Stock futures point to a slightly lower open
U.S. stock futures were mildly lower on Friday morning as market participants digested details of President-elect Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan, which he unveiled in a primetime speech late Thursday.
The proposal, called the American Rescue Plan, includes an expansion of jobless benefits, $1,400 direct payments to many Americans, $350 billion in aid to local and state governments, and $70 billion for coronavirus-testing programs and vaccinations.
Biden suggested that raising taxes can at least help address the costs of his plan.
“As I said on the campaign trail, we will pay for [it] by making sure that everyone pays their fair share. Asking everyone to pay their fair share at the top so we can make permanent investments to rescue and rebuild America,” the incoming president said.
By 5:40 a.m. ET, the blue-chip Dow futures shed 77.5 points, or 0.25% to 30,831.5. The S&P 500 futures were down 9.37 points, or 0.25% to 3,781.88 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 13.25 points, or 0.1% to 12,887.75.
Big banks kick off earnings season
The fourth-quarter earnings reporting season gets underway today. U.S. banking giants including Citigroup (NYSE: C), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) will announce their earnings before the opening bell.
Wall Street analysts expect Citigroup to report earnings of $1.33 per share on revenue of $16.68 billion.
JPMorgan, the largest U.S. bank by assets is expected to say that in its fourth quarter it had earnings of $2.57 per share on revenue of $28.45 billion.
San Francisco-based Wells Fargo is seen reporting earnings of 59 cents per share on revenue of $18.11 billion.
Petco, Poshmark skyrocket in market debut
Petco Health and Wellness (NASDAQ:WOOF) shares soared 63.33% on the pet care leader’s return to the public market on Thursday. The stock opened at $26 and rallied to a high of $31.08 a share.
Meanwhile, Poshmark (NASDAQ:POSH) shares began trading at $97.50 apiece and reached a high of $104.98. The stock ended the session with a gain of 141.7% to $101.50 a share.
Google finalizes Fitbit acquisition
Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) subsidiary Google has completed its $2.1 billion acquisition of wearable tech company Fitbit after the European Union gave it a thumbs-up last month.
Google confirmed that the completion of the acquisition in a blog post on Thursday.
The acquisition was announced in 2019 but quickly attracted the attention of regulators who formally began investigating the deal in August lasts year over antitrust and data privacy concerns.
Fitbit has become a leader in the wearable space, thanks to its community of more than 29 million active users.
