Futures point to a negative open
U.S. stocks look set to start the week mildly lower after all three major indices finished the previous week with losses despite closing in the green on Friday.
As of 5:30 a.m. ET, futures tied to the blue-chip Dow edged 76 points, or 0.22% lower to 34,242. S&P 500 futures gave away 6.5 points, or 0.16% to 4,162.5 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures fell 23.5 points, or 0.18% to 13,363.50.
AT&T reportedly in talks to combine its media assets with Discovery
AT&T (NYSE: T) is in talks to combine its media business with Discovery (NASDAQ: DISCA), the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
People familiar with the matter told the Journal that the ongoing talks likely value the AT&T’s media assets which include HBO and CNN at well over $50 billion with debt, and a deal could be reached on Monday.
The people said AT&T is expected to own a big stake in the new company, but cautioned that the talks could still fall apart.
The deal would create an entertainment and lifestyle content behemoth with a global footprint to better take on the likes of Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) and Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX).
Shares of Discovery gained $4.34, or 12.17% to $39.99 in pre-market trade Monday. AT&T rose 1.8% to $32.82 a share.
Bitcoin recoups some losses as Elon Musk denies rumors Tesla sold its crypto assets
Bitcoin bounced back early Monday after Elon Musk clarified that Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) still held its $1.5 billion bitcoin stake.
At one point this morning, the world’s most valuable cryptocurrency plummeted from $46,300 to $42,700 after the Tesla boss replied “Indeed” to Twitter user @cryptowhale who wrote: “Bitcoiners are going to slap themselves next quarter when they find out Tesla dumped the rest of their #Bitcoin holdings.”
However, bitcoin prices later jumped 5% to around $44, 210 after Musk clarified that “Tesla has not sold any Bitcoin.”
Last week, the price of bitcoin dropped sharply after Musk announced on Twitter that Tesla would stop accepting the cryptocurrency as payment for its electric vehicles, citing concerns about “rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions.”
