Dow Futures Fall As US Government Shuts Down: NKE, LAC, OXY, ARM Among Stocks To Watch

While Dow Jones futures were down by 0.49% at the time of writing, the S&P 500 futures fell 0.56%.

U.S. stocks appear set for a negative opening on Wednesday as the United States government entered its first shutdown in almost seven years after two attempts by the Senate, controlled by Republicans, failed to reach an agreement on a temporary spending bill.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated on Tuesday that a government shutdown could result in the furlough of nearly 750,000 federal employees.

While Dow Jones futures were down by 0.49% at the time of writing, the S&P 500 futures fell 0.56%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100’s futures declined 0.65%. Futures of the Russell 2000 index fell 0.55%.

Meanwhile, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) was down 0.57% at the time of writing, while Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) fell 0.66% on Wednesday morning. Retail sentiment around the S&P 500 ETF on Stocktwits was in the ‘bearish’ territory.

Asian markets ended Wednesday’s trading session on a mixed note, with the KOSPI leading with gains of 0.9%, followed by the TWSE Capitalization Weighted Stock index at 0.62%.

The Nikkei 225 index closed 0.83% lower. The Hang Seng index and the Shanghai Composite were closed for trading on account of China’s National Day.

Stocks To Watch

• Nike Inc. (NKE): Nike’s shares surged nearly 4% in Wednesday’s pre-market session after the company’s first-quarter (Q1) results beat Wall Street expectations. Nike reported earnings per share (EPS) of $0.49 on revenue of $11.72 billion, compared to analyst expectations of an EPS of $0.27 on revenue of $10.99 billion, according to Stocktwits data.
• Lithium Americas Corp. (LAC): Lithium Americas’ shares soared nearly 31% pre-market after the U.S. government confirmed that it would pick up a 5% stake in the company, along with a 5% stake in the Thacker Pass lithium mine.
• Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY): Occidental Petroleum is reportedly in talks with Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRKA) (BRKB) to sell its petrochemical business, OxyChem, for nearly $10 billion. Occidental Petroleum’s shares rose over 1% pre-market.
• Arm Holdings Plc. (ARM): Arm’s shares fell nearly 2% in Wednesday’s pre-market trade after the company’s last legal claim against Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) was dismissed by a Delaware court, according to a Bloomberg report citing a statement from Qualcomm late Tuesday.
• Rezolve AI Plc. (RZLV) and Conagra Brands Inc. (CAG) are among the companies scheduled to announce their latest quarterly results on Wednesday.

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