Wall Street poised to open higher
U.S. stock index futures look set for a higher open on Monday, as market players await a barrage of earnings reports and a Federal Reserve policy meeting later this week.
Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG), AT&T (NYSE: T), Spotify (NYSE: SPOT), and T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) are among companies expected to report quarterly results today.
By 5:22 a.m. ET, the blue-chip Dow futures were up 49.5 points, or 0.18% to 26,953.5. The S&P 500 futures rose 4.37 points, or 0.14% to 3,024.62 while the Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 19.37 points, or 0.24% to 8,055.12.
Microsoft clinches lucrative JEDI contract
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has been awarded a $10 billion Pentagon cloud-computing contract.
The tech giant won the 10-year contract for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) on Friday, beating Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), IBM (NYSE: IBM), Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) and Google-owner Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG).
Analysts were widely expecting Amazon to win the contract because of its expertise in data-sharing platforms, automated compliance systems, and streamlined data transfer.
Stifel Nicolaus analyst Brad Reback believes the contract could eventually lift Microsoft’s annual free cash flow by $300 million.
Shares of Microsoft were trading 3.32% higher to $145.40 in premarket hours, while those of Amazon were down 1.04% to $1,743.
EU agrees to extend Brexit until January 31, 2020
European Union member countries have agreed to extend Brexit until January 31 next year. That decision now means that the United Kingdom will not exit the bloc as planned on October 31.
“The EU27 has agreed that it will accept the U.K.’s request for a Brexit flextension until 31 January 2020. The decision is expected to be formalised through a written procedure,” European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted early Monday.
Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to put a vote for a December 12 snap general election before parliament later today.
