The U.S. markets are headed for a weak start following renewed trade tensions between the U.S and China. President Trump has said that he canceled the weekend trade talks with China and added that he was not willing to talk to China right now. At the same time, the U.S government has warned American universities against the continued investment of endowment funds in Chinese stocks.
The administration told Universities that with more stringent measures against Chinese stocks coming, there was a risk that these stocks could be delisted wholesale from American exchanges. These moves by the U.S government have renewed fears that the February trade deal that led to a period of calm in trade between the two countries could be broken.
This also comes at a time when the world economy is still reeling from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the current market situation, there are stocks that are in the green pre-market. Some of the top performers ahead of markets are as below:
Hudson Ltd [NYSE: HUD]
Hudson Ltd is a top performer this morning and is up by 46.20%. This follows the company’s announcement of the acquisition of all outstanding shares by Dufry AG Group. Dufry already controls 57.4% of all the shares in the company. Under the agreement, Dufry will buy the remaining shares at $7.70, which is 50.1% of the price that Hudson was trading at in yesterday’s session.
Commenting on the deal, Hudson CEO Roger Fordyce stated that while the acquisition would reorganize the ownership structure, the integration that will follow will help the company better execute its business strategy. He added that the company’s strategy has not changed and that it would continue to put emphasis on its key business pillars. The deal will be subject to approval by the other Hudson shareholders.
9 Meters Biopharma [NASDAQ:NMTR]
9 Meters Biopharma is another top performer this morning and is up by 32% pre-market. This is a pure price action driven move, pushed by the updates from the Truist Securities Catalyst Conference call that happened yesterday.
Last week, the company had provided an update on the Phase 1b/2a trial for its potential treatment for short bowel syndrome. The company stated that it had done amendments to the primary endpoint for its phase 3 trial and that it was expecting multiple points of inflection in the next 18 months.
Blonder Tongue Laboratories Inc [NYSE:BDR]
Blonder Tongue Laboratories Inc is another top performer this morning and is up by 26%. This increased momentum comes days after the company announced that it had appointed Rick Briggs as a director. The company stated that Briggs was bringing in more than 3 decades of experience in developing tech solutions. It will be interesting to see how its current price action will play out in the day.
