AMC, Bitcoin, Lordstown, Merck: What To Look For When The Stock Market Opens Today?

Futures have risen, reversing previous losses to suggest Wall Street indices could rise on their first trading day of the fourth quarter. This is what was looking for before the opening of the Friday market.

• Theater chain and meme stock favorite AMC Entertainment AMC 7.09%

  rose 1.9% premarket after announcing debt repurchases that cut overall interest costs.

• According to Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at brokerage AvaTrade, cryptocurrencies were broadly on the rise on Friday and are likely to benefit from increased optimism heading into the fourth quarter following recent rangebound trading. The price of Bitcoin rose 9.1% from the 5pm ET level on Thursday. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Thursday the US has no plans to ban cryptocurrencies, possibly adding to positive sentiment after China deemed them illegal last week. Crypto exchange Coinbase COIN 0.98%

  Globals shares gained 4.2% premarket.

• RIDE from Lordstown Motors 8.42%

  climbed 5.1% before the bell. The electric truck maker plans to sell its Ohio plant to contract mechanic Foxconn, marking a key pivot for the low-cost start-up as it works to bring its first pickup truck to market.

• Merck MRK 0.03%

  shares rose by 8.7%. The drugmaker and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics said their experimental Covid-19 pill helped prevent high-risk people from becoming seriously ill and dying early in the course of the disease in a pivotal study. Shares of vaccine makers Moderna MRNA 1.57%

  and Novavax NVAX 1.86%

  decreased by 3.7% and 5.2% respectively.

• Jefferies Financial Group JEF -1.54%

  shares added 1% premarket. The financial services company reported higher profits in the last quarter, thanks to an increase in revenues from its strong investment banking business.

• Zoom Video communication ZM 1.59%

  bid of nearly $15 billion for contact center company Five9 FIVN. to take over -1.23%

  was shot Thursday, crushing a massive expansion plan for the videoconferencing powerhouse. Zoom stocks gained 3.8%, Five9s fell 0.8%.

Card of the day

• A niche corner of the cloud software market that helps companies connect with customers has delivered impressive returns for investors. Skyrocketing stock prices are helping fuel a deal frenzy in space.

Write to James Willhite at [email protected]

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