The Nasdaq index has been predicted to open lower on Monday morning following the recent general decline of mega-cap technology firms. Among the firms that fell during premarket trading were Google owner Alphabet Inc, Facebook owner Meta Platforms, Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft Corp, and Tesla Inc. Losses ranged from 0.5% to 2.1%.
Of the major tech stocks, Nvidia suffered the most severe decline during premarket trading, falling 3.6%. This comes after the chipmaker plummeted 4.5% on Friday after threats were made by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to sue the company in an attempt to thwart Nvidia from purchasing British chip technology provider Arm in a deal exceeding $80 billion. EU antitrust regulators also moved to inspect the deal, however, their actions have been suspended until more information on the pending deal comes to light.
In contrast to the declining tech stocks, numerous energy stocks tracking oil prices increased, with Occidental Petroleum leading the charge with a 1.7% gain. Wells Fargo proved to be a standout winner as well, rising 1.2%.
After much uncertainly surrounding the Omicron coronavirus strain and the recently released U.S. jobs report last Friday, investors’ focus will now be diverted to this Friday’s release of the consumer price index and core inflation data.
