What to Watch Today: Stock Futures Rose After Light May Jobs Report

Traders at the New York Stock Exchange, June 2, 2021.
Source: NYSE

BY THE NUMBERS

U.S. stock futures rose and the 10-year Treasury yield ticked higher after Friday's weaker than expected government employment report for May. The Dow on Thursday broke a five-session winning streak, with a small decline. However, the 30-stock average closed way off the day's lows of about a 265-point decline. (CNBC)

The S&P 500 dropped nearly 0.4%. The Nasdaq gave back 1% on Thursday and was on pace for a 1% weekly decline. The Dow and S&P 500 were little changed for the week.

Jobs growth last month was about double the pace of April's advance. The U.S. economy added 559,000 nonfarm payrolls in May, compared to estimates of 671,000. April's jobs tally was revised up by 12,000 to 278,000. The nation's unemployment rate slipped to 5.8% in May compared to estimates for a 5.9% rate. (CNBC)

* Fed chief Powell: Climate change not a main factor in monetary policy decisions (CNBC)

IN THE NEWS TODAY

Shares of AMC Entertainment (AMC) dropped 4% in Friday's premarket, in a wild Reddit-fueled week of trading that saw the stock nearly double Wednesday and then pull back nearly 18% on Thursday. CEO Adam Aron on Thursday night sat down with Trey Collins, host of "Trey's Trades" on YouTube. Many of the channel's subscribers are AMC investors. (CNBC)

* AMC worth about half of its skyrocketing stock price, Collins tells CNBC

Following two separate share sales this week that generated around $800 million in cash, Aron urged shareholders during last night's "Trey's Trades" interview to support a new plan to issue an additional 25 million shares. Aron reiterated that AMC is looking at a number of acquisition opportunities. (CNBC)

Bitcoin fell nearly 5% to around $36,700 on Friday morning, hours after Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk tweeted a meme showing a couple breaking up and used a bitcoin hashtag and broken heart emoji. Other cryptocurrencies, including ether and dogecoin, also sank. In May, Musk said Tesla would stop accepting bitcoin as a payment method due to concerns over its energy usage. (CNBC)

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman's special purpose acquisition company Pershing Square Tontine Holdings (PSTH) confirmed Friday it's in talks to buy 10% of Universal Music Group for around $4 billion. The transaction would value Universal Music at about $42 billion. The holding company said the deal would not result in a merger and Universal Music will go ahead with a planned public listing. (CNBC)

U.S. companies are watching infrastructure talks between President Joe Biden and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, the GOP's lead negotiator. They plan to meet again Friday. In their Wednesday meeting, Biden proposed a 15% minimum tax on corporations as part of a compromise to pay for a smaller $1 trillion infrastructure package. (AP)

Biden expanded restrictions on American investments in certain Chinese companies with alleged ties to the country's military and surveillance efforts, continuing some portions of the tough tact former President Donald Trump took in discussions with Beijing. In an executive order, Biden barred U.S. investors from financial interests in 59 Chinese companies. (CNBC)

FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a Wall Street Journal interview that the agency is investigating about 100 different types of ransomware, many of which trace back to bad actors in Russia. Wray also compared the current spate of cyberattacks with the challenge posed by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. "There are a lot of parallels," he said.

* White House warns companies to act now on ransomware defenses (NY Times)

The House Judiciary Committee is poised to question former White House counsel Don McGahn behind closed doors Friday, two years after House Democrats originally sought his testimony as part of probes former President Donald Trump. The panel agreed that McGahn will be questioned only about information attributed to him in publicly available portions of Robert Mueller's Russia report. (AP)

* Trump bears some blame for Jan. 6 insurrection, ex-House Speaker John Boehner says (CNBC)
* Pence says he'll likely never see eye to eye with Trump on the siege (AP)

Facebook (FB) plans to end a contentious policy championed by CEO Mark Zuckerberg that exempted politicians from certain moderation rules on its site, according to several news reports. The social media giant is currently mulling over what to do with Trump's account, which was "indefinitely" suspended after the Capitol attack. (AP)

* Facebook hit with new antitrust probes in the UK and European Union (CNBC)

Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google removed a senior member of its diversity team over anti-Semitic remarks in a 2007 blog post, marking the second time in a month that a big tech company has been forced to make a staffing change in the wake of public outcry over an executive's previous writing. (WSJ)

Health authorities are trying to determine whether heart inflammation that can happen along with many types of infections could also be a rare side effect in teens and young adults after they receive the second dose of Covid vaccine. (AP)

* U.S. to swiftly boost global vaccine sharing as domestic demand wanes (AP)

STOCKS TO WATCH

DocuSign (DOCU) shares rallied 7% in premarket trading after the company beat Wall Street forecasts by 16 cents a share, with quarterly earnings of 44 cents per share. Revenue also beat estimates, and DocuSign gave an upbeat outlook as more companies adopt its electronic signature technology.

Five Below (FIVE) shares of the discount retailer jumped 6% in the premarket, after first-quarter profit and revenue comfortably exceeded Street forecasts. Comparable-store sales surged 162% compared to the same quarter a year ago.

MongoDB (MDB) provider lost 15 cents per share for its latest quarter, less than half of the 37 cents a share loss expected by analysts. Revenue also exceeded estimates as subscription sales jumped 40%. The database platform forecast a lower-than-expected full-year loss. The stock surged 6% in Friday's premarket.

Lululemon (LULU) retailer reported quarterly earnings of $1.16 per share, compared to a consensus estimate of 91 cents a share. Revenue also exceeded forecasts, benefitting rom both a return by customers to physical locations as well as a jump in e-commerce sales. It also gave an upbeat forecast. The stock rose in the premarket.

Shares of ChargePoint (CHPT), an electric vehicle charging network, rose 1% in the premarket, despite reporting a wider-than-expected loss for its latest quarter. Its revenue beat Wall Street forecasts, however, and ChargePoint also held to its prior 2021 revenue outlook. Shares rose 2% in the premarket.

CrowdStrike (CRWD) beat Wall Street forecasts by 4 cents a share, with quarterly earnings of 10 cents per share. Revenue also topped forecasts. The cybersecurity company added more than 1,500 net new subscription customers. Shares were little change in premarket trading.

Zumiez (ZUMZ) gained 6% in the premarket after the seller of apparel, footwear and athletic equipment surged past estimates with first-quarter profit of $1.03 per share. Revenue also beat forecasts. The retailer said its business has recovered beyond pre-pandemic levels.

Asana (ASAN), a maker of collaboration software, saw its stock rally 8.6% in the premarket after it reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss while its revenue and outlook beat consensus estimates.

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