Warner Bros. Discovery rose 4.9 per cent following the hostile buyout bid, and Paramount Skydance’s stock climbed 7.5 per cent.
Unilever ’s spinoff The Magnum Ice Cream Co. was valued lower than some analysts expected in its debut on Monday, as the world’s biggest ice cream company looks to revive its performance as a standalone firm.
Magnum shares opened at €12.20 in Amsterdam on Monday, before rising to trade slightly above the technical reference price of €12.80, which gave the company a market value of €7.9 billion ($13.9 billion). Shares also opened in London, and were set to start trading in New York later on Monday as part of the triple listing.
Magnum is listing on the stock exchanges in Amsterdam, London and New York.Credit: Bloomberg
Elsewhere on Wall Street, Confluent soared 28.9 per cent after IBM said it would buy the company, which helps customers connect and process data. IBM said the $US11 billion deal will help customers deploy artificial-intelligence tools better and faster, and its shares added 1.5 per cent.
Carvana jumped 10.7 per cent in its first trading after learning it will join the S&P 500 index on Dec. 22. Many professional investors directly mimic the index or at least measure their performance against it, which will push many to buy any stocks within it.
CRH, a provider of building materials, rose 5.9 per cent, and Comfort Systems USA, a provider of mechanical and electrical contracting services, added 2.4 per cent after likewise learning they’ll join the S&P 500 in a couple of weeks.
They will replace LKQ, Solstice Advanced Materials and Mohawk Industries, which have all shrunk enough in size that they’ll drop down to the S&P SmallCap 600 index of smaller stocks.
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CoreWeave sank 7 per cent after the AI cloud company said it’s raising $US2 billion in debt that it could repay in stock and cash.
Moves elsewhere on Wall Street were relatively modest. The US stock market has become much more calm recently following weeks of sharp and scary swings.
The highlight of this week will come Wednesday, when the Federal Reserve will announce its latest move on interest rates.
Stocks have already run to the edge of their records on widespread expectations that the Fed will cut its main interest rate for the third time this year. Lower interest rates can give the economy and prices for investments a boost, though their downside is that they can worsen inflation.
The big question is what kind of hints the Fed will offer about where interest rates will go after that. Many on Wall Street are bracing for talk aimed at tamping down expectations for more cuts in 2026.
Inflation has stubbornly remained above the Fed’s 2 per cent target, and Fed officials are notably split in their opinions about whether high inflation or the slowing job market is the bigger threat to the economy.
In the bond market, Treasury yields climbed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.18 per cent from 4.14 per cent late Friday.
In stock markets abroad, indexes slid 1.2 per cent in Hong Kong but jumped 1.3 per cent in South Korea for two of the world’s bigger gains.
AP, Bloomberg
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