Stocks poised for flat opening
Wall Street looks set for a muted start on Thursday after the major averages finished slightly higher on Wednesday, following a report that showed U.S inflation rose 7% in December from a year earlier, the highest level since 1982.
As of 5:15 a.m. ET, Dow futures, S&P 500 futures, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures were all unchanged.
Market focus today will be on the initial jobless claims report for the week ended Jan. 8. Economists expect another 200,000 claims were filed during the week, down from 207,000 during claims the previous week.
Continuing claims are seen coming in at 1.733 million, slightly below the 1.754 million reported during the prior week.
Coinbase acquires derivatives platform FairX
Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) has entered an agreement to buy U.S.-based derivatives platform FairX.
The acquisition was announced on Wednesday, though no financial details regarding the deal were made public.
Coinbase said in a press release that the deal is a “key stepping stone” on its path to offer crypto derivatives to retail and institutional customers in the United States.
“Deep and liquid derivatives markets are essential to the functioning of traditional capital markets,” Coinbase said. “These products are in high demand from investors who seek to effectively manage risk, execute complex trading strategies, and gain exposure to crypto outside of existing spot markets.”
The acquisition, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close in the fiscal first quarter ending March 31.
Shares of Coinbase rose $6.50, or 2.77% to $241.20 apiece in the premarket trading session Thursday.
AMC CEO offloads another $7 million worth of stock, says he’s done selling
AMC Entertainment (NYSE: AMC) CEO Adam Aron has sold yet more shares in the movie theater chain, but says he is done selling for now.
According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Aron sold 312,500 shares on Wednesday at $22.846, worth about $7.14 million.
In December, he offloaded $9.65 million worth of shares in one sale after divesting a first batch of stock for roughly $25 million.
“Back in August, I said that at age 67 I’d sell some AMC shares toward year-end, all trading decisions out of my hands, under guidelines of a Chase 10-b-5-1 plan spread over 3 months. Those sales are now all finished,” he said in a tweet.
Aron has sold about $42 million worth of AMC stock since November.
AMC stood in real danger of running out of cash in 2020 before millions of retail traders saved the company by buying and holding more than 80% of its shares early last year.
