Twitter, IAC, Nvidia, Levi Strauss: What to Watch When the Stock Market Opens Today

U.S. stock futures rose after Republicans offered a short-term debt-limit extension, helping stave off immediate concerns about a possible government default. Here’s what we’re watching ahead of Thursday’s open.

• Twitter TWTR 2.39% shares rose 2.4% in premarket trading after the company said it is selling mobile ad firm MoPub to AppLovin APP 4.41% for $1.05 billion in cash. AppLovin jumped more than 10%.

• Barry Diller ‘s media conglomerate IAC/InteractiveCorp. IAC 0.91% climbed 4.3% after it reached a  $2.7 billion deal to buy Meredith, MDP 0.22% a magazine publisher with brands such as People and InStyle. Meredith shares added 6.5%.
• Megacap tech companies gained premarket as government bond yields edged down. Apple, AAPL 0.63% Amazon.com, AMZN 1.27% Google-parent Alphabet GOOG 0.86% and Microsoft MSFT 1.51% all added around 1%. Nvidia NVDA 1.22% rose 2% and Square was up 3%.
• Earnings are due from Conagra Brands, CAG 0.61% Tilray, TLRY -2.79% Lamb Weston LW -0.18% and Helen of Troy HELE -0.75% before the opening bell.
• Levi Strauss LEVI -5.13% advanced 4.6%. The denim company reported higher sales in the third quarter, lifting profits.
• Moderna MRNA -8.94% rose 1.3%. It put forward plans to build a vaccine-manufacturing plant in Africa. At Wednesday’s close, the stock had lost over 20% of its value this month so far.
• Oil company shares followed crude prices down. Valero Energy VLO 1.44% slipped 1.5%, Occidental Petroleum OXY -2.35% declined 1.2% and Diamondback Energy FANG -0.05% retreated 1%.
• Accolade ACCD -0.40% will report earnings after the close.

Chart of the Day

• Airline stocks have gained more than 10% over the past month, as broader equity markets tumbled. However, this is merely a partial rebound from a bad summer for aviation shares, including those of plane makers. Only budget-airline stocks currently trade above their pre-Covid levels.

Write to Anna Hirtenstein at anna.hirtenstein@wsj.com

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