WU Western Union Company

By Caitlin Ostroff 

Here's what we're watching ahead of Tuesday's opening bell.

-- U.S. stock futures climbed ahead of a slew of earnings releases and testimony by Janet Yellen in which she is expected to support higher coronavirus relief spending.

Futures tied to the S&P 500 rose 0.7%, pointing to a rally after the opening bell. Those linked to the Nasdaq-100 added 0.8%, suggesting gains in tech stocks. Read our full market wrap here.

What's Coming Up

-- Janet Yellen, President-elect Joe Biden's choice for Treasury secretary, is set to testify before the Senate Finance Committee, which is considering her nomination, at 10 a.m. ET. She is expected to tell lawmakers that the U.S. risks a longer recession unless Congress approves more aid and affirm the commitment to market-determined exchange rates.

-- Interactive Brokers, J.B. Hunt and Netflix will report quarterly earnings after markets close.

Market Movers to Watch

-- Shares in videogame retailer GameStop rose more than 8% premarket. The company has recently been a favorite among individual traders who have encouraged others to scoop up the stock on social media forums.

-- Coherent climbed 33% in premarket trading after Lumentum Holdings confirmed Tuesday that it would acquire the laser maker. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that Lumentum was in advanced talks to buy Coherent. Shares in Lumentum fell 5% premarket.

-- Tesla rose 1.9% premarket after the electric car maker delivered its first made-in-China Model Y compact crossover vehicles on Monday.

-- Shares in Triterras gained more than 17% premarket after the financial technology company authorized a share repurchase program of up to $50 million.

-- Shares in Gritstone Oncology rallied more than 40% after the biotechnology company said it is advancing development of a vaccine against the virus that causes Covid-19.

-- Jeep-owner Stellantis, the recently combined business of Fiat Chrysler and PSA Group, gained 5.1% in European trading, extending Monday's pop after it made its debut on French and Italian exchanges. The company's shares on the New York Stock Exchange will start trading Tuesday.

-- Shares of Western Union shot up 6.3% in premarket trading, after the money-movement company announced a new agreement with Walmart in which money transfer services will be enabled at Walmart stores nationwide.

-- Bank of America fell 1.4% premarket after second-largest bank in the U.S. said earnings fell 22% in the fourth quarter.

-- Shares in Halliburton rose 2.2% after the Houston-based oil-field services company said its loss for the fourth quarter narrowed as it took less in impairment charges than the same period last year, and that it is seeing recovery in the energy sector.

-- Office Depot shed 4.6% premarket after The Wall Street Journal reported that the office supplies company rebuffed an unsolicited takeover offer from Staples but indicated it is open to an alternative deal.

-- Goldman Sachs rose 2.6% premarket after the bank reported sharply higher profits for the fourth quarter.

-- Shares in MGM Resorts International gained 5.7% in premarket trading after the company said it doesn't plan to submit a revised proposal to buy Entain, the U.K. sports betting and gambling company. Shares in Entain fell more than 18% in London trading.

Market Fact

In the past four years, U.S. government debt held by the public has increased by $7 trillion to $21.6 trillion. At 100.1% of gross domestic product, the debt already exceeds the annual output of the economy, putting the U.S. in company with economies including Greece, Italy and Japan.

Chart of the Day

U.K. merger activity slumped in the early summer from the year-earlier period as part of a broader decline amid virus-induced lockdowns, but the fourth quarter marked a rebound in mergers and acquisitions in the U.K. as a vaccination program raised the prospect of bringing the virus under control.

Must Reads Since You Went to Bed

U.S. Corporate-Bond Rally Rolls Into 2021

Renaissance Says Losses Should Have Been Expected at Some Point

Yellen Calls for More Aid to Avoid Longer, More Painful Recession

After Stock Surge, Investors Ask Companies What's Ahead

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 19, 2021 09:00 ET (14:00 GMT)

Western Union (NYSE:WU)
Historical Stock Chart
From Nov 2024 to Dec 2024

Western Union (NYSE:WU)
Historical Stock Chart
From Dec 2023 to Dec 2024