Stock Market Today: Stocks steady ahead of massive week on Wall Street

Check back for updates throughout the trading day

U.S. equity futures were mixed in early Monday trading while oil prices extended gains, as investors braced for a massive week on Wall Street while eyeing developments that suggest the Middle East conflict could spiral into a wider regional war.

Updated 9:22 AM EST

Courtesy of TheStreet's Doug Kass, here's a list of top pre-market gainers and losers today. - Todd Campbell

Upside

- (PALI) +114% (announces positive preclinical data of lead program PALI-2108 at the 2024 Crohn's & Colitis Congress)
- (SNCE) +21% (to be acquired by eMed at $5.75/shr in cash; provides guidance)
- (RNAZ) +20% (TransCode Therapeutics and Debiopharm announce collaboration to develop targeted nucleic acid therapeutics for cancer)
- (CDLX) +19% (announces successful resolution of SRS dispute, reports prelim Q4 results)
- (SOFI) +14% (earnings, guidance)
- (CANF) +13% (top scientific journal published positive data from the COMFORT-1 phase III psoriasis study)
- (REVG) +9.8% (divests school bus business and to reorganize into two reporting segments; announces special cash dividend of $3.00/shr)
- (MGRC) +9.2% (WillScot Mobile Mini Holdings confirms to acquire McGrath RentCorp for $3.8B at ~$123.00/shr either cash or stock)
- (ZIM) +8.6% (Jefferies Raised ZIM to Buy from Hold, price target: $20 from $14)
- (BOOM) +8.1% (announces review of strategic alternatives for its DynaEnergetics and NobelClad businesses)
- (GMDA) +7.1% (actively pursuing strategic alternatives)
- (BEAM) +6.1% (JPMorgan Chase and Co Raised BEAM to Overweight from Neutral, price target: $40)
- (ZI) +5.2% (Tier1 firm Raised ZI to Buy from Neutral, price target: $25 from $20)
- (OSG) +4.2% (confirms receipt of unsolicited indication of interest of $6.25 per share of the company that Saltchuk does not already own)
- (BLDR) +3.2% (Tier1 firm Raised BLDR to Buy from Neutral, price target: $410 from $327)
- (BEN) +3.0% (earnings)
- (DLTR) +3.0% (JPMorgan Chase and Co Raised DLTR to Overweight from Neutral, price target: $157 from $122)
- (ADM) +2.8% (said to postpone certain executive bonuses)
- (CCCC) +2.6% (JPMorgan Chase and Co Raised CCCC to Neutral from Underweight, price target: $6)
- (EOLS) +2.5% (Barclays Raised EOLS to Overweight from Equal Weight, price target: $16 from $10)

Downside

- (PBLA) -63% (prices 4.4M shares at $2.06/shr in $9.0M public offering)
- (IRBT) -20% (Amazon and iRobot agree to terminate pending acquisition citing no path to regulatory approval in the EU; iRobot to receive $94M termination fee and names new CEO, job cuts)
- (CKPT) -8.9% (files to sell 7.8M shares at $1.805/shr in $14M registered direct offering)
- (HOOK) -8.7% (provides update on business priorities and Oncology Partnership Programs, including Roche decision to terminate collaboration and licensing agreement for HOOKIPA's HB-700 program in KRAS mutated cancers; to reduce workforce by ~30%)
- (PHG) -8.2% (reports Q4 revenue, issues guidance; announces €363M provision and compliance agreement with FDA over a large-scale recall of ventilators)
- (CDNA) -7.8% (NTRA awarded $96.3M in damages after jury rules in favor of Natera in patent infringement lawsuit against CareDx)
- (KAVL) -6.0% (partner Bidi Vapor to contest FDA denial of 'Classic' Tobacco-Flavored ENDS)
- (BE) -5.9% (Tier1 firm Cuts BE to Underperform from Neutral, price target: $10 from $16)
- (VERA) -4.1% (files to sell $200M of common stock)
- (SNX) -3.1% (launches secondary public offering to sell 7.4M common stock and announces $160M share buyback)
- (WSC) -2.5% (to acquire MGRC for $3.8B at ~$123.00/shr either cash or stock)
- (ARLP) -2.0% (earnings, guidance)

Updated at 9:05 AM EST

Chips are in

Advanced Micro Devices  (AMD) - Get Free Report shares are a key early mover Monday, rising 1.3% in solid pre-market volume ahead of the chipmaker's fourth quarter earnings after the close of trading Tuesday.

A pair of Wall Street price target boosts, tied to the group's new MI300X chip launch, which is expected to challenge Nvidia's  (NVDA) - Get Free Report AI market dominance, are helping to extend the stock's 57% surge over the past 

Related: AMD higher as 2 analysts unveil new price targets ahead of Q4 earnings

Stock Market Today

Stocks snapped a run of five consecutive record closes Friday, with the S&P 500 slipping modestly into the finish, despite a week of solid economic data and further evidence that inflation pressures are easing toward the Federal Reserve's 2% target. 

This week's focus, however, is expected to be much more comprehensive, with more than 80 S&P 500 companies reporting December-quarter earnings, including five of the so-called Magnificent 7 tech giants in the form of Microsoft  (MSFT) - Get Free Report, Google  (GOOGL) - Get Free Report, Apple  (AAPL) - Get Free Report, Amazon  (AMZN) - Get Free Report and Meta Platforms  (META) - Get Free Report. 

Analysts estimate collective S&P 500 fourth quarter earnings rose 4.9% from fourth-quarter 2022 to a share-weighted $456 billion, with first quarter earnings set to improve by around 5.9% to $464.8 billion.

The Federal Reserve will also kick off its two-day policy meeting tomorrow, with its January interest rate announcement set for Wednesday at 2:00 pm Eastern, followed 30 minutes later by a news conference with Chairman Jerome Powell.

Traders are not pricing in any chance of a change in the Fed's benchmark lending rate, currently pegged at between 5.25% and 5.5%, but see a 50% chance that the central bank will begin cutting rates in March, with reductions following in May and June, according to CME Group's FedWatch.

Investors will also digest a host of labor-market data this week, including the December Jolts report on job openings Tuesday, payroll-processing group ADP's national employment report on Wednesday, weekly jobless-claims data on Thursday and the Labor Department's official nonfarm payroll report on Friday.

Traders will also be watching both the oil market and developments in the Mideast, where three U.S. servicemen were killed and 34 others injured in a drone attack led by Iran-backed rebels on aa U.S. base in northern Jordan, known as Tower 22.

Related: Huge earnings week on tap, led by tech titans Apple and Microsoft

The attacks, which followed a series of incidents involving cargo and oil-carrying vessels in the Red Sea, were condemned by President Joe Biden, who vowed the U.S. would retaliate "at a time and in a manner of our choosing."

Brent crude futures, which rose more than 6% last week to mark their strongest five-day run since Hamas launched its attacks on Israel in early October, were marked 13 cents higher at $83.68 per barrel in early Monday trading.

WTI futures for March delivery, which are tightly linked to U.S. gasoline prices, were up 20 cents at a near three-month high of $78.21 per barrel.

On Wall Street, stocks look set for a muted open ahead of this week's heavy headline calendar, with futures contracts tied to the S&P 500 suggesting a 2 point opening bell dip. Dow futures suggest a 26 point opening bell decline while those linked to the Nasdaq are indicating an 18 point advance.

In overseas markets, Europe's Stoxx 600 was marked 0.09% higher in early Frankfurt dealing. The index was trading near the highest levels in two years ahead of a slew of big-bank earnings later in the week. Britain's commodity-heavy FTSE 100, meanwhile, was marked 0.22% higher in London.

Overnight in Asia, markets shrugged off the liquidation of China Evergrande, the indebted property developer, and focused on efforts from Beijing to stoke growth in the world's second-largest economy. 

The regionwide MSCI ex-Japan benchmark rose 0.78% into the close of trading, while the Nikkei 225 added 0.77% in Tokyo.

Related: Veteran fund manager picks favorite stocks for 2024