Stocks set to open mixed
Wall Street futures were mixed on Monday morning as COVID-19 cases around the globe surpassed 10 million and the virus accelerated in the United States.
By 5:25 a.m. ET, futures tied to the blue-chip Dow climbed 65 points, or 0.26% to 25,015 while the S&P 500 futures gained 4.38 points to 3,011.38. Futures for the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 fell 15.50 points to 9,850.
The global death toll from the pandemic hit 500,000 on Sunday, with a quarter of those in the U.S., where infections have soared in some western and southern states.
FAA confirms key certification test flights for the troubled Boeing 737 Max could start today
Meanwhile, Reuters is reporting that Boeing (NYSE: BA) and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will start running test flights of the company’s grounded 737 Max jet on Monday.
FAA said in an email to the Congress on Sunday that it had completed the review of the jet safety system assessment. According to the email which was seen by Reuters the flights will evaluate “Boeing’s proposed changes to the automated flight control system on the 737 MAX.”
The email went on to say that test flights will last three days and “will include a wide array of flight maneuvers and emergency procedures to enable the agency to assess whether the changes meet FAA certification standards.”
Boeing’s 737 Max jets were grounded in March last year following two deadly crashes that claimed 346 lives.
Shares of the company were trading $5.84, or 3.44% higher to $175.85 a share in Monday’s pre-market session.
Facebook ad boycott grows
In other news, the number of global brands joining advertiser boycott of Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) is one the rise.
Major multinational companies including Unilever, Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX), Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), Verizon (NYSE: VZ), Levi (NYSE: LEVI), and Guinness maker Diageo have recently joined forces to boycott Facebook ads.
The companies accuse the social media giant of not doing enough to remove hate speech on its platforms. Facebook shares plunged 8.3% on Friday as the revolt gathered momentum, wiping out a staggering $56 billion of the company’s market value.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced plans to remove hate speech in Facebook ads. Zuckerberg said Facebook would label posts that go against its policies but would remain published because the company deemed it “in the public interest.”
As of this writing, Facebook shares were down 3.64% to $208.22 apiece in pre-market trading Monday.
