Friday saw the broader indices battle with wide gains across several sectors, but a wide bleed in the retail space triggered by Amazon.com, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) buyout of Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:WFM). The end saw the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average advance, but the Nasdaq Composite yielded some ground.
Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) will take center stage in Monday’s trade.
Here’s what you need to know.
Boeing Co (BA)
BA shares are up this morning amid some positive news out of the Paris Air Show.
Boeing has just unveiled the 737 MAX 10, a 230-person aircraft that will “add more value for customers and more energy to the marketplace, bringing the number of 737 MAX models to five. The aircraft, which Boeing says will feature lowest-in-class operating costs — is expected to go up against the Airbus A321neo.
Boeing said at least 10 customers were interested in the plane, combining for more than 240 orders and commitments. That brings the orders for the entire 737 MAX series up to about 3,700.
The company also said it’s gauging interest in a plane that would size between the largest version of the 737 and the 787 Dreamliner.
BA shares are more than 1% higher this morning.
Alphabet Inc (GOOGL)
Alphabet made an important announcement over the weekend designed to make YouTube a safer environment, answering a piece of criticism that helped lead many of its advertisers to jump ship.
The tech giant has unleashed a four-step plan to crack down on terrorist videos — content that already violates YouTube’s policies.
YouTube plans to lean on both technology and an increase in “YouTube Trusted Flagger” experts top help better identify extremist and terrorism-related videos. Even problematic videos that don’t explicitly violate YouTube’s policies “will appear behind an interstitial warning and they will not be monetised, recommended or eligible for comments or user endorsements. That means these videos will have less engagement and be harder to find.”
Lastly, the company will increase its efforts in redirecting potential ISIS recruits toward anti-terrorism videos instead.
GOOGL came under fire in March as numerous major advertisers, including AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), pulled their ads because of YouTube’s inability to ensure their ads wouldn’t be placed on hate-speech, terrorist and other objectionable content.
GOOGL shares are up more than 20% year-to-date.
Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN)
Lastly, AMZN will be in the spotlight following its blockbuster Friday announcement that it would be buying out organic grocer Whole Foods.
Amazon’s deal sent shockwaves throughout the retail world — specifically those with grocery operations — amid widespread speculation that the e-commerce giant will use Whole Foods as a hub to expand its broader grocery initiatives. Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT), Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) and Kroger Co (NYSE:KR) all took their lumps to varying degrees as Wall Street priced in a worst-case scenario.
AMZN stock, meanwhile, jumped 2.5% on the news, padding its market cap by about $11.2 billion amid a deal that will cost it $13.4 billion. That also put the stock another step closer to reclaiming the $1,000-per-share mark that it ceded back on Friday, June 9, when Goldman Sachs called out big tech for valuation issues.
Now comes the speculation — while Amazon has said that it will let CEO John Mackey keep his job, maintain the brand name and doesn’t plan on firing employees, the question is, “What comes next?” Few believe that Amazon simply plans on operating Whole Foods as is, or even plans on making just a few operational improvements to build the WFM business.
In short, Wall Street will be looking for any inklings of insight into how Whole Foods will help Amazon be … well, more Amazon-y and continue its dominance of the retail space.
AMZN shares are up more than another 1% this morning.
