Morning Brief

What to watch today: Wall Street looks steady after new highs

BY THE NUMBERS

U.S. stock futures were relatively flat Tuesday, one day after the S&P 500 closed above 4,700 for the first time ever. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq also rallied to record-high closes Monday as industrials and materials stocks got a boost from the late-Friday approval in the House of the Senate-passed infrastructure bill. President Joe Biden is expected to sign it. (CNBC)

* Here's what's next for Biden's $1.75 trillion social safety net, climate policy spending plan (CNBC)

Investors are getting October inflation data this week, with the producer price index Tuesday and the consumer price index Wednesday. Producer prices climbed 0.6% in October, in-line with estimates. Still, wholesale prices increased 8.6% on a year-over-year basis, tied for the biggest increase on record. (CNBC)

IN THE NEWS TODAY

U.S. industrial giant General Electric (GE) will split into three separate companies, aviation, health care and energy, following years of lackluster stock performance. GE plans to spin off the health-care unit by early 2023 and the energy unit by early 2024, the company said in a press release. Shares of GE surged in premarket trading after the announcement. (CNBC)

Bitcoin and ether hit new all-time highs Tuesday, before slightly trimming their gains, as cryptocurrencies extended their rallies. Bitcoin, the world's biggest digital currency, topped $68,500. Ether, the No. 2 crypto and native currency of Ethereum's blockchain, jumped above $4,800 for the first time ever. So far this year, bitcoin has gained more than 130% and ether has surged about 550%. (CNBC)

* Ripple to launch crypto service for financial firms amid legal battle with SEC (CNBC)

Shares of Roblox (RBLX) jumped more than 25% in Tuesday's premarket, the morning after the online gaming platform reported third-quarter results that impressed analysts. The service was unavailable between Oct. 28 and Oct. 31, a period that falls in the company's fourth quarter. Roblox started trading on the New York Stock Exchange in March following a direct listing. (CNBC)

PayPal (PYPL) shares sank more than 5% in Tuesday's premarket, the morning after the payments company reported lower-than-expected third-quarter revenue and warned on outlook. Third-quarter adjusted earnings beat estimates. PayPal also said it's teaming up with Amazon (AMZN) to let U.S. customers pay with its Venmo service at the e-commerce giant's checkout, starting in 2022. (CNBC)

AMC Entertainment (AMC) dropped almost 5% in premarket trading after its CEO said there are still Covid challenges ahead. The movie theater operator posted a third-quarter loss that was narrower than expected and revenue above estimates. The stock rose 8% in Monday's regular session before the company released after-the-bell results. AMC has been at the center of this year's meme stock craze, skyrocketing more than 2,025% in 2021. (CNBC)

CNBC's Jim Cramer said Monday evening he's skeptical Rivian will be the next Tesla (TSLA) and would rather own shares of Ford (F). With Amazon (AMZN) and Ford as sizable investors, Rivian plans to price its IPO between $72 and $74 per share tonight, with trading starting tomorrow. Ultimately, the "Mad Money" host told viewers "if you really believe in Rivian, you've got my blessing to speculate."

* Hertz shareholders increase public stock offering, raise $1.3 billion (CNBC)
* Panera Bread announces SPAC investment, to go public markets through an IPO (CNBC)

Macy's (M) will raise its minimum wage, for new and current workers, to $15 per hour by next May. Once the higher pay is in effect, Macy's average base pay will be above $17 per hour, and average total pay will be $20 an hour. The department store chain is also adding an education benefit that will cover 100% of tuition, books and fees. (CNBC)

* McDonald’s CEO apologizes after texts about Chicago shooting deaths surface (CNBC)

The White House told businesses to move forward with President Joe Biden's vaccine and testing requirements for private businesses, despite a federal appeals court ordering a temporary halt to the rules. OSHA, which polices workplace safety for the Labor Department, developed the rules under emergency authority established by Congress. (CNBC)

* Federal judge rules United Airlines' employee vaccine mandate can continue (CNBC)
* United aims to find non-customer facing roles for workers exempted from mandate (Reuters)

STOCKS TO WATCH

Luminar Technologies (LAZR) jumped more than 35% in Tuesday's premarket after Nvidia (NVDA) picked the company's automotive lidar solution to be part of the sensor suite in its driverless vehicle platform. Nvidia shares rose nearly 5%.

EVgo (EVGO) rose another 30% in premarket trading after announcing an expansion of its fast charging infrastructure build-out collaboration with General Motors (GM) and an expansion of its EV charging program for Uber drivers.

Palantir (PLTR) dipped 2% in the premarket even after the software and data analytics company's third-quarter revenue beat the Wall Street forecast. The company reported revenue of $392 million versus $385 million expected, according to Refinitiv. Palantir's earnings per share were in line with estimates.

Nucor (NUE) dipped more than 1% in early morning trading after Citi downgraded the steel stock to neutral from buy. After Nucor rallied Monday following the House's passage of a massive infrastructure spending bill, Citi said the good news was already priced into Nucor shares.

TripAdvisor (TRIP) fell more than 8% premarket after the travel-booking company missed Wall Street expectations for its third-quarter financial results. The company earned an adjusted 16 cents per share on $303 million in revenue. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv expected the company to earn 24 cents per share on $304 million in revenue.

Robinhood Markets (HOOD) retreated more than 3% in early morning trading after the company announced a data security breach. Robinhood said the breach occurred late in the evening last Wednesday, and that the third party "obtained access to a limited amount of personal information for a portion of [Robinhood's] customers."

SmileDirectClub (SDC) sunk more than 22% in early morning trading after the digital dentistry company reported weaker-than-expected. quarterly results. The company reported revenue of $138 million, short of the expected $182.5 million, according to estimates from StreetAccount.

Richard Fain has decided to step down as Royal Caribbean (RCL) CEO on Jan. 3. Chief Financial Officer Jason Liberty will succeed Fain as CEO and join the board. Fain will remain chairman. Royal Caribbean shares were little changed in the premarket.