Stock futures edge higher
U.S. stock futures were pointing to slight gains for Wall Street on Wednesday as market participants shrugged off President Donald Trump’s threat to block the massive Covid-19 relief bill approved by Congress on Monday.
By 5:40 a.m. ET, futures tied to the blue-chip Dow were indicated 86 points, or 0.29% higher to 29,998. The S&P 500 futures rose 11.63 points, or 0.32% to 3,688.88 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures jumped 22.62 points, or 0.18% to 12,732.62.
The outgoing president suggested on Tuesday night that he may not sign the bill and called on Congress to amend it, saying the $600 stimulus checks ought to be increased to $2,000 for individuals and $4,000 for couples.
“The bill they are now planning to send back to my desk is much different than anticipated. It really is a disgrace,” Trump said in a video posted on Twitter.
Both chambers passed the legislation with an overwhelming majority of support. The House approved it by a 359-53 margin, and then the Senate passed it in a 92-6.
Weekly jobless claims eyed
Today, traders are awaiting the U.S. Department of Labor to release weekly jobless claims report at 8:30 a.m. ET, or a day earlier than usual because of the Christmas holiday.
The report is expected to show initial jobless claims declined by 5,000 for the week Dec. 19, from the previous week’s figure of 885,000.
Continuing claims for the week ended Dec. 12 are expected to come in at 5.560 million versus 5.508 million during previous week.
Elon Musk says Tim Cook snubbed talks to buy Tesla in 2017
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) chief executive Elon Musk has said that he reached out to Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) CEO Tim Cook in 2017 and raised the possibility of the iPhone maker buying Tesla.
Musk tweeted late Tuesday that he contacted Cook in “the darkest days” of scaling Model 3 production, but Cook “refused to take the meeting.”
In a reply to Ark Invest research director Brett Winton’s tweet, Musk said the Reuters report was “strange, if true,” adding that Tesla already uses iron-phosphate for its medium-range vehicles produced at its Shanghai factory.
“I reached out to Tim Cook to discuss the possibility of Apple acquiring Tesla (for 1/10 of our current value). He refused to take the meeting,” Musk added.
Musk made the claim just one day after Reuters reported that Apple’s “Project Titan” is planning autonomous car production by 2024 using its own breakthrough battery technology.
Onconova up 33% as FDA allows it to proceed with a Phase 1 study for multi-kinase CDK4/6 Inhibitor ON 123300
Shares of Onconova Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ONTX) rocketed in pre-market trade on Wednesday after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allowed the company to proceed with an early-stage study under its investigational new drug application for ON 123300, a proprietary, differentiated, first-in-class multi-kinase inhibitor.
“We are grateful to receive this timely, favorable response from the FDA to initiate a Phase 1 trial with ON 123300,” Onconova CEO Steven M. Fruchtman said in a press release.
As of writing, shares of the biopharmaceutical company were up 24.46% to 53 cents each.
