4 Top Gainers to Watch Today 📈

Premarket Report

Good Morning! 

It's Chris from Elite Trade Club, here to give you this morning's premarket trading news.

The Closing Bell Roundup will resume at Tuesday’s closing bell.

Happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend. Now, let's get ready to trade!

Markets 📈

Most major large-cap indexes closed the trading week with their winning streak intact, although the S&P 500 fell just short of a higher close.

  • S&P 500 [<0.1%]

  • Dow [+0.1%]

  • Nasdaq [+0.3%]

  • Russell 2K [-0.7%]

Today, futures are up in early premarket trading. S&P 500 and Dow contracts are both showing 0.1% gains at the moment.

Sponsored

Jason Bodner has an urgent new warning.

He believes the most popular investment of 2023 is set to pop...

And it could all start just days from now.

This has NOTHING to do with A.I. stocks…

It has NOTHING to do with crypto currency...

And it has NOTHING to do with high-flying tech stocks.

Instead, this corner of the market you likely have cash parked in has swelled to nearly $6 trillion.

Premarket Highlights 🔎

📈 Nippon Steel's Major Move: Acquiring U.S. Steel

Nippon Steel, Japan's steelmaking titan, has announced a significant acquisition of U.S. Steel [X] in a massive $14.9 billion deal, debt included.

💰 Deal Details:
The offer stands at $55 per share, a substantial 40% premium over U.S. Steel's Friday closing price and a 142% increase since the strategic review announcement on August 11.

U.S. Steel's shares saw a significant uptick, rising about 27% in premarket trading.

🌍 Strategic Expansion for Nippon: 
Ranked as the world's fourth-largest steelmaker, Nippon Steel views the U.S. market as a key area for growth. This move is part of a strategy to balance the diminishing demand in its home market of Japan.

📈 Future Growth Prospects:
With this acquisition, Nippon Steel is eyeing an expansion towards a global crude steel capacity of 100 million tonnes.

The company has already lined up the necessary financing to seal the deal.

👷 Commitment to Employees: 
Nippon Steel assures that all commitments to U.S. Steel's employees, including collective bargaining agreements with unions, will be upheld.

In this major cross-border transaction, Nippon Steel not only cements its position in the global steel industry but also taps into the promising U.S. market, signaling a new era for both companies.

What to Watch Today 👀

Index Rebalancing
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 will accept some new entrants today in their latest portfolio rebalancing. Uber Technologies, Jabil, and Builders FirstSource will join the S&P 500, while CDW, DoorDash, Take-Two Interactive, Splunk, and MongoDB will join the Nasdaq 100. These stocks could see increased volume in today’s session as a result of their entrances into America’s benchmark large-cap indexes.

Featured Earnings 💲

  • 51Talk Online Education Group [COE] ... AM

  • GEE Group [JOB] ... PM

  • HEICO [HEI] ... PM

Economy 🏗

  • Home builder confidence index [Dec] ...10:00a

Running Hot 🔥

Gainers
  • iCoreConnect [ICCT] >> +55.8%

  • Alaunos Therapeutics [TCRT] >> +31.3%

  • Wheeler REIT [WHLR] >> +24.9%

Decliners
  • Ebix [EBIX] >> (49.2%)

  • Minerva Surgical [UTRS] >> (48.5%)

  • Banzai Intl. [BNZI] >> (19.9%)

U.S. Steel [X] - Last Close: $39.33

Nippon Steel Corp. has agreed to acquire the legacy American steelmaker in a cash-and-debt deal valued at $14.9 billion.

Under the terms of the deal, Nippon will pay X investors $55 for each share of common stock, representing a 39.8% premium compared to Friday’s close.

U.S. Steel will also retain its iconic name and Pittsburgh, PA headquarters under the agreement.

X is one of today’s top stocks with a 28.2% gain on 3.6 million shares traded.

My Take: This deal is giving X a major boost, but this deal could face regulatory scrutiny in the coming weeks.

Arcutis Biotherapeutics [ARQT] - Last Close: $2.44

Regulators from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration has approved roflumilast topical foam to treat seborrheic dermatitis in 9-and-older patients.

Arcutis said the drug, also known as Zoryve, provides “rapid disease clearance and a significant reduction to itch.”

Almost 80% of trial patients achieved the primary efficacy endpoint in Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical trials.

ARQT is one of today’s top stocks with a 29.1% gain on nearly 3 million shares traded.

My Take: ARQT has experienced a noteworthy runup since the beginning of the month, and this catalyst could kick the rally into overdrive. The stock’s 22.65% short percentage as of Nov. 30th could also accelerate this rally.

NRx Pharmaceuticals [NRXP] - Last Close: $0.3390

The tiny biopharma firm just announced the FDA has approved its NRX-101 combination therapy to treat complicated urinary tract infections.

In a press release announcing the approval, NRx said it is considering spinning out a new company dedicated to developing and commercializing the drug.

The company is still awaiting an FDA decision on its request for Qualified Infectious Disease Product designation, which is expected to drop next month.

NRXP is up 39.0% with up to 7.24 million shares traded.

My Take: NRXP has been trading sideways since the start of November, but this news could help it break into a new trading range.

Aeterna Zentaris [AEZS] - Last Close: $2.135

The market appears to be shifting its opinion on this tiny biopharma firm’s recently announced “merger of equals” deal with Ceapro.

Aeterna Zentaris initially announced the deal on Thursday morning, and shares turned south when the news broke, but they’re reversing course today.

Under the terms of the deal, an all-stock merger would create a new company that will trade on the Nasdaq under symbol TSX. A name hasn’t been announced.

AEZS is one of today’s most notable movers with a 19.9% gain, although trading volume is very thin at the moment.  

My Take: It looks like the jury is still out on the AEZS merger deal. Today’s gains are encouraging but the lack of volume could cause problems for short-term traders.

That's it for today! Thanks for reading, and good luck out there!

Best Regards,

— Chris D.
Elite Trade Club

Join Elite Growth Stocks now for INSTANT-ACCESS to our highest-rated research report.

Text ELITE to 47121 or click here to get our alerts on your mobile device, and never miss another fast-moving stock!

P.S. Just like this newsletter, it's 100% free*, and you can stop at any time by replying STOP.