Premarket Movers: Salesforce Climbs on Double Upgrade, Micron Falls on China Memory Threat
US stock futures were mixed ahead of Monday's open, with Dow futures up 0.12% and Nasdaq futures down 0.13%. Attention sits on third-quarter earnings season, which kicks off with the big banks, and on this week's consumer price index reading, with the bond market shut for Columbus Day.
Salesforce rose ~4% before the bell after Bank of America lifted it two notches to buy from underperform. Analysts argued big companies rarely rip out software that holds their core data and business logic, and that AI should make them lean on it more. The stock has fallen about 14% in 2026 on worries AI eats into software demand.
Micron fell more than 2% in premarket trading as competition from China heated up. Memory maker ChangXin Memory Technologies said it's preparing a next-generation DRAM product aimed at US and South Korean rivals, after taking 10% DRAM share in Q2. A Taiwan labor dispute added pressure, with unions pushing for a 15% profit share and rejecting a one-off bonus.
Iren jumped 5.3% after The Information reported the bitcoin miner turned data center operator signed a multiyear cloud computing agreement with AI lab Anthropic.
First Solar gained 2.4% following a Truist upgrade to buy from hold. The firm pointed to robust solar demand and the company's ability to hold pricing.
Biogen rose 2% after JPMorgan moved it to overweight from neutral, flagging clinical data readouts due in 2027.
Deals and policy shift the autos
Stellantis climbed 2.7% in European trading after Brussels and Beijing agreed to cap Chinese hybrid exports into the EU at 350,000 units a year, with 6% annual growth allowed. Volkswagen added 1.1% on the same news.
Mattel rose more than 1% after Seaport Research upgraded the toymaker to buy from neutral, following reports of takeover interest.
GoDaddy slipped 1% after RBC Capital Markets cut it to sector perform, warning that AI tools threaten parts of its business model.
Standard Motor Products fell 3.1% before the bell, among the weaker names on the premarket board. Quantum dropped 2.7% in the same session.
Energy names stayed in play as oil whipsawed. Brent climbed ~1% after first dipping on President Trump's declared energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, a truce Moscow hasn't confirmed and Kyiv says has already been violated. Trump also lifted Russia's diesel export ban.
Amazon drew attention on deal chatter, with reports the company is in talks to acquire AI startup Decart for $7B.
FedEx is the name to watch into the close, with quarterly results due after Monday's bell. Traders then turn to JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs kicking off bank earnings Tuesday, US CPI data expected at 3.7% annually, plus ASML Wednesday and TSMC Thursday.
