Futures point to a green start
U.S. stock futures pushed higher on Monday morning as market participants await the first presidential debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.
Trump and Biden will face off on Tuesday, with two more debate scheduled for Oct. 15 and 22. Traders are likely to be tuned in to which candidate comes out on top at the end of the debates, given the policy differences between the two presidential candidates.
Over the weekend, Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant left by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Traders are also awaiting the government’s monthly jobs report for September, which will be released on Friday.
By 5:20 a.m. ET, futures tied to the blue-chip Dow indicated a gain of 235.5 points, or 0.87% to 27,278.5. The S&P 500 futures added 28.13 points, or 0.86% to 3,315.38 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures were up 133.38 points, or 1.2% to 11,269.88.
Uber shares jump after getting back London license
Shares of Uber (NYSE: UBER) soared early Monday after a judge in the United Kingdom restored its operating license in London, its largest market in Europe by far, where transport regulators had threatened to ban the company over safety concerns.
The ride-sharing giant had appealed Transport for London’s decision in late 2019 not to renew its private hire vehicle (PHV) license, citing safety concerns involving imposter drivers.
In his judgment at the Westminster Magistrates’ Court, Judge Tan Ikram said he had sufficient confidence the company no longer poses a risk to public safety.
Uber unveiled a new system earlier this year to verify drivers’ identities through a mix of human reviewers and facial recognition in a bid to allay concerns of the regulator.
Shares of the company rose 6.41% to $36.67 each in the pre-market trading session.
Washington slaps sanctions on Chinese chipmaker SMIC
The U.S. government has reportedly imposed restrictions on exports to Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), taking aim at another important Chinese tech firm and raising tensions between the two superpowers.
According to the Financial Times, the U.S. Commerce Department warned companies that exports to SMIC posed an “unacceptable risk” of being diverted to “military end use.” Companies will now require licenses to sell crucial U.S. equipment and software to SMIC.
SMIC is the latest prominent Chinese tech firm to face trade restrictions related to U.S. foreign policy efforts or national security issues. Telecommunications behemoth Huawei had its access to high-end semiconductors blocked by its inclusion to a U.S. blacklist known as the Entity List.
Judge blocks Trump’s attempt to ban new TikTok downloads
Meanwhile, a judge in Washington has temporarily halted a Trump administration order that would have barred Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Alphabet subsidiary Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) from offering Chinese-based TikTok for downloads in the United States.
District Judge Carl Nichols issued the preliminary injunction in a brief order on Sunday. The ruling represents a temporary win for the popular video app, which is used by 100 million people in the country.
The ban was set to come into effect at 23:59 on Sunday night, following a seven day extension granted by the U.S. Commerce Department last weekend.
