By Mackenzie Tatananni, George Glover, and Joe Woelfel

Stock futures were rising modestly Friday ahead of the U.S. jobs report for December, a reading that could determine whether the Federal Reserve has scope to continue cutting interest rates.

These stocks were poised to make moves Friday:

Vistra stock surged 14% and Oklo jumped 18% after the nuclear energy companies unveiled separate agreements to provide power to Meta Platforms in order to support the hyperscaler's data center campus in Ohio. Meta stock fell 0.3%.

UWM Holdings and Rocket Cos. advanced 5.5% and 5.2%, respectively, as the mortgage lenders got a boost from President Donald Trump's plan to buy $200 billion in mortgage bonds in a bid to make housing more affordable. House-flipper Opendoor Technologies jumped 8.9%, while home builders PulteGroup, Lennar, and D.R. Horton were up 0.8%, 2%, and 1.4%, respectively.

General Motors slid 2% after the auto maker said it would be recording $6 billion in charges in the fourth quarter related to electric-vehicle assets and programs, including $1.8 billion in non-cash charges. "With the termination of certain consumer tax incentives and the reduction in the stringency of emissions regulations, industry-wide consumer demand for EVs in North America began to slow in 2025," GM said in a regulatory filing.

Shares in Apple were flat following the iPhone maker's seventh straight session of losses. The stock has declined 5.4% over the period. The losing streak is Apple's longest since May 2025, when it fell for eight straight trading days, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Shares have fallen amid concerns about the tech giant's lagging artificial-intelligence offerings.

GE Vernova slipped 0.2% to $627 following a downgrade from analysts at Baird. Analyst Ben Kallo cut his rating on the stock to Neutral from Outperform and lowered his price target to $649 from $816, citing power capacity oversupply fears, according to the Fly.

U.S.-listed shares of Glencore jumped 8.8% while Rio Tinto fell 3.4% after the mining companies confirmed they were in talks about a potential mega-merger. The companies said in separate statements on Thursday that one consideration would be for Rio Tinto to buy Glencore in a "court-sanctioned arrangement." The development comes more than a year after the two companies first discussed a potential tie-up.

Olin tumbled 7.5% after the chemicals manufacturer cut its fourth-quarter outlook, which it blamed on a slowdown operations at a plant in Freeport, Texas and weaker demand for chlorine.

Revolution Medicines rallied 13% after a report said Merck was in talks to buy the cancer-drug maker. Merck has been pursuing Revolution Medicines, but the deal hasn't been finalized and could be several weeks away, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Revolution Medicines and Merck didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Barron's. The stock surged 29% Wednesday after The Wall Street Journal reported that drugmaker AbbVie was close to a deal for the biotech.

Tilray Brands surged 11% after the cannabis and beverages company reported a fiscal second-quarter loss that narrowed from a year earlier and revenue rose 3% to a better-than-expected $217.5 million. Tilray said net revenue from cannabis rose 3% from a year earlier to $67.5 million.

WD-40 declined 7.5% after fiscal first-quarter earnings missed analysts' estimates and the lubricants company issued a fiscal-year outlook that also came up short of consensus.

Write to Mackenzie Tatananni at mackenzie.tatananni@barrons.com and George Glover at george.glover@dowjones.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 09, 2026 07:52 ET (12:52 GMT)

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