Stock futures were rising Friday ahead of a scheduled summit between President Donald Trump and Russia's leader Vladimir Putin and in the absence of any significant market moves.
Futures linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were outperforming the other blue chip indexes, helped by a jump in shares of healthcare conglomerate UnitedHealth.
These stocks were poised to make moves Friday:
UnitedHealth gained 13% after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway revealed in a regulatory filing that it bought roughly 5 million shares in the company, worth about $1.6 billion. Rival health insurers Elevance Health, Molina Healthcare, and Centene each also rose about 5% on the news. Berkshire Hathaway purchased shares of home builders Lennar and D.R. Horton, and steel maker Nucor in the second quarter as well, sending stocks up between 4% and 6% each. Berkshire also pared its investments in Apple and Bank of America.
Applied Materials tumbled 15% after the largest chip-equipment maker in the world reported fiscal third-quarter earnings and revenue that beat analysts' estimates but issued a range of revenue guidance for the current fourth quarter that at the $6.7 billion midpoint was below consensus of $7.33 billion. Peers Lam and KLA fell 5.8% and 6.1%, respectively.
Globant fell 12% after its second-quarter earnings report. Adjusted earnings came in at $1.53 a share on revenue of $614.2 million, largely in line with expectations. The IT and software company guided for full-year revenue of at least $2.4 billion, implying roughly 1% year-over-year revenue growth that was slightly below expectations.
Intel rose 4% after it was reported the Trump administration was in talks to have the U.S. government potentially take a stake in the chip maker. The move would help Intel expand domestic manufacturing and help shore up the company's factory buildout plans in Ohio, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the plan. The size of the potential stake wasn't clear, the report added.
Quantum Computing fell 2% after reporting second-quarter revenue of $61,000, up from $39,000 in the previous quarter but well below year-earlier revenue of $183,000, a figure the company said largely was driven by "contractual sales." Operating expenses in the period rose to $10.2 million from $5.3 million a year earlier.
Fintech Miami International Holdings, Inc. fell 1% in premarket trading after rising 34% on Thursday in its trading debut and closing at $30.74. The stock's first trade Thursday was $31 a share, above its initial public offering price of $23. The company specializes in options, futures, and derivatives trading through its MIAX exchanges.
Nu rose 10% after the Brazilian fintech reported second-quarter net profit growing 42% from last year to $637 million, beating expectations. The company added 4.1 million new customers in the quarter, reaching a total of 122.7 million customers globally.