Wall Street is poised to continue Friday's positive run, and in pre-market trade, e-commerce giant Alibaba (NASDAQ:BABA) is a stock in focus. Shares added 1.11% to US$174.70
It comes as the group eyes making a move in the potentially massive India market.
It has reportedly opened talks with Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Retail Ltd to form a mega Indian retail joint venture (JV), with an investment of at least US$5bn to challenge the dominance of Flipkart and Amazon.
Alibaba proposes to buy a large stake in Reliance Retail to create a titan in the digital marketplace and also expand its physical, bricks-and-mortar retail businesses in India.
Elsewhere, make-up group Estee Lauder Companies Inc (NYSE:EL) saw shares shed 3.34% to US$131.40 as its first quarter profit fell below Wall Street projections, hit by the strong US dollar among other factors.
Meanwhile, Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ALXN) shares jumped around 2% before the New York bell on FDA news.
The all-powerful U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for review its application for approval of ALXN1210, its investigational long-acting C5 complement inhibitor, to treat people with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH).
The latter is a chronic, progressive, debilitating, and potentially life-threatening ultra-rare blood disorder that has an average age of onset in the early 30s.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) was back making headlines again and there were various news strands. One is that its enormous Gigafactory in the desert is finally getting expanded. Elon Musk plans to build what could become the largest rooftop solar system in the world to power the massive site in Nevada.
Elsewhere, founder of the Huffington Post, Arianna Huffington is calling on the electric car maker's boss Elon Musk to adopt a healthier work-life balance so he takes more time to "refuel and recharge".
But Musk said that was not an option in a tweet early Sunday.
Tesla shares are down 5.25% to US$289.45.
Tyson Foods (NYSE:TSN) shares were marginally easier in premarket on Monday after announcing it is acquiring Keystone Foods from Marfrig Global Foods for US$2.16 billion in cash.
Keystone is a major supplier of chicken nuggets, wings and tenders, beef patties and breaded fish to quick service restaurant chains, retail and convenience stores, a Tyson statement said. The acquisition includes six processing plants and an innovation center in the US.
"Keystone provides a significant foundation for international growth with its in-country operations, sales and distribution network in high growth markets in the Asia Pacific region as well as exports to key markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa," said Tyson chief executive Tom Hayes.
Tyson stock slipped 0.24% to US$62.25 in the premarket. The stock closed on Friday up 2.36% at US$62.40.