Stock futures tumble
U.S. stock markets are likely to open on Wednesday as traders turn their attention to the release of the Federal Reserve’s minutes. The Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) minutes for its March 15-16 meeting are scheduled to be published later in the day.
Wall Street expects the minutes to provide new details about the central bank’s plan to reduce its bond holdings.
At the conclusion of the March meeting, the Fed hiked interest rates for the first time since 2018. Policymakers also released projections showing most of them expect the central bank would increase interest rates to between 2.5% and 3% by the end of 2024.
As of 5:30 a.m. ET, the blue-chip Dow futures were marked 142 points, or 0.41% to 34,408. S&P 500 futures shed 21 points, or 0.46% to 4,499.25 while the tech-dominated Nasdaq 100 futures lost 98.75 points, or 0.67% to 14,729.25.
Twitter appoints Elon Musk to join its board
Twitter (NASDAQ: TWTR) has appointed Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk to join its board of directors in a term set to expire in 2024.
The decision announced on Tuesday, came a day after it was revealed that Musk had acquired a stake of 9.2% in Twitter, making him its largest shareholder.
However, Musk will not be allowed to own more than 14.9% of the company’s common stock outstanding during his entire board term and 90 days thereafter.
Following his appointment, Musk told his more than 80 million followers on the platform that he would work with CEO Parag Agrawal and the board to make “significant improvements” to the social media company.
JetBlue offers to buy Spirit for $3.6 billion
JetBlue (NASDAQ: JBLU) has submitted an unsolicited proposal to Spirit Airlines (NYSE: SAVE) to acquire the company’s outstanding shares for $33 each in cash.
The proposal is roughly 33% higher than Frontier (NASDAQ: FYBR) offer of shares stock and $2.13 in cash, which values Spirit at $24.93 a share based on the stock’s closing price on Tuesday.
Such a deal would prevent Spirit and Frontier from merging to become America’s fifth biggest airline.
JetBlue said in statement that its combination with Spirit “would position JetBlue as the most compelling national low-fare challenger to the four large dominant carrier by accelerating JetBlue’s growth.”
Spirit said it will work with financial and legal advisors to evaluate JetBlue’s offer. Frontier, on the other hand, said that its offer is superior for shareholders and passengers.
Shares of Spirit dropped 3.83% to $25.88 apiece in the premarket trading session on Wednesday.
