U.S. stock futures were trending higher in Tuesday’s pre-market trading, driven by optimism surrounding the rollout of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine even as concerns about restrictions resulting from rising COVID-19 cases loom large. Stock futures also gained from a new bipartisan COVID aid bill that was proposed late Monday. Futures tied to Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 were up 0.52%, 0.56% and 0.36%, respectively.
First up in news, Boeing has expanded the scope of its inspections of the new 787 Dreamliners after finding more manufacturing quality defects, as per a Wall Street Journal report that cited industry and government officials. According to the report, Boeing engineers and US air-safety regulators didn’t flag the newly discovered issue as an imminent safety hazard. However, the matter is likely to affect a Federal Aviation Administration review of 787 production safeguards that was triggered earlier this year by other defects.
Eli Lilly hiked its quarterly dividend by 14.9% to $0.85 per share from $0.74 per share. The pharma giant will pay the increased dividend on Mar. 10, 2021, to shareholders of record as of Feb. 12, 2021. With an annual dividend of $3.40 per share, the company’s dividend yield stands at 2.2%.
More in dividend news, Waste Management increased its dividend by 5.5% to $0.575 from $0.545 per share, marking the 18th consecutive year of a dividend hike. The new dividend will be payable in March 2021. Additionally, the company’s Board of Directors has authorized a new repurchase program of up to $1.35 billion.
In the M&A space, Honeywell has acquired Sine Group, an Australia-based technology and software as a service (SaaS) company for an undisclosed amount. The company believes that Sine’s visitor management software will augment its Connected Buildings offerings with expanded safety, security and compliance capabilities.
Also, Trinseo has signed an agreement to acquire Arkema’s polymethyl methacrylates and activated methyl methacrylates businesses for about $1.36 billion. The company expects the transaction to close in mid-2021. Trinseo believes that the acquisition is a part of its transformation to a specialty solutions provider.
Murphy USA is acquiring QuickChek, a food and beverage convenience store operator, in an all-cash transaction for $645 million. The acquisition is in line with the company’s strategic priority to develop its food and beverage capabilities for enhancing its existing organic growth plans. The acquisition is expected to be closed in the first quarter of 2021.
