United States stock futures remained largely flat on Monday evening (Tuesday AEDT), after gains in technology and materials shares boosted Wall Street’s indexes during the day and Paramount Skydance renewed its hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery.
S&P 500 futures were up just 1.25 points to 6,931.5 as of 10:55 am (AEDT) (11:55 pm GMT). Dow Jones futures climbed 1 point to 48,689.0, and Nasdaq futures rose by 22.25 to 25,714.5.
The S&P 500 had ended today’s trading session 0.6% higher, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite each gained 0.5%. This was Wall Street’s third consecutive positive day.
Materials was the S&P 500’s best-performing sector, rising 1.4% during the day. Newmont’s shares were up 3.5% after gold prices reached new records, and increased 0.1% in after-hours trading.
Technology shares also advanced, with Nvidia up 1.5% after reports that the U.S. government was reviewing new export licences to sell its H200 artificial intelligence chips in China. Its shares dipped 0.2% after-hours, however.
Paramount Skydance’s shares climbed 4.3% during the day and advanced 0.6% in after-hours trading.
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, father of Paramount CEO David Ellison, agreed to provide a personal guarantee of US$40.4 billion for Paramount’s hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery.
Warner Bros. Discovery had told shareholders to reject Paramount’s previous hostile bid last week. Paramount’s renewed bid maintains the same price and will also include Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
“There may be some issues beyond the financing aspect of a PSKY [Paramount Skydance] takeover, as well,” wrote Zacks Equity Research editor Mark Vickery.
“There is a growing concern that the news division at CBS has taken a hard right turn,” after parent company Paramount’s acquisition by Larry Ellison’s Skydance, Vickery wrote. “Warner Brothers Discovery owns CNN (which President [Donald] Trump himself called a “disgrace” and needs to be sold), HBO Max, and many other entities that may be subjected to a similar fate.”
The New York Stock Exchange will close at 1 pm (ET) on Christmas Eve, with no trading on Christmas Day. The U.S. will release data on its third-quarter gross domestic product, durable goods orders, and industrial production on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT).
