Stock Futures Rise in First Trading Day of August as Oil Prices Slide

August 3, 2026

Breaking News

Image source: AI-generated with OpenAI

U.S. equity futures rose early Monday as investors awaited the July jobs report and another busy week of earnings to kick off August trading.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 333 points, or 0.63%. S&P 500 futures advanced 0.49%, and Nasdaq-100 futures climbed 0.53%.

U.S. shares of Alibaba rose 4.6% in pre-market trading after the Chinese internet and e-commerce giant unveiled a powerful new AI model, Qwen3.8-Max, which it said is on par with Anthropic’s Fable5. Palantir, which is set to report its second-quarter earnings after Monday’s market close, was up 3.2% in pre-market trading.

Advanced Micro Devices, McDonald’s, Kraft Heinz, Costco Wholesale, and Walt Disney are also due to report their latest corporate earnings this week.

Oil prices fell after President Donald Trump said earlier Sunday he canceled a planned attack on Iran. U.S. media reports on Friday said the president was gearing up for a new wave of strikes as hopes for a negotiated settlement to the war diminished and energy prices surged. CNBC reports.

EdgeUp

💊 AstraZeneca Slides After Report of Bristol Myers Merger Talks Leaves Analysts ‘Perplexed’

AstraZeneca shares dropped as much as 7% on Monday after a report that the company had discussed a potential mega-merger with Bristol Myers Squibb, a deal that analysts said would be a surprising strategic move for one of the pharmaceutical industry’s strongest growth stories.

If completed, a deal could value the companies at roughly $400 billion, ranking among the largest pharmaceutical tie-ups ever.

Neither company confirmed the report. AstraZeneca declined to comment, while Bristol Myers Squibb did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment outside normal U.S. business hours. CNBC reports.

🤝 US and Japan Take Action to Prop Up Yen in Rare Joint Move

Japan and the U.S. have confirmed that they jointly intervened last week to halt a slide in the yen after it fell to a fresh 40-year low.

The joint intervention is the first since 2011, when both countries took coordinated action to weaken the yen after the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit eastern Japan.

Both Japan's Ministry of Finance and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have said they will not hesitate to conduct more joint interventions in the future. Yahoo Finance reports.

🛢️ OPEC+ Raises Production Targets

OPEC+ agreed on Sunday to raise oil production by 188,000 barrels per day in September, marking its sixth consecutive monthly increase as the group seeks to restore supply to a market strained by global conflicts.

The increase is largely symbolic as the conflicts in Iran and Ukraine continue to disrupt exports, but it gives major producers like Saudi Arabia more flexibility to raise output once regional flows normalize. Yahoo Finance reports.

🍺 Beer Dynasty Families Sell €731 Million Stake in AB InBev

Some of the historic family owners of Anheuser-Busch InBev sold a €731 million ($843 million) stake in the world's largest brewer after its shares surged at the start of this year.

Eugenie Patri Sebastien offered about 10 million shares at €73.10 apiece in a block trade, according to terms of the deal seen by Bloomberg News.

AB InBev slid as much as 2.5% to €73.32 at the open on Monday after the stock placing was priced at a 2.8% discount to Friday's close. Yahoo Finance reports.

💻 The Global Memory Shortage Hits the MacBook Air

The global memory chip shortage is affecting the availability of Apple's most popular Mac, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

Gurman said the shortage — caused by the demands of chip-hungry AI companies — had already affected Apple's more niche computers, the Mac mini and Mac Studio.

But it seems the company is now struggling to keep the MacBook Air in stock, with retailers saying that supply appears to be more constrained than ever before. Yahoo Finance reports.

🧠 Alibaba Drops Another China AI Model With Breakthrough Performance

Alibaba Group Holding released its latest flagship AI model, with performance claims putting it alongside global leaders like Anthropic's Fable.

The new model, Qwen3.8-Max, is built around 2.4 trillion parameters and ranks higher on some benchmarks than the headline-grabbing Kimi K3 from Moonshot that was recently unveiled.

Alibaba intends to release the model's weights for public download next week, marking the next major move in the intensifying race among China's AI developers that include Moonshot, DeepSeek, and ByteDance. Yahoo Finance reports.

☁️ ArcelorMittal Expands Microsoft Partnership on Cloud

Steelmaker ArcelorMittal said on Monday it was expanding its collaboration with Microsoft as part of its "Cloud First, Data Centric" strategy, which uses Azure as its primary cloud computing platform.

The company said it would integrate Microsoft Fabric, Purview, and Foundry to modernize its IT systems, improve cybersecurity, and reduce its reliance on legacy technology.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Yahoo Finance reports.

Top 5 Movers in Early Pre-Market

(All pricing and percent gains are based on Early Pre-Market from 4:00 AM to 7:00 AM ET). Stock Analysis reports.

1) UPC: Universe Pharmaceuticals INC
Total gain: +145.89%

2) FCUV: Focus Universal Inc.
Total gain: +62.85%

3) CYCU: Cycurion, Inc.
Total gain: +31.74%

4) ATKR: Atkore Inc.
Total gain: +27.30%

5) SUPN: Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Total gain: +21.06%

Friday’s Biggest Movers

The closing price of the top three market percent gainers trading near or above $3 on July 31.

(All pricing and percent gains are based on regular market trading hours from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM ET) Stock Analysis reports.

1) TOP: TOP Financial Group Limited
Total gain: +394.00%
The company announced that its board of directors has approved a share consolidation of the Company’s issued and unissued Class A Ordinary shares and Class B Ordinary shares at a ratio of 1-for-5 (the “Share Consolidation”), effective August 3, 2026. Globe Newswire reports.

2) REPL: Replimune Group, Inc.
Total gain: +107.02%
The company announced the outcome of today's meeting of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Cellular, Tissue, and Gene Therapies Advisory Committee (CTGTAC), which discussed the Biologics License Application (BLA) resubmission for RP1 (vusolimogene oderparepvec) in combination with nivolumab for the treatment of advanced melanoma in patients who have progressed on prior anti-PD-1 therapy. Globe Newswire reports.

3) TCX: Tucows Inc.
Total gain: +59.18%
The stock appeared to be moving on no notable news.

Today’s Notable Earnings

(Estimate and Actual numbers represent Earnings Per Share in US Dollars)

ATKR: Atkore
Q3 2026
Before Market Open
Estimate: 1.490
Actual: 1.920

CMDB: Costamare Bulkers Hldgs
Q2 2026
Before Market Open
Estimate: N/A
Actual: N/A

MMYT: MakeMyTrip
Q1 2027
Before Market Open
Estimate: 0.350
Actual: N/A

Today’s Economic Dates

Time (ET) / Report / Period

9:45 AM - US Manufacturing PMI - July
10:00 AM - ISM Report On Business Manufacturing PMI - July
10:00 AM - Construction Spending - June

Parting Thoughts

“Successful investing is anticipating the anticipations of others.”

– John Maynard Keynes

Sourced in: The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (1936).

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