Wall Street futures are pointing higher, and in pre-market deals, several stocks are in the frame.
United Airlines, the famous airline carrier owned by United Continental Holdings (NASDAQ:UAL), was in focus, as news emerged it was embarking on a new boarding process.
The company has revealed its customers have complained about clusters of people around the departure gates and that it was all too congested, so it has reduced the number of queues and grouped boarders together. In addition, travelers who use the United app can get alerts when boarding has started.
Shares in UAL were down 0.011% in pre-market trade to US$90.10.
Shares of MGM Resorts (NYSE:MGM) are up 1.4% on a report in the New York Post that the hedge fund activist Starboard Value is taking a more than US$500mln stake in the company. Sources told the Post that the hedge fund is looking to introduce radical changes at the casino operator.
Elsewhere, car retailing giant AutoNation Inc (NYSE:AN) shares nudged up 0.41% to US$43.27 ahead of the opening bell. It comes as chief executive Mike Jackson will step down next year after 20 years' running the US's largest chain of auto dealerships.
He will move from chairman, CEO and president currently to executive chairman next year. In that role, he has extended his contract until 2021.
AutoNation's Mike Jackson to step down as CEO next year AutoNation Inc's longtime Chief Executive Officer Mike Jackson will step down from the role next year but remain executive chairman until 2021, the largest U.S. auto retail chain said on Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/wASD5zWx1x
— ganadineroamerica (@ganaeuroamerica) 19 September 2018
Elsewhere, Fitbit Inc (NYSE:FIT) shares dipped 0.86% to US$5.75 before the bell but had closed yesterday more than 6% higher at US$5.80 on the day after it emerged that the US$200bn tariff on Chinese goods will avoid smartwatch makers and fitness trackers.
Also in the news, Bayer shares rose after it emerged that Monsanto, its agricultural subsidiary, had lodged a court filing requesting that a California court overturns its Roundup cancer case verdict.
It says the scientific evidence was flimsy and that it was confident the elements of its flagship weed killer aren’t carcinogenic.
Groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson's case had been fast-tracked for trial due to the severity of his non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He claimed his cancer was caused by years of exposure to Roundup and Ranger Pro, another Monsanto herbicide that contains glyphosate.
Bayer AG (ETR:BAYN) shares are up 0.71% at the time of writing to US$73.81.
-- updated with news of Starboard Value taking a stake in MGM --