Pre-Bell｜Wall St Futures Subdued; Dayforce Soars 27%; Soho House Rises 16%; IQiyi Jumps 13%; UnitedHealth Gains 3%; BitMine Falls 5%

U.S. stock index futures wavered on Monday, pausing after a recent rally as investor focus shifted to earnings from big box retailers and an annual central bank conference at Jackson Hole, all of which are lined up later this week.

Market Snapshot

At 7:50 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 37 points, or 0.08%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 9 points, or 0.14%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 47.25 points, or 0.20%.

Pre-Market Movers

Dayforce jumped 27% after Bloomberg reported that private-equity firm Thoma Bravo was in talks to acquire the HR management software company. The deal could close in the coming weeks, the report said, which cited people familiar with the matter. A sale price wasn't disclosed. Dayforce and Thoma Bravo didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Barron's.

UnitedHealth was up 3% in premarket trading after shares of the health insurer jumped 12% Friday for their best daily percentage gain since March 24, 2020, when they rose 13%, according to Dow Jones Market Data. UnitedHealth rose 21% last week, the stock's best weekly performance in more than 16 years. Boosting the stock was the disclosure that Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway had purchased roughly 5 million shares in the company, worth about $1.6 billion.

Novo Nordisk rose 3.6% in U.S. trading after the drugmaker said its weight-loss medicine Wegovy was approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat liver disease.

Soho House rose 16% to $8.84 after confirming a report from The Wall Street Journal that it would be taken private in a deal led by hotel-group MCR and its Chief Executive Tyler Morse. Stockholders will receive $9 a share in cash. The offer values Soho House at about $2.7 billion, including debt.

Chinese ADRs jumped in premarket trading on Monday. Xunlei up nearly 20%; iQiyi up 13%; Kingsoft Cloud up 5%; XPeng up 2%. A gauge of Shanghai-listed stocks is set for its highest close in a decade, as cash-rich local investors plow into a market that has surged amid easing trade tensions with the US.

Tonix Pharmaceuticals rose 13%. Tonix Pharma's Tonmya received FDA approval, marking the first new fibromyalgia therapy in 15 years. Tonmya is a non-opioid, once-daily bedtime analgesic with a sublingual formulation designed for rapid absorption.

Intel fell 0.7% after it rose almost 24% last week, the chip maker's best weekly performance since January 2000, according to Dow Jones Market Data. A report from Bloomberg said the Trump administration was in talks to have the U.S. government potentially take a stake in Intel.

Crypto shares sank in premarket trading. BitMine, Upexi down over 5%; Bit Digital down 4%; SBET down over 3%. Major cryptocurrencies retreated to drag the market’s total value below $4 trillion after it scaled record heights last week. Bitcoin fell as much as 2.2% to about $115,000 while Ether, the second-largest token, at one point shed more than 4% to dip below $4,300 on Monday.

Solar stocks rose in premarket trading, building on big gains Friday. First Solar was up 4.5% and Sunrun climbed 2.5%. Enphase Energy rose 1.8%. The Trump administration released new guidance on clean energy tax credits Friday that were better than feared for solar companies.

Market News

Trump Tells Ukraine to Give up on NATO and Crimea Ahead of Zelenskiy Meeting

U.S. President Donald Trump told Ukraine to give up hopes of getting back annexed Crimea or joining NATO as he prepared to host President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and European leaders in Washington on Monday to press Kyiv into accepting a peace deal with Russia.

After rolling out the red carpet for Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, Trump is leaning on Ukraine to accept a deal to end Europe's deadliest war in 80 years, which has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions.

Germany Says Written EU-US Trade Deal Requires Lower Car Duties

Germany said on Monday that the United States would have to follow through on agreed lower tariffs on Europe-made cars before a wider agreement on trade can be finalised in writing.

"In particular, car tariffs must be reduced quickly as agreed. We are also aware of the considerable burden on the export-orientated economy. ... Our role here is to continue to fully support the European Commission in this process," a German government spokesman said in a press conference.