Stocks poised to open mixed
U.S. stock markets are expected to open mixed on Friday as market participants turn their attention to “quadruple witching”, the quarterly stock market when stock futures, stock index futures, stock options and stock index options expire together, often resulting in increased volatility.
By 5:30 a.m. ET, futures tied to the Dow indicated a loss of 25 points to 27,794. The S&P 500 futures were up 3.25 points to 3,354.25 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures added 55.75 points, or 0.5% to 11,131.
TikTok said to be mulling U.S. IPO as Trump admin moves to block downloads
TikTok parent ByteDance is planning to take the popular video-sharing app public in the U.S. within about a year after forming a partnership with Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), the Financial Times reports.
Individuals with direct knowledge of the matter told the newspaper that a U.S. initial public offering was one of several commitments made by ByteDance to avoid a ban on TikTok in the country. That company would be headquartered in the U.S. but cover global operations.
President Donald Trump last month ordered ByteDance to sell or spin off its U.S. TikTok operations amid concerns that the app could pass personal data of as many as 100 million Americans who use it to the Chinese government.
ByteDance and Oracle are now waiting to know whether Trump will approve their recently announced partnership, which would see Oracle providing cloud and data services for a restructured TikTok and leave ByteDance with majority ownership of the app.
Reuters reported early Friday that the U.S. Commerce Department plans to issue an order that will block people in the U.S. from downloading TikTok and Chinese-owned messaging app WeChat starting on Sept. 20.
Videogame-engine company Unity prices IPO above range
Unity Software, which develops software used to design video games, priced its initial public offering at $52 a share late Thursday, according to CNBC. The company sold 25 million shares, valuing it at about $13.7 billion.
The IPO had been expected to price in a range between $44 a share to $48 a share. Shares of the company will begin trading on Friday on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol U.
Athira Pharma and Compass Pathways are also scheduled to make their market debut on Friday.
