Biggest stock movers today: BIG, PLTR, and more

Stock futures edged higher Monday morning as investors weighed the implications of the August jobs report, which has created uncertainty about the scale of potential Federal Reserve interest rate cuts later this month.

Here are some of Monday’s biggest stock movers:

Biggest stock gainers

• Dell Technologies (NYSE:DELL) and Palantir Technologies (NYSE:PLTR) shares surged over 6% on Monday after S&P Global announced their inclusion in the prestigious S&P 500 index. Dell will replace Etsy, while Palantir will take the place of American Airlines Group in the benchmark. This quarterly rebalancing will occur before the market opens on Monday, September 23rd. To qualify for the S&P 500, a company must have generated a profit in its most recent quarter and maintain cumulative profitability over the past four quarters.
• Boeing (NYSE:BA) shares rose 3% after the company and its biggest labor union reached a tentative agreement to prevent a potential strike that could have further strained the aircraft manufacturer. The deal includes a significant 25% wage increase over four years and a commitment to build Boeing’s next plane in the unionized Pacific Northwest. To encourage workers to accept the agreement, Boeing has offered immediate benefits, including an 11% pay raise and a $3,000 bonus payable at the end of the month.

Biggest stock losers

• Big Lots (NYSE:BIG) shares plunged 39% after Nexus Capital Management agreed to acquire all its assets and operations as the discount retailer, along with its subsidiaries, initiated voluntary Chapter 11 proceedings. The company is reviewing its operations, which may lead to additional store closures. During and after the restructuring process, Big Lots will continue to serve customers both in-store and online. The company has secured $707.5M in financing to support its restructuring. The retailer reported assets and liabilities between $1B to $10B, with 5,001 to 10,000 creditors. Despite the challenges, President and CEO Bruce Thorn highlighted Q3’s significant improvement in comp sales and gross margins, anticipating continued momentum through the year’s second half.
• Merck (NYSE:MRK) shares slipped 4% after the company, alongside Daiichi Sankyo (OTCPK:DSNKY), announced interim results from a Phase 2 trial for their lung cancer drug, ifinatamab deruxtecan (I-DXd). While the novel antibody-drug conjugate showed promising objective response rates (ORR) of 55% and 26% at 12 mg/kg and 8 mg/kg doses, respectively, concerns arose from adverse events that led to 17% of patients in the higher dose group and 6.5% in the lower dose group discontinuing treatment. Based on the data, the companies have selected the 12 mg/kg dose for further evaluation in the dose expansion phase of the trial.