Alibaba Group Holding Ltd

What to Watch Today: Dow to Recover Some of the Losses in Thursday's Sell-Off

BY THE NUMBERS

Dow futures bounced Friday, one day after a broad sell-off on Wall Street. The Dow lost 259 points, or 0.75%, on Thursday, finishing roughly 1% away from last Friday's record close. The 30-stock average had been down as much as 536 points during Thursday's session. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also ended off their lows of the day, retreating from Wednesday's record closes. (CNBC)

* Guggenheim's Scott Minerd says the 10-year yield could head back below 1% (CNBC Pro)
* Scott Minerd believes bitcoin is in a 'crash' and has further to fall (CNBC Pro)
* Dan Niles says he's tempted to buy Chinese techs; here are 2 of his favorites (CNBC Pro)

All three stock benchmarks, as of Thursday's close, were on track to finish lower for the week. Concern about a slowdown in economic growth, due to the spread of the Covid delta variant, hurt sentiment Thursday, with investors buying bonds for their perceived safety and driving yields lower. (CNBC)

Bond yields, which move inversely to prices, rose Friday. The 10-year Treasury yield was back above 1.34% after falling Thursday as low as 1.25% to levels not seen since February. The 10-year yield hit a then-14-month high of 1.78% in March. It began 2021 at less than 1%. (CNBC)

IN THE NEWS TODAY

The White House is expected to announce Friday a new executive order aimed at cracking down on anti-competitive practices in Big Tech, labor and numerous other sectors The sweeping order, which includes 72 actions and recommendations that involve a dozen federal agencies, is intended to reshape the thinking around corporate consolidation and antitrust laws, CNBC's Ylan Mui reported.

* House Republicans lay out their antitrust agenda for tech giants (CNBC)

Pfizer (PFE) and BioNTech (BNTX) are developing a Covid booster shot intended to target the delta variant, already the dominant form of the disease in the U.S. While they believe a third shot of their current two-dose vaccine can preserve the "highest levels" of protection against all currently known variants, the companies are "remaining vigilant" and working on an updated version of the vaccine. (CNBC)

* Americans will need masks indoors as U.S. heads for 'dangerous fall' due to delta (CNBC)

Crypto startup Bullish plans to go public in a reverse merger with the special purpose acquisition company backed by Tom Farley, former New York Stock Exchange president. Farley's SPAC, Far Peak Acquisition Corporation (FPAC), jumped roughly 4% in the premarket on the news. Farley, who oversaw the NYSE from 2014 to 2018, will become CEO of Bullish when the deal closes. (CNBC)

Wells Fargo (WFC) plans to end a popular consumer lending product, angering some of its customers. The bank is shutting down all existing personal lines of credit in the coming weeks and no longer offers the product, according to customer letters reviewed by CNBC. Wells Fargo is still recovering from the aftermath of its 2016 fake accounts scandal.

Amazon's (AMZN) Prime Video and IMDb TV have agreed to a multiyear licensing deal with Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, bringing blockbusters like "Jurassic World: Dominion" and "F9" to the company's streaming platforms. The deal builds on the recent announcement that brought NBCUniversal's streaming service Peacock to Amazon's Fire TV customers. (Variety)

Severe weather from Tropical Storm Elsa spurred tornado warnings in Delaware and New Jersey early Friday as the system moved over Mid-Atlantic and Northeast states. The system was blamed for one death in Florida earlier this week. Elsa previously sparked a damaging tornado in Georgia. (AP)

STOCKS TO WATCH

Levi Strauss (LEVI) shares added about 3% after reporting quarterly earnings Thursday night that crushed expectations. Levi reported adjusted earnings of 23 cents per share, on revenue of $1.28 billion. That beat analyst expectations of 9 cents per share on revenue of $1.21 billion, according to Refinitiv.

General Motors (GM) shares rose more than 3% in premarket trading, after Wedbush rated it as an outperform and said its stock could jump more than 50%. As the company proves out its vision for electric vehicles in the coming years "the stock will be re-rated," the Wedbush analyst said.

Bank stocks, including Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup (C), traded higher as bond yields bounced back up Friday morning, easing concerns about a global economic slowdown that were  heightened when yields fell Thursday. The sector's profitability is closely linked to the level of rates and generally increases as long-term rates rise.

Airline stocks, including Delta (DAL), United (UAL) and American (AAL), were moving higher after dipping on Thursday amid concern about the global economic recovery from the pandemic. American Airlines is trading almost 2% higher, and Delta and United shares rose 1.2%.

Cruise lines, including Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH) and Carnival (CCL), were also bouncing back after sliding Thursday in response to concerns about the economy slowing down. Norwegian Cruise added 2.2% in premarket trading and Carnival rose 2.5%.

The U.S. traded shares of several Chinese companies bounced after their big declines earlier in the week, set off by the Chinese government's crackdown on stocks that trade on U.S. exchanges. Didi Global (DIDI) shares rose 3.4% in premarket trading and Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) was up 2.4%.

WATERCOOLER

The high-stakes chase for space tourists will unfold on the fringes of space, pitting Virgin Galactic's (SPCE) Richard Branson against the world's richest man, Blue Origin's Jeff Bezos. Branson is due to take off Sunday. Bezos departs nine days later. (AP)

Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC.

Copyright CNBC
Contact Us