U.S. stock futures were higher on Thursday, with investors optimistic that a major stimulus package to mitigate the economic damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic will be announced.
The Biden bounce looked set to continue, with Dow and S&P futures higher by around 0.25% and Nasdaq futures 0.4% stronger.
Shares of Jaguar Health were most actively traded before the bell, with almost 2.5 million shares having already changed hands at the time of writing. This comes on the back of a $6 million capital raise via a secured promissory note announced yesterday. Jaguar shares were up 20% in pre-market trade.
Top pre-market gainers were Vinco Ventures (+310%), Medley Management (+53%), and Addex Therapeutics (+49%), while the biggest pre-market losers were Obalon Therapeutics (-16%), Adamis Pharma (-14%), and Mediaco Holdings (-13%).
In corporate news, Kinder Morgan (KMI) was up 3% in pre-market trading on Thursday after posting better-than-expected fourth quarter results. Adjusted EPS came in at $0.27 vs. the $0.24 consensus estimate. Revenue declined to $3.12 billion compared to $3.35 billion a year ago, but also beat analysts’ estimates of $3.05 billion. Natural gas transport volumes dropped 2% compared to a year ago but the natural gas pipeline operator expects earnings to improve this year. The Kinder board raised its dividend for the fourth quarter by 5% to $0.2625 per share and expects to increase its dividend by another 3% for 2021.
Registrations for Tesla (TSLA) spiked almost 63% in the fourth quarter compared to the same period a year earlier. The electric vehicle maker delivered 499,550 cars in 2020, beating analysts’ expectations of 481,261, but just missed Elon Musk’s target of 500,000. Tesla shares have gained 733% in value since a year ago, aided by a rise in demand for electric vehicles.
Procter & Gamble (PG) beat analysts’ expectations for the second quarter of 2021 and reported adjusted EPS of $1.64 compared to forecasts of $1.51, largely driven by consumers stockpiling cleaning and cosmetic products during the coronavirus. Revenues also beat analysts’ forecasts and grew 8% year-on-year. Guidance for full-year 2021 was updated and the company projects revenue to grow between 5% and 6%, compared to earlier estimates of 3% to 4%. P&G also announced that it plans to buy back $10 billion worth of shares and pay around $8 billion in dividends.
Boeing (BA) has been awarded a modification to a previously signed agreement with the U.S. Air Force to build an additional 15 KC-46 refueling tankers worth $2.1 billion. Boeing delivered its first KC-46A to the US Air Force in January 2019, and since then, has delivered 42 tankers to four different bases. Boeing is now on contract for 79 of the KC-46A tankers.
Boeing has seen a recovery in its share price recently, gaining 29% over the past three months. The company was hard hit by travel restrictions that resulted in a decline in commercial jet orders and saw the share price fall 35%.
Intel (INTC) and IBM (IBM) will release earnings figures after the closing bell later today, while Union Pacific, Truist Financial and Travelers are expected to release their results before the market opens.
