Virgin Galactic, Tesla, AMC and Wells Fargo - 5 Things You Must Know Monday

Here are 5 things you indispensable cognize for Monday, July 12:

1. -- Stock Futures Mixed Ahead of Earnings Season

Stock futures traded mixed Monday arsenic Wall Street prepared for what is expected to beryllium a robust net season, peculiarly for large U.S. banks arsenic the system improves.

Contracts linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 116 points, S&P 500 futures were down 7 points and Nasdaq futures roseate 29 points.

The 3 large banal indexes connected Friday closed astatine records arsenic worries astir spreading COVID-19 variants and their interaction connected planetary maturation eased. The S&P 500 has closed astatine a grounds precocious 38 times this year.

The Dow roseate 0.2% past week and the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq each added 0.4%.

"Peak growth, precocious valuations, little yields, and variant worries, we had a batch of scary headlines (last) week," said Ryan Detrick, main marketplace strategist for LPL Financial.

"Yet, successful the end, stocks closed the week astatine caller highs yet again. With net play kicking disconnected ... the barroom is acceptable rather precocious and firm America amended nutrient different stellar 4th oregon determination could beryllium immoderate disappointed bulls," helium added.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet expect profits for S&P 500 companies roseate 64% successful the 2nd 4th from the aforesaid 4th successful 2020, a play erstwhile concern enactment was slowed considerably by the coronavirus pandemic. That would beryllium the highest maturation successful much than a decade.

The output connected the benchmark 10-year Treasury slipped aboriginal Monday to 1.334%.

2. -- This Week's Calendar: Jerome Powell Testimony, Bank Earnings

The economic calendar successful the U.S. connected Monday is bare but information volition beryllium released aboriginal successful the week connected user prices, shaper prices, jobless claims, determination manufacturing, concern accumulation and retail sales. 

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell volition marque his semi-annual appearance before Congress connected Wednesday and Thursday.

Second-quarter net play kicks disconnected connected Tuesday with reports from JPMorgan Chase  (JPM) - Get Report, PepsiCo  (PEP) - Get Report, Goldman Sachs  (GS) - Get Report and Conagra Brands  (CAG) - Get Report.

Reports are expected aboriginal successful the week from Wells Fargo  (WFC) - Get Report, Bank of America  (BAC) - Get Report, Citigroup  (C) - Get Report, BlackRock  (BLK) - Get Report, Delta Air Lines  (DAL) - Get Report, Morgan Stanley  (MS) - Get Report, Charles Schwab  (SCHW) - Get Report, U.S. Bancorp  (USB) - Get Report, UnitedHealth  (UNH) - Get Report and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing  (TSM) - Get Report.

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3. -- Virgin Galactic's Richard Branson Soars to the Edge of Space

Virgin Galactic's  (SPCE) - Get Report Richard Branson and a five-person formation crew completed a trial formation to the borderline of abstraction Sunday connected the company's VSS Unity abstraction plane.

Billionaire Branson and his unit departed from Virgin Galactic’s Spaceport America motorboat tract extracurricular of Truth oregon Consequences, N.M., astatine 8:40 a.m. section clip and returned astatine 9:38 a.m. aft a ngo to trial the backstage astronaut acquisition and measure the commercialized lawsuit compartment situation and conditions. 

Virgin Galactic has plans to motorboat abstraction tourism trips adjacent year.

The abstraction level reached an altitude of astir 282,000 feet oregon 53 miles supra Earth. It traveled astatine Mach 3 oregon astir 2,300 mph, 3 times the velocity of sound.

“I don’t cognize what’s going to travel retired of my mouth, due to the fact that I consciousness similar I’m inactive successful space,” Branson said astatine a property league pursuing the flight.

He added that "99.99% was beyond my wildest dreams.”

The abstraction level returned safely with nary mechanical problems astatine archetypal inspection, according to Mike Moses, Virgin Galactic president of abstraction missions and safety.

Branson’s Virgin Galactic formation bushed rival billionaire and Amazon  (AMZN) - Get Report founder Jeff Bezos into abstraction by 9 days. Bezos’ aerospace company, Blue Origin, plans to launch its backstage abstraction capsule into abstraction connected July 20.

Shares of Virgin Galactic roseate 8.07% to $53.17 successful premarket trading Monday.

4. -- Elon Musk to Testify successful Suit About Tesla's Purchase of SolarCity

Tesla  (TSLA) - Get Report shares were rising much than 1% aboriginal Monday up of grounds from CEO Elon Musk successful a suit astir the company's acquisition successful 2016 of SolarCity.

The two-week trial, taking spot successful the Court of Chancery successful Wilmington, Delaware, volition pit Musk against pension funds and plus managers who allege the billionaire utilized his power of Tesla to unit the institution to rescue star sheet shaper SolarCity, saving it and Musk's concern successful the institution from bankruptcy.

The national pension funds and plus managers starring the lawsuit privation Musk to repay to Tesla the outgo of the $2.6 cardinal woody and to disgorge the profits connected his SolarCity stock. If they win, it would beryllium 1 of the largest judgments against an individual.

Wedbush expert Dan Ives called the acquisition a “clear achromatic eye” for Musk and Tesla, mostly due to the fact that SolarCity has stay unprofitable.

“It fundamentally was putting bully wealth aft bad,” Ives said. “For each the successes and each of the unimaginable heights Musk has achieved, this is 1 of the lowlights.”

The banal gained 1.12% to $664.30 successful premarket trading.

5. -- Meme Stocks: Sgoco Jumps, AMC Declines

Meme-stock favourite AMC Entertainment  (AMC) - Get Report declined astir 2% and GameStop  (GME) - Get Report, the archetypal meme stock, fell somewhat successful premarket trading Monday.

But others, specified arsenic Sgoco  (SGOC) - Get Report, a conglomerate of assorted concern based successful Hong Kong, was soaring much than 53%, and Carver Bancorp  (CARV) - Get Report rose 16%, adding to gains of 170% implicit the past 3 sessions. The stocks were rising sharply amid retail-trader touts connected Reddit and StockTwits.

Meme Stocks Like GameStop and AMC Reflect Market Reality