US stocks were mixed on Monday with the S&P 500 Index slightly down 0.1% but still headed for the best August in 36 years, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.7% after the revamp of its members took effect. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.9% lifted by Apple gains and the Tesla rally.
Dow reshuffle: Salesforce.com, Amgen and Honeywell International started to trade as members of the Dow Jones replacing Exxon Mobil, Pfizer and Raytheon Technologies.
Stock splits: Apple led gains on the Dow Jones, advancing 3.5% as the tech giant’s stock starts trading on a post-split basis today, following its 4-for-1 stock split. Tesla is the best performer on the Nasdaq Index, rallying over 9% as the electric maker’s 5-for-1 stock split took effect.
Deals: Aimmune Therapeutics exploded 171% after Nestle made an offer to buy the company for $2 billion. Private equity company KKR & Co. has entered into a definite agreement to sell business software company Epicor Software to Clayton Dubilier & Rice in a deal valued at $4.7 billion.
Billionaire Warren Buffett’s investment conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway announced that it has bought slightly more than 5% in each of 5 of Japan’s leading trading companies. Together, the five 5% stakes were worth 700 billion yen ($6.63 billion), according to Reuters calculations.
Corona: Moderna confirmed that it is engaged in discussions with the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan (MHLW) to potentially purchase 40 million or more doses of its mRNA-1273 vaccine candidate against COVID-19. Meanwhile, JPMorgan analyst Cory Kasimov said that although the vaccine candidate appears to be showing a “promising profile”, he maintains a Hold rating on the stock as he is still sceptical in the company’s “ability to generate long-term meaningful revenues that justify prevailing market values”.
In legal matters, Herbalife agreed to pay $123 million in civil and criminal penalties as part of a settlement with the US Department of Justice related to charges that the nutrition company bribed Chinese officials in government agencies and media outlets to advance its business in China.
Share sale: Nio is now offering 88.5 million American depositary shares (ADS) priced at $17 each, which is about 8% below Friday’s closing price of $18.50. The electric carmaker raised its offer from the 75 million in ADS it had planned to sell according to a Friday statement.
Net zero carbon: Amazon has ordered more than 1,800 electric vehicles (EVs) from Mercedes-Benz for its European van delivery fleet this year. The move to switch to EVs is part of Amazon’s (AMZN) commitment to reduce emissions from the transportation sector, and run net zero carbon businesses by 2040. Separately, Amazon was given a green light by the US Federal Aviation Administration to operate its fleet of Prime Air delivery drones. Shares are up 2.2%.
