What to watch today: Dow futures advance, beginning November where October left off
The Dow was set to start November higher, as futures showed a 150-point advance, after October on Wall Street ended Friday, with record closes for the 30-stock average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. In fact, stocks in October, an infamously tricky month, finished higher. The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all logged weekly gains for four straight weeks. For the month, the Dow was up 5.8%; the S&P 500 was up nearly 7%; and the Nasdaq was up almost 7.3%. (CNBC)
While the November-December stretch has historically been positive for stocks, this year's bullish tone could be tested as the Federal Reserve starts its two-day November meeting Tuesday. Central bankers are expected to announce the beginning of a tapering of Covid-era bond purchases. Friday brings the government's October employment report. (CNBC)
IN THE NEWS TODAY
Barclays (BCS) CEO Jes Staley has agreed to step down after a U.K. watchdog investigation into his business dealings with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. Current head of global markets, C.S. Venkatakrishnan, is taking over as CEO, effective immediately, subject to regulatory approval. Barclays said the probe did not find that Staley "saw, or was aware of," any of Epstein's alleged crimes. (CNBC)
American Airlines (LUV) scrapped some 250 flights, or about 9%, of its Monday schedule, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware, on top of more than 1,700 cancellations since Friday. The carrier blamed staffing problems and high winds at its busiest hub, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, last week. (CNBC)
More than 5 million people have died from Covid in less than two years, as the world continues to battle the highly infectious delta variant of the virus and watches for other new strains. In the U.S., 745,836 people have died due to Covid-19, making it the country with the highest number of recorded deaths. (CNBC)
* U.S. Covid cases drop to less than half of peak delta levels ahead of holidays (CNBC)
Shanghai Disney suspended entry late Sunday and asked visitors to get coronavirus tests upon exiting and another one 24 hours later. The resort is closed Monday and Tuesday, and visitors can request a refund for tickets. Shanghai Disney cited cooperation with "pandemic investigation in other provinces and cities" in China. (CNBC)
* Moderna says FDA needs more time to review its Covid vaccine for teens (CNBC)
* White House press secretary Psaki says she has tested positive for Covid (AP)
President Joe Biden was swinging the focus of his battle for action against global warming from Congress to the world stage Monday, appealing to global leaders at a U.N. climate summit to commit to the kind of big measures he's still working to nail down at home. The summit in Glasgow, Scotland, has often been billed as essential to putting the landmark 2015 Paris climate accord into action. (AP)
A majority of Americans disapprove of Biden's job performance, according to results from the latest national NBC News poll. Only 42% say they approve of Biden's overall job as president, a decline of 7 points since August, with much of the attrition coming from key parts of the Democratic base.
The House was expected to vote, as early as Tuesday, on the Senate-passed infrastructure bill and the Democrats' go-it-alone social and climate spending package. The timeline is ambitious, as lawmakers are still revising the safety net package to win the support of nearly every Democrat in the House and all 50 Democrats in the Senate. (NBC News)
The Supreme Court is taking up challenges to a Texas law that has virtually ended abortion in the nation's second-largest state after six weeks of pregnancy. The justices are hearing arguments Monday in two cases over whether abortion providers or the Justice Department can mount federal court challenges. (AP)
Online gaming platform Roblox (RBLX) restored its services Sunday after an outage that began on Thursday. Early reports speculated the outage was related to a Halloween promotion event in partnership with food chain Chipotle (CMG). However, Roblox said it was "not related to any specific experiences or partnerships on the platform." (CNBC)
Coca-Cola (KO) is buying full control of BodyArmor for $5.6 billion in a deal that values the sports drink brand at about $8 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The moveramps up a rivalry with PepsiCo (PEP) owned Gatorade, which was on track for $1.4 billion in retail sales this year. (WSJ)
* Striking Deere workers are set to vote Tuesday on new contract offer (WSJ)
Digital Currency Group is selling shares to SoftBank and Google's venture capital arm in a deal that values the crypto conglomerate at more than $10 billion. Digital Currency Group is is the parent company of several big names in the crypto space, including Grayscale. (CNBC)
* Little-known cryptocurrency spiked 400% after Facebook changed its name to Meta (CNBC)\
STOCKS TO WATCH
Harley-Davidson (HOG) soared 9.4% in the premarket after the U.S. and the European Union ended a dispute involving steel and aluminum tariffs. Harley could have paid European tariffs of 56% if the dispute had not been resolved.
GameStop (GME) Chief Operating Officer Jenna Owens is leaving the videogame retailer after just seven months. GameStop did not give a reason for the departure of Owens, who had been a top executive at Amazon and Google before joining GameStop.
Trivago (TRVG) jumped 4% in the premarket after it reported an unexpected profit and better-than-expected revenue for its latest quarter. Trivago cited improving travel trends as pandemic restrictions ease and vaccinations increase.
Xpeng (XPEV) jumped 3.7% in premarket trading after the Chinese electric vehicle maker said it delivered 10,138 cars in October, an increase of 233% over a year ago.
WATERCOOLER
"Dune" repeated its top performance at the domestic box office this weekend,. with an estimated $15.5 million in ticket sales. October ended as the highest-grossing month at the movies in 2021. AMC Entertainment (AMC) rallied 2.6% premarket trading after saying admissions revenue in October was the highest in any month since February 2020. (Variety & CNBC)
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