Here are the most important news, trends and analysis that investors need to start their trading day:
Wall Street looks higher after S&P 500, Nasdaq’s best weeks of 2022
Low-cost airlines Frontier, Spirit agree to merge in $6 billion deal
Peloton soars on reports Amazon, Nike may be potential buyers
Spotify CEO apologizes after clips show Joe Rogan using the N-word
Chip shortage forces Ford to cut production on F-150, other vehicles
1. Wall Street looks higher after S&P 500, Nasdaq’s best weeks of 2022
U.S. stock futures rose slightly Monday after the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite logged their best weeks of the year, boosted by Friday’s best one-day gain since 2015 following Amazon’s strong quarterly earnings report. The Nasdaq, however, remained in a correction. The Dow bucked Friday’s uptrend, closing lower. But the 30-stock average did also post a gain for the week. Beaten-up tech stocks were able to bounce Friday despite the better-than-expected January employment report pushing the 10-year Treasury yield to nearly 1.94%. The benchmark yield ticked lower Monday, but it was still above 1.9%.
Key inflation data is out on Thursday, with consumer prices in January expected to rise 7.3% year over year. Earnings are slowing down a bit after last week’s wild ride. Dow stock Disney is scheduled to report quarterly results after the closing bell Wednesday.
2. Low-cost airlines Frontier, Spirit agree to merge in $6 billion deal
Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines, the two largest low-cost carriers in the U.S., have agreed to merge, creating what would become the fifth-largest airline in the country. The boards of both companies approved the deal over the weekend, prior to the CEOs of both airlines announcing the agreement in New York City on Monday. The deal, valued at $6.6 billion, is structured with Frontier Airlines, owned by private equity firm Indigo Partners, controlling 51.5% of the merged airline while Spirit will hold the remaining 48.5%. The deal implies a value of $25.83 per Spirit share, which would be a 19% premium over the value of Spirit shares at the end of last week. Shares of Spirit more than 12% and Frontier Group was off 3% in Monday’s premarket.
3. Peloton soars on reports Amazon, Nike may be potential buyers
Peloton shares, which have been battered in recent months, soared 30% in Monday’s premarket after The Wall Street Journal on Friday reported e-commerce giant Amazon has approached the company about a potential deal. Other potential suitors are circling, the Journal said, but no deal is imminent and there may not be one at all. The Financial Times separately reported that sneaker maker Nike is evaluating a bid for Peloton. Nike has not yet spoken with the connected fitness-equipment maker, the FT added. Peloton is not yet running a formal sales process, but there is real interest in the company, a person familiar with the talks told CNBC.
4. Spotify CEO apologizes after clips show Joe Rogan using the N-word
Spotify shares, also ravaged recently, fell more than 1% premarket trading, with CEO Daniel Ek on Sunday apologizing to the audio streamer’s workers for podcaster Joe Rogan’s past racist language. “I want to make one point very clear — I do not believe that silencing Joe is the answer,” said Ek, whose company reportedly paid $100 million to exclusively host Rogan’s podcast. Rogan apologized Saturday after Grammy award winning singer-songwriter India Arie posted clips of him using the N-word on some past episodes while she pulled her music from Spotify in protest. Other musicians have recently pulled their music from Spotify, saying Rogan’s show propagated Covid-19 vaccine misinformation.
5. Chip shortage forces Ford to cut production on F-150, other vehicles
Ford shares fell nearly 1% in the premarket after the automaker confirmed late Friday that it’s cutting production this week on the Ford Bronco and Explorer SUVs; the Ford F-150 and Ranger pickups; the Ford Mustang Mach-E electric crossover; and the Lincoln Aviator SUV at plants in Michigan, Illinois, Missouri and Mexico due to an ongoing global shortage of semiconductor chips. The cuts come after Ford significantly missed estimates on earnings due to lower-than-expected production tied to supply chain issues, causing shares to tumble 9.7% on Friday.
— The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. Sign up now for the CNBC Investing Club to follow Jim Cramer’s every stock move. Follow the broader market action like a pro on CNBC Pro.
