Here are five things you must know for Wednesday, Dec. 9:
1. — Stock Futures Mostly Higher as White House Pitches Relief Plan
Stock futures pointed to gains for Wall Street on Wednesday after the White House floated a surprise $916 billion coronavirus relief proposal.
Contracts linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 80 points, S&P 500 futures gained 6 points but Nasdaq futures fell 5 points.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin pitched the stimulus plan to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a telephone call on Tuesday afternoon. The White House largely has been absent from aid negotiations since Election Day, leaving Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to lead the discussions.
McConnell and House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy both have put their support behind Mnuchin’s offer. But Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, while noting the White House proposal marked “progress,” said not including supplementary jobless benefits in the package was “unacceptable.”
Stocks ended higher Tuesday, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 closing at records, as Wall Street weighed prospects for a stimulus plan and the world witnessed a woman get the first inoculation with Pfizer’s (PFE) – Get Report Covid-19 vaccine.
The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday issued a positive initial review of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech (BNTX) – Get Report. The FDA will meet Thursday to determine whether to approve emergency use authorization for the vaccine.
The U.S. death toll from Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, has risen to 286,319, the most in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Stocks in Asia finished mostly higher Wednesday, but shares in Shanghai declined as consumer prices in China slipped.
For more on Asian markets read:
China’s Economy Reports Consumer Deflation for First Time in 11 Years
2. — DoorDash IPO Priced at $102 a Share, Above Range
The initial public offering for DoorDash, the biggest U.S. food delivery company, was priced at $102 a share, above an already raised range as the hot market for IPOs continued.
San Francisco-based DoorDash sold 33 million shares, raising $3.37 billion. The $102 price was higher than the marketing range of between $90 to $95 a share.
DoorDash has a fully diluted value of more than $38 billion.
Shares of DoorDash are expected to begin trading Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “ (DASH) – Get Report.”
The pricing came amid a slew of late-year IPOs cashing in on surging markets and demand for high-growth potential names on Wall Street.
The IPO for Airbnb, the home rental platform, is expected to price Wednesday evening. Airbnb said earlier this week it aims to raise around $3 billion from its planned listing on the Nasdaq, an offering that could value Airbnb at about $35 billion.
3. — FireEye Tumbles After Being Hit by ‘State-Sponsored’ Hack
Shares of FireEye (FEYE) – Get Report tumbled in premarket trading Wednesday after the cybersecurity-solutions provider said it was hacked, with intruders stealing tools that some of its security officials use to protect data.
FireEye called the hackers a “highly sophisticated state-sponsored adversary.”
It didn’t identify the country that it suspects, but a person familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal that investigators consider Russia the most likely suspect.
“I’ve concluded we are witnessing an attack by a nation with top-tier offensive capabilities,” CEO Kevin Mandia said in a blog post on the company website.
“This attack is different from the tens of thousands of incidents we have responded to throughout the years. The attackers tailored their world-class capabilities specifically to target and attack FireEye,” Mandia said.
“They are highly trained in operational security and executed with discipline and focus. They operated clandestinely, using methods that counter security tools and forensic examination. They used a novel combination of techniques not witnessed by us or our partners in the past,” the CEO added.
He said the company was “actively investigating in coordination with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other key partners, including Microsoft.”
FireEye said it has seen no evidence so far that the attacker “exfiltrated data” from its primary systems that store customer information.
The stock sank 9.21% in premarket trading to $14.09.
4. — Wednesday’s Calendar: Campbell Soup Earnings, JOLTS Report
Earnings reports are expected Wednesday from Campbell Soup (CPB) – Get Report, Adobe (ADBE) – Get Report, Vera Bradley (VRA) – Get Report, United Natural Foods (UNFI) – Get Report and RH (RH) – Get Report.
The economic calendar Wednesday includes MBA Mortgage Applications for the week ended Dec. 4 at 7 a.m. ET, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for October at 10 a.m. and Oil Inventories for the week ended Dec. 4 at 10:30 a.m.
5. — GameStop Falls Sharply as Third-Quarter Sales Drop 30%
GameStop (GME) – Get Report declined more than 16% in premarket trading after posting a 30% drop in third-quarter sales.
The videogame retailer reported sales of $1 billion, below analysts’ estimates of $1.1 billion. Comparable-store sales dropped 24.6%, wider than expectations that called for a decline of 20.5%.
GameStop reported an adjusted loss of 53 cents a share in the quarter, narrower than estimates of a loss of 85 cents a share.
“Our third quarter results were in-line with our muted expectations and reflected operating during the last few months of a seven-year console cycle and a global pandemic, which pressured sales and earnings,” said CEO George Sherman.
The stock fell 16.23% in premarket trading Wednesday to $14.19.