It’s a good start to the week for stock markets all across the world. In Europe, the German industrial indices are on the rise, uplifting the rest of the market with them, with the DAX currently up by over 2%. It’s the same scenario in the U.K and France where the FTSE 100 and the CAC 40 are up by 1.5% and 2% respectively.  U.S equities are headed for an equally good day if their pre-market price action is anything to go by.

At the time of writing, the S&P 500 was up 1.35%, the Dow by 1.34%, and the NASDAQ by 1.68%. The excitement in the market is driven by positive data from China. Chinese data shows that industrial profits remain strong and that they have been on a growth path for four months in a row.

According to the country’s statistical bureau, industrial profits increased by19.1% in August to 612.81 million yuan, compared to a similar month in 2019. This has created excitement across global markets that the COVID-19 slump in economic activity is not as bad as had been feared. As market optimism rises, stocks that have exciting news are rallying more than the rest of the market. Some of the top performers ahead of markets are as below:

Piedmont Lithium Limited [NASDAQ: PLL]

Piedmont Lithium Ltd is a top performer pre-market and is up by over 200%. This follows the company’s announcement that it had signed a lithium ore supply agreement with Tesla. Under the initial 5 year deal, the company will supply a third of the planned 160k tons of spodumene concrete annually from its site in North Carolina. The deal also has a clause for an extension for another 5 years. In a statement, the company stated that the deal was the first step in its supply of lithium in the U.S market. Deliveries are expected to begin in between July 2022 and July 2023.

Urban One [NASDAQ: UONE]

While its gains are not that huge, it is still one of the biggest gainers pre-market. This follows news about a pending patent for circle technology. If it continues its current momentum, it stands to be one of the big gainers at the start of the week.

Oxbridge Re Holdings Limited [NASDAQ: OXBR]

This is one of the biggest performers pre-market and is up by over 90%. There is no major news about the company, which makes it a momentum-driven move. If markets keep gaining in the day, it could gain big too.