 points, or 0.2%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 58.75 points, or 0.38%.
Pre-Market Movers
Virgin Galactic — Shares soared nearly 45% in premarket trading, a day after the company said its first commercial space tourism flight is set for later this month. Its second commercial flight is expected in early August, with monthly runs after that, the company said.
Adobe — The tech stock rallied nearly 5% following its earnings and revenue beat after the bell Thursday. The company also raised its forecast for the fiscal third quarter and full year. It expects to earn between $15.65 and $15.75 a share, after adjustments, on revenue in the range of $19.25 billion to $19.35 billion in fiscal 2023, which is on the high-end of estimates.
iRobot — Shares surged more than 20% after Britain’s regulator, Competition and Markets Authority, approved Amazon’s $1.7 billion acquisition of the Roomba vacuum cleaner. Shares of Amazon were flat.
SoFi Technologies — Shares dropped about 6% after being downgraded by Piper Sandler to neutral from buy. The Wall Street firm said the call was mainly due to valuation, but believed the financial technology firm was a “long-term winner.” Oppenheimer also downgraded the stock Thursday due to its recent appreciation.
Cava Group — The newly debuted restaurant stock rose more than 4% in premarket trading on Friday, extending its massive gains from Thursday’s session. Cava closed at $43.78 per share on its first day of trading on Thursday, 99% above its IPO price of $22 per share.
Micron Technologies — The chip stock gained almost 3% following a report by Bloomberg that said Micron is close to sealing a $1 billion deal to build a new factory in India.
DraftKings — Shares rose more than 1% after the online betting company made a $195 million offer for PointsBet’s U.S. assets, outbidding Fanatics.
Market News
Amazon’s $1.7 Billion iRobot Deal Gets UK Deal Clearance
Amazon.com Inc.’s proposed $1.7 billion deal to buy robot vacuum firm iRobot Corp. was given the all-clear by the UK’s antitrust agency.
The Competition and Markets Authority said the deal would not lead to competition concerns in the UK market after an initial review, according to a statement Friday.
Micron Vows $600 Million China Investment Weeks After Chip Ban
Micron Technology Inc. promised to invest another 4.3 billion yuan ($602 million) in its Chinese chip-packaging plant, a significant outlay announced weeks after Beijing imposed curbs on the use of its semiconductors.
The largest US memory chipmaker will acquire equipment and add assembly lines at its existing facility in the central city of Xi’an over coming years, it announced in a post on Chinese social media platform WeChat. That should create 500 jobs, bringing its staffing in the country to more than 4,500, the company added.
A $4.2 Trillion Options Event Looms for Newly Minted Bull Market
The gravity-defying bull market is handing stock investors a fresh conundrum as an unusually big pile of options expires Friday: Chase gains via bullish derivatives or hedge with bearish bets?
It’s decision traders always face, but the stakes are higher this time. About $4.2 trillion of contracts tied to stocks and indexes are scheduled to mature, according to an estimate by Rocky Fishman, founder of derivatives analytical firm Asym 500. That’s 20% more than a year ago.
Intel Plans $4.6 Billion Polish Fab as EU Hub Picks Up Pace
Intel Corp. plans to invest as much as $4.6 billion to build a semiconductor assembly and test facility in western Poland, its latest project in the European Union as the bloc seeks to boost chip production amid rising geopolitical tensions.
“With this investment today, and others in the EU, we’re excited to play a critical enabling point to building these more resilient supply chains,” Chief Executive Officer Pat Gelsinger said at a press conference announcing the investment in Wroclaw, Poland on Friday.
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