Stocks tumbled to start the week after the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg over the weekend added more uncertainty to an already fraught U.S. election and the inability of Congress to enact more fiscal stimulus. In addition, a pick-up in infections across Europe has revived worries that a re-tightening of virus restrictions will be implemented. Meanwhile, the still complicated TikTok saga has taken on the role of the proverbial "canary in the coal mine" for worsening U.S.-China relations.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the Chicago Fed's National Activity index dropped 1.8 points to 0.79 in August after tumbling 3.3 points in July.
The latest data from the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering shows there are now 31.1M confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide, including 6.82M in the U.S., and 961,459 deaths due to the disease.
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported that House Democrats have proposed a spending bill that would keep the government running through December 11, though without farm-relief funds sought by the Trump administration.
TOP NEWS: Oracle (ORCL) and Walmart (WMT) announced tentative approval for an agreement with the U.S. government to resolve the outstanding issues that will now include Oracle and Walmart together investing to acquire 20% of the newly formed TikTok Global business, the companies stated. Walmart said: "While there is still work to do on final agreements, we have tentatively agreed to purchase 7.5% of TikTok Global as well as enter into commercial agreements to provide our ecommerce, fulfillment, payments and other omnichannel services to TikTok Global. Our CEO, Doug McMillon, would also serve as one of five board members of the newly created company."
In other M&A news, Illumina (ILMN) announced they have entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Grail for cash and stock consideration of $8B upon closing of the transaction. Grail was founded by Illumina in 2016 and was spun out as a standalone company, powered by Illumina's NGS technology, to develop data science and machine learning and create the atlas of cancer signals in the blood, enabling multi-cancer early detection tests.
Meanwhile, Microsoft (MSFT) announced plans to acquire ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks, which it calls "one of the largest, privately held game developers and publishers in the world," for $7.5B in cash. Bethesda, the creators of gaming franchises including The Elder Scrolls and Fallout, "brings an impressive portfolio of games, technology, talent, as well as a track record of blockbuster commercial success, to Xbox," Microsoft said.
Shares of JPMorgan Chase (JPM) fell over 3% after the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists reported that it was among five banks that defied money laundering crackdowns by moving large sums of illicit cash for shadowy characters and criminal networks. In some cases the bank and peers kept moving illicit funds even after U.S. officials warned them they'd face criminal prosecutions if they didn't stop doing business with mobsters, fraudsters or corrupt regimes, the consortium said. Meanwhile, in Reuters' recounting of the documents submitted by banks to the U.S. government, it said the five global banks that appeared most often in the documents were JPMorgan, HSBC (HSBC), Deutsche Bank (DB), Standard Chartered (SCBFY) and Bank of New York Mellon (BK).
Shares of Nikola (NKLA) plunged 19.3% after the electric truck making hopeful announced that Trevor Milton approached the board and proposed to voluntarily step aside as Executive Chairman. The board accepted his proposal, and Stephen Girsky, former Vice Chairman of General Motors (GM) and a member of Nikola's board, has been appointed Chairman of the Board, effective immediately.
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported that short-form mobile-focused streaming service Quibi is weighing several strategic options, including a potential sale, as the company has struggled to grow its subscriber base in a competitive online-video marketplace. Publicly traded companies in the content streaming space include Netflix (NFLX), AT&T (T), Disney (DIS), Comcast (CMCSA), Amazon (AMZN), and ViacomCBS (VIAC).
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Cubic (CUB), which rose 34.2% after announcing that its board of directors approved the adoption of a limited-duration shareholder rights plan in response to Elliott Management informing the company privately that it has acquired a direct ownership and derivatives position and that it, and a private equity firm with whom Elliott has partnered, is interested in acquiring Cubic, subject to various conditions. Also higher was Roku (ROKU), which gained 17.7% after Comcast's (CMCSA) Peacock and Roku announced the Peacock app is now available nationwide on the Roku platform.
Among the notable losers was Legend Biotech (LEGN), which slid more than 14% after announcing that its CEO Fangliang Zhang is presently under residential surveillance by the People's Republic of China law enforcement. Also lower was Tenet Healthcare (THC), which fell 13.1% after JPMorgan analyst Gary Taylor downgraded the stock to Underweight from Neutral on a stalled hospital recovery.
INDEXES: The Dow fell 509.72, or 1.84%, to 27,147.70, the Nasdaq lost 14.48, or 0.13%, to 10,778.80, and the S&P 500 declined 38.41, or 1.16%, to 3,281.06.
Oracle
+1.1 (+1.84%)
Walmart
+1.74 (+1.29%)
Illumina
-25.695 (-8.70%)
Microsoft
+2.28 (+1.14%)
JPMorgan
-3.04 (-3.09%)
HSBC
-1.105 (-5.60%)
Deutsche Bank
-0.745 (-8.20%)
Use SCBFF
+ (+0.00%)
BNY Mellon
-1.43 (-4.04%)
Nikola
-6.74 (-19.68%)
Netflix
+17.53 (+3.73%)
AT&T
-0.28 (-0.97%)
Disney
-3.23 (-2.51%)
Comcast
-0.57 (-1.26%)
Comcast
+ (+0.00%)
Amazon.com
+9.47 (+0.32%)
Use PARA
-1.16 (-3.85%)
Use PARA
-1.27 (-3.84%)
Cubic
+15.18 (+34.20%)
Legend Biotech
-4.64 (-14.43%)
Tenet Healthcare
-3.69 (-13.09%)