Wall Street set to open flat
U.S. stock index futures are pointing to a flat open for the stock market after Monday’s sell-off.
By 6:00 a.m. ET, futures tied to the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average were trading 9 points lower at 27,590, the S&P 500 futures were trading 5.12 points higher at 3,398.62, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures were trading 34.75 points, or 0.3% lower at 11,527.
The stock market suffered a massive decline during Monday’s session as concerns over the worsening coronavirus pandemic grew. The Dow lost 650.19 points while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both shed 1.86% and 1.64%, respectively.
AMD to acquire Xilinx in $35 billion all-stock deal
On the acquisition front, Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) has agreed to acquire Xilinx (NASDAQ: XLNX) in a $35 billion all-stock deal aimed at reshaping one of the computer chip industry’s pioneers.
The deal, which was announced early Tuesday, values Xilinx at roughly $143 per share, representing a 25% premium to Monday’s closing price.
It is expected to close at the end of 2021, and could give AMD new business lines and more resources to better take on its bigger rival Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), especially with data center chips.
“Our acquisition of Xilinx marks the next leg in our journey to establish AMD as the industry’s high performance computing leader and partner of choice for the largest and most important technology companies in the world,” said AMD CEO Lisa Su.
AMD shares were little changed in the premarket trading session, while Xilinx shares were indicated $15.43, or 13.47% higher to $129.98 each.
Traders brace for barrage of earnings
Earnings deluge continues with Boeing (NYSE: BA), Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT), General Motors (NYSE: GM), General Electric (NYSE: GE), Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG), Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY), Novartis (NYSE: NVS), and Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) set to report ahead of the market open.
Companies reporting after the closing bell include Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Fiserv (NASDAQ: FISV), Chubb (NYSE: CB), and Aflac (NYSE:AFL).
Charles Schwab to lay off 1,000 workers
In other news, Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCHW) is laying off 1,000 employees, or 3% of its combined workforce just weeks after closing its acquisition of TD Ameritrade.
The brokerage firm announced the decision in a statement on Monday, adding that it won’t be executing any more company-wide reductions for the rest of 2020. However, it is not clear which departments the layoffs will affect.
“These reductions are part of our efforts to reduce overlapping or redundant roles across the two firms,” the company said.
Last year, Charles Schwab agreed to acquire rival TD Ameritrade in an all-stock deal valued at $26 billion. The companies completed the merger earlier this month.
