Markets set to open higher
U.S. stock futures made solid gains early Friday, implying markets would open higher, as traders look to end a volatile week dominated by crypto and recession worries.
As of 5 a.m. ET, futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 213 points, or 0.67% to 31,865. S&P 500 futures rose 38.50 points, or 0.98% to 3,965.75 while the tech-dominated Nasdaq 100 futures rallied 185.25 points, or 1.09% to 12,132.50.
On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 103.81 points, or 0.33% to close at 31,730.30.
The S&P 500 dropped 5.10 points, or 0.13% to end at 3,930.08 while Nasdaq Composite edged up 6.73 points, or 0.059% to finish at 11,370.96.
Elon Musk says Twitter deal “temporarily on hold”
Elon Musk says his deal to acquire Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) is “temporarily on hold” after the micro blogging platform disclosed in a filing earlier this week that false or spam accounts represented less than 5% of its 226 million monetizable daily active users.
“Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users,” Musk tweeted on Friday.
In the tweet, Musk quoted a Reuters report that referenced the filing and said the deal would be delayed until he could see the reasoning for that calculation.
Musk has offered all outstanding Twitter shares for $54.20 each. Twitter stock tumbled 25% in pre-market trading hours following the announcement.
Affirm shares surge after strong earnings report
Affirm (NASDAQ: AFRM) shares shot higher in the premarket trading session on Friday, after the San Francisco-based company posted rapid third-quarter revenue growth late Thursday and projected the trend will continue this year.
At $23.45, shares climbed by more than 30% over Tuesday’s $18.04 close.
In the quarter, Affirm’s revenue was $354.8 million, a rise from $231 million in the same period last year. That result blew past the Wall Street consensus forecast for revenue of $344 million.
The buy-now pay-later company reported an adjusted a loss of 19 cents per share. Analysts had called for an adjusted loss of 45 cents per share.
For the current quarter ending in June, the company expects revenue to come in at between $345 million to $355 million. For the full year, it forecasts revenue in the range of $1.33 billion to $1.34 billion.
