Futures point to more gains
U.S. stock futures are pointing to a positive open for Wall Street on Tuesday after President Donald Trump confirmed that the trade deal his administration made with China was “fully intact,” contradicting the comments his trade adviser Peter Navarro had made when he told Fox News that the deal was “over.”
“The China Trade Deal is fully intact,” Trump said in a tweet late Monday. “Hopefully they will continue to live up to the terms of the Agreement!”
Navarro also clarified that his statement was “wildly out of context” and that he was referring to a loss of “trust” with China.
The trade adviser had told the news outlet in a late-Monday interview, that the “turning point” to scrapping the trade deal with Beijing came when the Trump administration learned about COVID-19 after a Chinese delegation had left Washington after signing the agreement on January 15.
As of writing, futures tied to the blue-chip Dow indicated a gain of 219 points, or 0.84% to 26,172. S&P 500 futures were up 22.87 points, or 0.74% to 3,133.62 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures added 60 points, or 0.59% to 10,184.75.
Apple ditches Intel chips in favor of in-house chips
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) officially announced at its first-ever online Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) that it will begin to make its own ARM-based chips for its flagship MacBook laptops and move away from current supplier Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) within two years.
CEO Tim Cook said at the event, which kicked off yesterday, that Apple plans to ship the first Mac with said chip by the end of 2020. “When we make bold changes, it’s for one simple but powerful reason: so we can make much better products,” he said.
Apple also unveiled iOS 14, the latest version of the iPhone software. The new software includes updates such as a new lightweight software programs called “App Clips,” the ability to set a default browser app or mail app, and a redesigned home screen.
As of this writing, Apple shares were up $5.31, or 1.48% to $364.18 apiece in pre-market trade Tuesday.
SoftBank to unload about two-thirds of its stake in T-Mobile
Meanwhile, SoftBank announced Monday it plans to sell around 198 million shares of T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) stock worth about $21 billion. The sale represents about two-thirds of the Japanese tech investment behemoth’s stake in T-Mobile.
“Given the current situation where there is a concern for a second and third wave of spread of COVID-19, (SoftBank Group) believes that it needs to further enhance its cash reserves,” SoftBank said in a statement.
T-Mobile intends to offer about 134 million of the shares SoftBank sells in the transaction to the public, according to a Monday press release. Shares in the telecommunication company were down less than a percent to $105.8 in Tuesday’s pre-market trading session.
