Stock Futures Shift Higher Despite Fading AI Optimism

After the major indexes marked weekly losses on Friday, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), S&P 500 Index (SPX), and Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) are all pointed higher this morning. Investors are monitoring Oracle (ORCL) and the AI sector, after optimism faded amid power supply concerns for Nvidia (NVDA) and OpenAI's planned data center. Both equities are looking to rebound today. Wall Street is looking ahead to Friday's release of nonfarm payrolls for September and news of Electronic Arts (EA) billion-dollar buyout.

• Profit-taking played a part in last week's losses.
• 2 furniture retailers to watch amid tariff updates.
• Plus, LRCX upgraded; Electronic Arts going private; and why this oil stock is higher.

5 Things You Need to Know Today

1. The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw over 3.1 million call contracts and more than 1.6 million put contracts exchanged on Friday. The single-session equity put/call ratio fell to 0.51, while the 21-day moving average remained at 0.58.
2. Shares of Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ:EA) are up 6% before the open, set to extend record highs amid news that the videogame concern etched a take-private deal with Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners worth $55 billion. The deal will pay out shareholders $210 per share in cash. EA has added 32.2% so far in 2025.
3. Lam Research Corp (NASDAQ:LRCX) stock is up 2.4% in premarket trading, after an upgrade from Deutsche Bank to "buy" from "hold" and a price-target hike to $150 from $100. The brokerage cited an improved equipment outlook and favorable supply and demand conditions. LRCX sports a healthy 77.7% year-to-date lead.
4. Occidental Petroleum Corp (NYSE:OXY) stock is up 1.6% ahead of the bell, following reports that the company may sell its OxyChem division for $10 billion. OXY sports a 13% quarter-to-date lead.
5. Consumer confidence, manufacturing, and services data coming this week.

Sony Spinoff Stock Boosts Asian Markets

Asian markets closed higher on Monday, with the exception of a 0.7% dip from Japan’s Nikkei. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.9%, while China’s Shanghai Composite and the South Korean Kospi tacked on 0.9% and 1.3%, respectively. Notably, Sony Group spinoff Sony Financial Group rose 15.86% in its debut on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Over in Europe, London’s FTSE 100 was last seen up 0.4%, as the ruling Labour party’s annual conference kicks off in Liverpool. The French CAC 40 was up 0.2% at last glance, while the German DAX slips 0.1%. Germany-based airliner Lufthansa announced 4,000 job cuts, mostly by way of digitization/automation, while pharmaceutical stocks climbed across the region.