S&P 500 futures are up six points (0.1%), Nasdaq 100 futures are down 17 points (0.1%), and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are up 43 points (0.1%).
After last week's gains, there's some cautious trading. Nasdaq 100 futures are down while S&P 500 and Dow futures are up. Investors are waiting for key events.
This week's highlights include NVIDIA (NVDA) earnings after Wednesday and the PCE Price Index on Friday.
Treasury yields are stable. The 10-year note yield is at 3.81% and the 2-year note yield is at 3.91%.
Today's News
AsiaVision PDD Holdings (PDD, Financial) experienced a sharp decline in early trading on Monday after its Q2 results fell short of expectations. Despite an 86% revenue increase to $13.36 billion, the figure missed the consensus estimate by approximately $610 million. The Chinese online retailer saw a slowdown in its revenue growth rate sequentially, with online marketing services revenue up 29% and transaction services revenue surging 234%. However, total operating expenses rose by 48% due to increased sales and marketing expenses. VP of Finance, Ms. Jun Liu, warned of future revenue growth pressures due to intensified competition and external challenges, while also noting potential impacts on profitability as the company continues to invest. Shares of PDD Holdings dropped 15.88% in premarket trading to $117.64.
Micron Technology (MU, Financial) is reportedly acquiring two factories from Taiwanese company AUO in a deal valued between $310 million and $620 million. These facilities, located in Tainan, will be used to expand Micron's integrated circuit packaging and testing services, as well as increase the production of high bandwidth memory. Micron shares fell 1.2% in premarket trading on Monday.
McKesson (MCK, Financial) announced it will acquire a controlling interest in Core Ventures for $2.49 billion in cash. Post-acquisition, McKesson will hold a 70% stake in Core Ventures, which will become part of its Oncology platform. The financial results will be reported within McKesson’s U.S. Pharmaceutical segment, while Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute will retain a minority interest.
Desktop Metal (DM, Financial) saw a 3% rise in its stock price on Monday after the HSR waiting period for its planned sale to Nano Dimension (NNDM, Financial) expired. Nano Dimension had announced the acquisition deal in July, offering $5.50 per share in an all-cash transaction. The expiration of the waiting period signifies no further regulatory review by U.S. antitrust authorities, marking a significant step towards closing the deal in Q4 2024.
Durable goods orders in the U.S. soared 9.9% month-over-month to $289.6 billion in July, easily surpassing the expected 4.0% increase. This rebound follows a 6.9% plunge in June, with transportation equipment driving the improvement by rising 34.8% to $102.2 billion. However, core durable goods, excluding transportation equipment, slipped 0.2% month-over-month, falling short of the 0.0% consensus.
IBM (IBM, Financial) is closing its research and testing unit in China, affecting over 1,000 jobs. The company will shut down the IBM China Development Lab and IBM China System Lab, shifting its focus to serving private Chinese companies and multinational corporations. The China R&D functions will be relocated to other overseas facilities due to fierce competition and declining infrastructure business in the region.
XPeng (XPEV, Financial) shares surged over 7% after Chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng increased his stake in the company to restore investor confidence. He purchased 1 million Class A ordinary shares in the Hong Kong stock market and an additional 1,419,922 American Depositary Shares (ADSs) through Galaxy Dynasty Limited, boosting his shareholding to approximately 18.8%.
Alibaba (BABA, Financial), Baidu (BIDU, Financial), and Tencent (TCEHY, Financial) have significantly increased their spending on artificial intelligence, more than doubling their capital expenditure from last year. The three companies collectively spent RMB 50 billion ($7.02 billion) in the first half of the year, focusing on infrastructure related to training large language models for AI despite U.S. restrictions on chip access.
