U.S. stock futures were trending higher on Tuesday even as risks associated with the property giant China Evergrande Group continued to rattle investors’ sentiments. The bounce back in the futures market comes as the Federal Reserve begins its first two-day meeting, which is expected to provide hints on monetary stimulus tapering.
Dow futures were up 0.98%, S&P futures were up 0.87% and Nasdaq futures were up 0.75% at the time of writing.
AutoZone Inc. (AZO), Apogee Enterprises Inc. (APOG), Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. (CBRL) and Neogen Corp (NEOG) are set to report their quarterly earnings before the market opens. FedEx Corp (FDX), Stitch Fix Inc. (SFIX) will report after the market closes.
Rewalk Robotics (RWLK) was the most active stock in the pre-market session with 5.48 million shares exchanging hands at the time of writing. While the stock was also up by about 31.54%, the catalyst behind the increased market activity is still unclear.
Aprea Therapeutics Inc. (APRE) was one of the biggest gainers in the pre-market session, jumping 16.09% at the time of writing. The spike comes hot on the heels of the company presenting data from Phase 1/2 Trial of Eprenetapopt (APR-246) in advanced solid tumors at ESMO Congress 2021.
Verrica Pharmaceuticals (VRCA) was the biggest loser in the pre-market session, falling 29.34% at the time of writing. The sell-off comes after the company received a Complete Response Letter from the FDA, which identified deficiencies at a facility of a contract manufacturer for its New Drug Application for VP-102.
Meanwhile, ConocoPhillips (COP) has reached an agreement to acquire Shell’s Permian business for $9.5 billion. The acquisition should give the company access to producing assets in Texas, spanning an area of 225,000 net acres with more than 600 miles of crude gas and water pipelines. The transaction should close in the fourth quarter.
F5 Networks, Inc. (FFIV) has also reached an agreement to acquire cloud security and workload protection company Threat Stack. The multi-cloud application security firm is to acquire all Threat Stack shares for $68 million. A combination of the company’s cloud-native application and API protection solution with Threat Stack’s threat detection platform should make it easy for customers to enjoy consistent security on the cloud.
DoorDash (DASH) has expanded its offerings, making it easy for customers in 20 states in the U.S. and the District of Columbia to place orders for alcoholic drinks and have them delivered to their doorstep. The offering is also available in Australia and Canada as the company moves to create more earning opportunities for merchants.
Twitter, Inc. (TWTR) is to pay $809.5 million to settle claims following the allegation that it misled investors and other defendants on the user engagement numbers. The settlement is in relation to a class-action lawsuit filed in 2016. In this case, the company’s former CEO Richard Costolo and others were accused of concealing facts about the site’s slowing user growth.
Roku, Inc. (ROKU) has unveiled new streaming stick models — Roku Streaming Stick 4K and Roku Streaming Stick 4K+ — which are scheduled to release in mid-October. The two are designed to ensure smooth streaming in 4K Dolby Vision and HDR 10+ picture quality. It also comes with a long-range Wi-Fi receiver that delivers faster Wi-Fi speed.
