Stock futures slip
Wall Street stocks look set to kick off the new week in the red as traders continue to parse a report released by the Labor Department on Friday, which showed the U.S. economy added a seasonally adjusted 467,000 jobs in January.
The rate of unemployment moved up slightly to 4% in January, from 3.9% in December, while average hourly wage grew 0.7%.
Economists expected the report to show a gain of just 150,000 jobs, due to a surge in coronavirus cases linked to the omicron variant.
The strong jobs report keeps Federal Reserve policymakers on track to hike interest rates in March and could prompt additional hikes at meetings in May and June.
As of 5:20 a.m. ET, Dow futures shed 82 points, or 0.23% to 34,896. S&P 500 futures dropped 8.25 points, or 0.18% to 4,484.25 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures lost 22.25 points, or 0.15% to 14,663.25.
Tyson Foods, Hasbro, and Take-Two earnings on deck
On the corporate earnings front, focus will be on Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN) and Hasbro (NASDAQ: HAS) which are scheduled to release their financial results ahead of the opening.
Analysts expect Tyson Foods to report earnings of $1.90 per share on revenue of $12.18 billion. Hasbro is seen reporting earnings of 88 cents per share on revenue of $1.87 billion.
Rockstar Games owner Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO) will post its results after the closing bell. Analysts expect the company to have earned $1.23 per share on revenue of $879.58 million in the latest quarter.
Peloton stock rockets on takeover rumors
Meanwhile, Peloton (NASDAQ: PTON) shares soared early Monday amid chatter that the exercise company might be an acquisition target.
The Wall Street Journal said in a report on Friday that Peloton has attracted interest from potential suitors for a takeover, including e-commerce titan Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN).
People familiar with the matter told the news outlet that Amazon has been speaking to advisers about a potential deal to acquire Peloton. The people added that other potential suitors are circling, but no deal is imminent and there may not be one at all.
Peloton shares have been under pressure in recent weeks, amid a set of public relations problems after a slew of setbacks including fictional health emergencies involving its stationary bikes.
As of writing, the stock was marked $5.54, or 22.52% to $30.14 per share in the premarket trading session.
Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines announce merge plans
Frontier Airlines parent company Frontier Group (NASDAQ: ULCC) and Spirit Airlines (NYSE: SAVE) have announced that they plan to merge in a cash-and-stock deal worth $6.6 billion.
The deal, which was announced by the low-cost airlines on Monday morning, will see Frontier control 51.5% of the combined entity while Spirit will own the remaining 48.5%.
Under the terms of the agreement, Spirit shareholders will get 1.9126 shares of Frontier and $2.13 in cash for each Spirit held.
Shares of Frontier Group fell 2.74% to $12.05 apiece in the premarket trading session, while Spirit shares climbed 10.12% to $23.93 each.
