from ZeroHedge:
US equity futures swung between gains and losses and traded near session highs as US traders walked to their desks on Monday morning after a rollercoaster day for the Japanese yen, which increasingly looks like some 3rd world banana republic currency instead of belonging to the world’s 3rd largest economy, and which first plunged below 160 vs the USD – the lowest level since 1990 amid dismal volumes thanks to the Japanese market holiday on Monday – only to soar more than 500 pips in what is now the first confirmed BOJ intervention since 2022. Futures were buoyed by rising earnings optimism as traders looked ahead to another very busy week for company results, and as of 7:40am, S&P futures gained 0.2% with Nasdaq futures rising 0.3%, boosted by another surge in Tesla shares. 10Y Treasury yields fell four basis points to 4.62% ahead of today’s announcement by the Treasury of its funding needs for the coming quarter, while the dollar weakened. Oil retreated, with Brent first trading below $89 a barrel, only to rebound higher amid the endless speculation that a peace deal between Israel and Hamas is coming that would reduce geopolitical tensions in the Middle East (spoiler alert: there will be no deal). Gold rose and bitcoin fell.
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In premarket trading, Tesla surged 11%, slamming the recent pile up of shorts (the biggest in two years) as Elon Musk’s quick visit to China paid immediate dividends, with Tesla receiving in-principle approval from government officials to deploy its driver-assistance system in the world’s biggest auto market.
Here are some other premarket movers:
- Here Altimmune drops 4% after Guggenheim downgraded the stock, saying a partnership for the biotech’s lead asset pemvidutide look “increasingly unlikely.”
- Apple climbs 2% after Bernstein upgraded its rating, calling issues in China “more cyclical than structural” and highlighting that the tech giant’s business in the country has tended to be more volatile than the wider company.
- AT&T rises 1% as Barclays upgrades to overweight, noting the wireless carrier’s “steadier execution story.”
- Paramount Global jumps 5% after Bloomberg reported that the Redstone family and Skydance Media CEO David Ellison have both offered concessions to make a possible change in control at the media company more appealing to other investors.
- Shopify advances 3% after Citi raises the e-commerce company to buy, expecting solid first-quarter results following recent industry conferences and channel checks.
- SoFi Technologies gains 2% after the company boosted its adjusted Ebitda guidance for the full year.
- Southwest Airlines declines 1.2% after Jefferies downgraded the carrier to underperform, noting that optimization plans are languishing as delays at Boeing reduce fleets.
- Tandem Diabetes rises 4% after Wells Fargo upgraded the medical device manufacturer, saying a survey indicates stable growth in insulin pumps.
The big overnight market event was the rollercoaster move in the Japanese yen which again took center stage with dramatic moves that fueled speculation over whether the government had intervened to support its beleaguered currency. In holiday-thinned trading, the yen swung wildly, rallying more than 2% on Monday after earlier dropping as much as 1.2% to 160.17 per dollar.
