Splunk, Blackstone, Nio, Affirm, Lockheed: What to Watch in the Stock Market Today

Stock futures are wavering in volatile trading as markets around the world make a rough start to the week amid tensions on the Russia-Ukraine border. Here’s what we’re watching Monday:

• Splunk SPLK -2.76% jumped 8.2% ahead of the bell. Cisco CSCO -1.77% Systems has made a takeover offer worth more than $20 billion for the software maker, according to people familiar with the matter, in what would be the networking giant’s biggest acquisition ever.
• Several electric-vehicle makers were falling amid the broader market malaise. Tesla TSLA -4.93% was down 2.3% premarket, U.S.-traded shares of China’s NIO NIO -4.93% fell 3.8% and Lucid LCID -7.42% slipped 2.5%.
• Blackstone BX -8.15% fell 2.6% premarket. Crown Resorts, CWN 2.02% one of Australia’s biggest casino operators, said Monday that it agreed to a $6.3 billion takeover by Blackstone, following a roughly yearlong effort by the U.S. private-equity giant to acquire the company.

• Avalara AVLR -9.73% added 1.1% premarket. Needham and Raymond James both trimmed their price targets for the stock, but also kept their ratings of “buy” and “outperform” in place.
• Eli Lilly LLY -1.63% dropped 1% premarket. The FDA on Friday authorized the use of a new Covid-19 antibody drug from drug maker that retains effectiveness against the Omicron variant of the virus.
• Lockheed LMT 2.79% Martin added 0.5% premarket. The defense company on Sunday said it had scrapped plans to buy Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings AJRD 2.76% after federal antitrust overseers last month sued to block the proposed $4.4 billion deal.
• Shares of Affirm Holdings AFRM -20.67% were down 3.4% premarket. The buy-now-pay-later company’s stock has closed down more than 20% in both of the past two sessions.
• Micron Technology MU -1.38% nudged up 0.6%. Wedbush lifted its rating on the stock to “outperform” and raised its price target to $120 from $100.
• Avis Budget, CAR -4.71% Advance Auto Parts AAP 0.09% and Arista Networks ANET -4.84% are among the companies reporting earnings Monday.

Chart of the Day

• A turbulent start of the year for U.S. stocks has entered a new phase in recent days, with investors weighing good news about corporate earnings and the labor market against the stubborn challenges of high inflation, rising bond yields and geopolitical uncertainty.

Write to James Willhite at [email protected]

Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8