Virgin Galactic, FedEx, Tesla: What to Watch When the Stock Market Opens Today

By Mischa Frankl-Duval 

Here's what we are watching as markets kick into gear Friday.

-- U.S. stock futures traded close to the flatline as investors monitored whether Covid-19 infections and worsening economic data would push lawmakers to cement a coronavirus-aid package.

Futures tied to the S&P 500 rose 0.1%, suggesting the benchmark stocks gauge will open relatively unchanged after notching another record close Thursday. Futures tied to the technology-focused Nasdaq-100 rose 0.2%.

Read our full market wrap here.

What's Coming Up

Today is quadruple witching, a quarterly event which sees options and futures on indexes and stocks expire simultaneously. Quad witching days are typically some of the busiest trading sessions of the year.

Nike is due to report quarterly earnings after the closing bell.

The Conference Board publishes its index of leading economic indicators at 10 a.m. ET.

Market Movers to Watch

-- FedEx shares dropped 2.9% premarket despite the company reporting higher revenue and profits.

-- Shares in Virgin Galactic fell more than 10% in offhours trading. Its shares stumbled this week after a test flight launched on Dec. 12 failed to reach space as planned.

-- Darden Restaurants fell 1.8% premarket. The operator of Olive Garden and other outlets posted a higher profit for its fiscal second quarter despite sales falling 19%. It also named CEO Eugene Lee Jr. as chairman. -- Shares of DuPont rose 2.9% in premarket trade after the company said its board of directors had approved the separation of its Nutrition & Biosciences business.

-- Remote medical technology company BioTelemetry jumped almost 18% after Philips agreed to acquire it.

-- Cloud contact center software provider Five9 rose 1.4% premarket. Morgan Stanley yesterday raised its price target on the stock.

-- Tesla shares rose 1.8% in offhours trading, having risen more than 5% on Thursday. The company enters the S&P 500 index on Monday, a move that will likely trigger frenzied trading.

Market Fact

The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all reached both intraday highs and closing records Thursday. Nine of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors notched gains, with some of the biggest advances coming out of the health-care, technology and real-estate sectors.

Chart of the Day

Companies controlled by private-equity firms recently have borrowed heavily to pay dividends to their owners. The payouts can load their companies' balance sheets with heavy debt at a precarious moment.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 18, 2020 09:20 ET (14:20 GMT)

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