Premarket Movers: Surgery Partners Surges on Takeover Report, Petrobras Sinks on Brazil Election
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US stock futures pointed higher Monday morning, with Dow futures up 245 points, or 0.5%, S&P 500 futures up 0.3% and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.3% by 06:06 ET. Traders are looking ahead to Wednesday's Federal Reserve decision, where officials are expected to hold rates steady after hotter inflation readings.
Biggest premarket movers, Monday Oct. 26, 2026 (as of ~06:06 ET)
| Company (ticker) | Move | Catalyst |
|---|---|---|
| Surgery Partners | +21% | Report of take-private deal by Bon Secours Mercy Health valuing it at ~$6B |
| Range Resources | +15% | EQT agreed to buy it in all-stock deal valuing it above $50B |
| Ross Stores | +6.5% | UBS upgrade to buy |
| Verizon | +2% | Q3 earnings beat and raised 2026 guidance |
| Tesla | +2% | Barclays upgrade to overweight |
| Meta Platforms | +1% | $35B stock offering to fund AI buildout |
| Petrobras | -22% | Lula's surprise Brazil election win |
| MercadoLibre | -10.9% | Brazil election selloff |
| Moderna | -9.3% | Cancer vaccine Phase 3 data below Phase 2b benchmark |
| Fair Isaac | -4.5% | Wells Fargo downgrade to equal weight |
| CoreWeave | -5% | Musk warning on neocloud failures |
| EQT | -4% | Cost of Range Resources acquisition |
Deals reshape the morning
Surgery Partners surged ~21% before the bell on a Financial Times report that Bon Secours Mercy Health is in late-stage talks to buy a majority stake in the surgical care operator. The take-private deal would value the company at ~$6B including $3.5B of debt. Bain Capital would hold on to its roughly 40% stake.
Range Resources surged 15% in premarket trading after EQT agreed to acquire the natural gas producer. The all-stock transaction values Range above $50B and is expected to wrap up in the first quarter of 2027. EQT shares fell 4% on the other side of the deal.
Meta Platforms gained 1% after revealing a $35B equity raise to fund its artificial intelligence buildout. The company plans to pull in another $60B through an at-the-market program.
Brazil vote hammers US listings
Petrobras tumbled ~22% after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won a fourth term in Sunday's runoff, a result most investors hadn't positioned for. Rival Flávio Bolsonaro, who led the first round, has refused to concede.
MercadoLibre dropped 10.9% in the same selloff, while Ambev slid ~18% and Vale fell 3.6%. The iShares MSCI Brazil ETF tumbled 26% premarket, on pace for its steepest single-day fall on record.
Ratings and results move the rest
Moderna sank 9.3% as the fallout from its cancer vaccine readout stretched into a third session. Phase 3 data for the personalized mRNA shot developed with Merck cut the risk of melanoma recurrence or death by 42%, short of the 49% figure from an earlier Phase 2b study. The stock shed more than 18% across Thursday and Friday.
CoreWeave fell 5% and Nebius slid 3.5% after Elon Musk posted on X that most companies without revenue outside AI data centers have been cut off from funding, predicting a wave of neocloud failures. IREN dropped 4%. Both CoreWeave and Nebius have lost over 30% of their value this month.
Fair Isaac dropped 4.5% before the bell after Wells Fargo cut the credit-scoring firm to equal weight from overweight. The downgrade followed FICO's decision to hold pricing flat for mortgage lenders rather than raise it, as VantageScore 4.0 gains ground with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans.
Tesla climbed 2% after Barclays upgraded it to overweight, pointing to core demand, Robotaxi growth, and the prospect of a tie-up with SpaceX. Tesla led megacap gainers Monday.
Ross Stores jumped more than 6.5% on a UBS upgrade to buy, with the bank citing improving productivity across its stores.
Verizon rose 2% after third-quarter earnings topped estimates and the carrier lifted its full-year 2026 profit outlook. About one-third of S&P 500 companies report this week, including Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon, alongside Thursday's September inflation gauge and third-quarter GDP expected at 3.2%.
