Eyes on September jobs report
U.S. stock futures were trading slightly lower on Monday morning after Wall Street closed sharply higher on Friday amid positive vaccine news from Merck (NYSE: MRK) and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics.
At around 5:40 a.m. ET, futures tied to the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average were marked 59 points, or 0.17% lower to 34,408.
S&P 500 futures lost 9 points, or 0.21% to 4,334.75 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 49.75 points, or 0.34% to 14,712.
The focus this week for traders will be on the U.S. labor market data, as they await the release of the September non-farm payrolls report on Friday.
Tesla shares surge as Q3 deliveries beat expectations
Meanwhile, Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) shares rallied in the premarket trading session Monday after the electric-auto maker navigated the global semiconductor shortage to post record third-quarter deliveries numbers.
Tesla said Saturday that it delivered 241,300 vehicles to customers in the quarter ended September up from 139,593 vehicles in the same period a year ago.
Analysts expected the company to have delivered approximately 227,000 vehicles in the quarter, according to data compiled by FactSet.
The record quarterly numbers for the company included Model 3/Y deliveries of 232,025 vehicles and Model S/X deliveries of 9,275 vehicles.
Earlier this year, the Elon Musk-led company had halted production of the Model S and Model X for a time as it readied its plant in Fremont, Calif., to make updated versions.
As of writing, Tesla stock was up $21.80, or 2.81% to $797.02 per share.
Biden’s infrastructure bill hangs in the balance amid Dems infighting
Congressional Democrats face the challenging task of passing President Joe Biden’s sweeping infrastructure deal in the week ahead, as they try to come to an agreement on a target size for their multi-trillion-dollar social spending bill.
Moderate Democrats wanted an immediate vote on a $1 trillion infrastructure bill in the House that has already been approved by the Senate, while their progressive counterparts want to wait until there agree on a sweeping $3.5 trillion bill to fight climate change and bolster social spending.
In a letter to Democratic lawmakers on Saturday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told said the infrastructure bill must be approved “well before” Oct. 31. Meanwhile, Biden said on the same day that he would “work like hell” to get both bills approved by Congress.
On Sunday, Vermont Democratic Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders said during an interview on ABC News Sunday that $3.5 trillion should be a minimum, but accepts “there is going to have to be give and take.”
