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The United Auto Workers union has threatened to expand its strike against the Big Three automakers on Friday if substantial progress isn’t made in negotiations.
Dreamstime
Stock futures were rising modestly Friday following the
S&P 500
‘s 1.6% drop on Thursday, its worst day since March, as investors reacted to signals from the Federal Reserve that it could keep interest rates higher for longer.
These stocks were poised to make moves Friday:
Ford
(ticker: F) dipped 0.4%,
General Motors
(GM) gained 0.2%, and
Stellantis
(STLA) traded flat with the United Auto Workers union threatening to expand its strike against the Big Three automakers on Friday if substantial progress isn’t made in negotiations. The union began a limited strike, at one facility per auto maker, a week ago.
Microsoft
’s
(MSFT) $75 billion acquisition of
Activision Blizzard
(ATVI) drew closer to being cleared after the U.K.’s antitrust authority said a new restructured deal substantially addresses its concerns over cloud gaming.
Microsoft
shares rose 0.3%, while
Activision
jumped 1.8%.
American depositary receipts of
Alibaba
(BABA) were rising 3.8%, and
JD.com
(JD) gained 3.1%. A Bloomberg report said China was considering relaxing rules that cap foreign ownership in domestic publicly traded companies.
Wayfair
(W) was rising 2.5% to $62.01 in premarket trading after shares of the online furniture retailer were upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at Bernstein, and the price target was raised to $65 from $60.
United States Steel
(X) rose 1.8% after a report from Bloomberg said
Stelco Holdings
,
Canada’s biggest steelmaker, was pursuing a bid for the American steel producer.
U.S. Steel
rejected a takeover offer from
Cleveland-Cliffs
(CLF) in mid-August.
VinFast Auto
(VFS), the Vietnamese electric-vehicle maker, reported a second-quarter loss of $526.7 million, which was 8% narrower than the year-earlier period. The company said it delivered 9,535 vehicles in the second quarter, up from 1,789 a year earlier. The stock rose 1% in premarket trading.
Amazon.com
(AMZN) rose 1% after the online giant said Friday that it intends to add advertising to Prime Video next year.
Scholastic
(SCHL) was sinking 17% in premarket trading after the children’s book publisher reported an adjusted loss in the first quarter of $2.20 a share, much wider than analysts’ estimates that called for a loss of $1.35. Revenue of $228.5 million fell from $262.9 million a year earlier and missed forecasts of $268.8 million.
Scholastic
said it typically reports a loss in the first quarter when schools aren’t in session.
Oracle
(ORCL) reiterated Thursday that it will reach $65 billion in revenue by fiscal 2026. The company’s executive vice president for corporate operations, Doug Kehring, also repeated
Oracle
‘s forecast for 45% operating margins and at least 10% annual earnings per share growth by fiscal 2026. “We remain confident we are on track to meet those targets,” he said. Oracle shares rose 0.8% in premarket trading.
Write to Joe Woelfel at joseph.woelfel@barrons.com
