The S&P 500 Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average are keeping up some positive momentum, appreciating 0.2% and 0.3% respectively as investors are looking for direction and signs for a possible deal on another fiscal stimulus package. Cruise stocks Carnival, Royal Caribbean Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line are up between 5% and 6%.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index is down less than 0.1% as large tech stocks Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft are declining between 1% and 2%.
In more bad news from the airline industry, Boeing is dropping 2.4% after the US planemaker trimmed its expectations for new commercial aircraft demand over the next decade, saying that although global airlines have begun to recover from a greater than 90% decline in passenger traffic and revenue early this year, a full recovery will take years. The planemaker projects demand for the delivery of 18,350 commercial airplanes worth $2.9 trillion in the next 10 years, a 11% decline from its 2019 forecast.
Shares in Southwest Airlines are gaining 1.9% amid news that management is approaching unions to agree to pay cuts to avoid furloughs and layoffs at least through 2021 as the aviation industry continues to struggle amid the Covid-19 pandemic. According to Southwest’s plan, non-union staff salaries will be cut by 10% until Jan 1, 2022. Pay cut decisions would be reversed if the US government passes a financial aid package for the industry, the company said.
Gold M&A: Northern Star is spiking 11% after the Australian gold miner agreed to snap up rival Saracen in a merger-of-equals deal to create a top 10 global producer with a A$16 billion ($11.5 billion) pro-forma market capitalisation. Under the terms of the deal, Saracen shareholders will receive 0.3763 new fully paid ordinary shares in Northern Star for each Saracen share held. Post-completion of the transaction, Northern Star shareholders will own 64% of the merged group while Saracen shareholders will own the remaining 36%. Saracen will also pay a special, fully franked dividend of A3.8¢ per Saracen share. Saracen shares are soaring 8%.
In earnings-related news, shares of Himax Technologies are surging 9% after the fabless semiconductor company released third-quarter preliminary results, which exceeded its guidance issued on Aug. 6. Himax, which is scheduled to report 3Q results in November, said it expects strong business momentum across its major sectors in the fourth quarter as well.
With the peak sales holiday season approaching, Dollar Tree is gearing up to meet the expected surge in shopping demand. The dollar store chain is planning to hire more than 25,000 employees to fill jobs at Dollar Tree and Family Dollar stores and the company’s US distribution centers during its 5th annual nationwide hiring event from October 19 through October 23.
In corona-related updates: Pfizer and BioNTech SE announced that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has put BNT162b2, their mRNA-based vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV2, under a rolling review. The two drugmakers plan to cooperate with the EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) to complete the rolling review process, which is expected to facilitate the submission of the marketing authorization application (MAA) for BNT162b2. BioNTech shares are jumping 8%.
Shares in Vir Biotechnology are rising 5.7% as the clinical-stage immunology company kicks off Phase 3 trials in collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline to evaluate VIR-7831, their experimental candidate for the early treatment of Covid-19 in patients who are at high risk of hospitalization. VIR-7831 is a fully human anti-SARS-CoV-2 monoclonal antibody that was selected based on its potential to neutralize the virus, kill infected cells, provide a high barrier to resistance, and achieve high concentrations in the lungs.
