U.S. stock index futures fell on Friday at the end of an upbeat holiday-shortened week for Wall Street's main indexes that was driven by expectations around a traditionally strong period for markets.
Market Snapshot
At 8:50 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 132 points, or 0.30%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 19 points, or 0.31%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 64 points, or 0.29%.
Pre-Market Movers
Drone maker companies continued to rally in premarket trading on Friday. SES AI rose 60%; Ondas Holdings rose 18%; Palladyne AI soared 12%; Unusual Machines up 9%.
Quantum shares continued to rise on Friday. Quantum Corp up 18% after a 50% rally in prior session; Rigetti Computing up 12%; SEALSQ Corp up 11%; Quantum Computing Inc. up 10%; D-Wave Systems Inc. up 8%.
Shares of KULR Technology Group continued to rise 12.49% in premarket trading after a 40% rally in prior session. On Thursday, KULR Technology Group, Inc. announced that it has completed the purchase of 217.18 Bitcoin for approximately $21 million, at an average price of $96,556.53 per BTC.
Tesla fell 0.4%, extending losses from Thursday, when the auto maker tumbled 1.8%. Tesla has gained 83% this year. The electric-vehicle maker is set to release fourth-quarter deliveries next week. Wall Street expects Tesla to deliver around 510,00 vehicles, an all-time record for any quarter.
Super Micro Computer declined 1.5% after falling 1.7% on Thursday. The stock has been tumultuous this year, rising as high as $119 and dipping as low as $18. While shares of Super Micro were initially swept up in a wave of enthusiasm for artificial intelligence, delayed financial reports and the resignation of the company's previous accountant battered the stock price back down. The server maker has gained 19% since Jan. 1.
Nvidia dipped 0.5% in premarket trading. Shares of the chip manufacturer have gained 183% this year. While Nvidia is best known as a producer of graphics processing units, or GPUs, the company has also developed an AI geospatial model of Earth. Dion Harris, the company's director of accelerated data center solutions, told Barron's that organizations like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have already adopted Nvidia's Earth-2.
Shares of Netflix tumbled 1.6%. The streaming service pulled off its coverage of two Christmas Day NLF games largely without a hitch, avoiding the lag and buffering issues that impacted the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson boxing fight in November. However, Netflix's success appears to have been priced into the stock. As the streamer continues to invest in live sports, some analysts have reiterated their bullish position while others remain cautious. The stock has risen 90% this year.
Rumble, the live-streaming platform, rose 3.3% after jumping 28% on Thursday. The stock has gained 262% this year. Rumble announced earlier this week that Tether, the issuer of a digital token of the same name, had agreed to invest $775 million investment in the company. The news came after Rumble's board approved the purchase of up to $20 million in Bitcoin in November.
Market News
OpenAI Mulls Plan for a More Conventional For-Profit Business
OpenAI, founded a decade ago as a research organization, is considering a change to the AI company’s structure that would create a more conventional money-making corporation alongside a nonprofit arm.
The board is evaluating a plan that would turn OpenAI’s business into a public benefit corporation — an entity free to pursue income but with the goal of bettering society — while retaining a nonprofit side, according to a blog post Friday. As part of the new structure, the nonprofit arm would hold shares in the moneymaking entity.
South Korea Impeaches Two Leaders in Two Weeks as Crisis Deepens
South Korea’s parliament impeached Acting President Han Duck-soo, dealing another blow to a government already reeling after President Yoon Suk Yeol’s suspension less than two weeks ago for his brief martial law decree.
Lawmakers voted 192-0 in favor of Prime Minister Han’s impeachment on Friday, according to National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik. He said before the vote that a simple majority in the 300-seat parliament was needed for the motion to pass, instead of the two-thirds required to suspend a president.