US OPEN: Wall Street extends Friday's gains

• Wall Street opens higher

• US2000 tests 2,000 pts area

• Sofi Technology shares jump after full-year outlook boost

Wall Street indices launched today's trading higher, building onto Friday's gains. US indices experienced a turnaround in the second half of Friday's session and finished the final trading session of the week significantly higher. Gains today are smaller with S&P 500 and Dow Jones opening around 0.1% higher, Nasdaq gaining 0.2% and Russell 2000 advancing almost 0.4%

Economic calendar for today's North American session is light. Traders were offered Chicago PMI index for July was released at 2:45 pm BST and showed a jump from 41.5 to 42.8 (exp. 43.3). However, it did not have an impact on the markets. One remaining report in today's calendar is Dallas Fed manufacturing for July scheduled for 3:30 pm BST but it is also unlikely to trigger any noteworthy market moves.

Source: xStation5

Small-cap Russell 2000 (US2000) is the best performing major Wall Street index at the beginning of today's session. Taking a look at the chart at D1 interval we can see that US2000 has completely erased recent pullback and is now trading back in the 2,000 pts area where recent local highs can be found. A break above this zone would pave the way for a test of the resistance zone ranging below the 2,045 pts mark. Important and potentially market moving reports for US indices will be released in the later part of the week - ADP (Wednesday), Amazon and Apple earnings (Thursday) and NFP (Friday).

Company News

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.US) is trading lower today following a court ruling. Court dismissed the company's attempt to press victims of its talc products, which caused them cancer, to drop their claims and accept the $8.9 billion settlement proposed by the company. This was the second time a judge dismissed an attempt at settling at the company's terms.

Sofi Technologies (SOFI.US) is trading higher following second quarter earnings. Company reported a $58 million net loss, or $0.06 per share - less than $106 million expected by the market (-$0.12 per share). Revenue jumped 37.2% YoY to $498 million (exp. $486 million). Sofi Technologies now expects full-year net revenue to reach $1.974-2.034 billion, up from previous forecast of $1.955-2.034 billion. Full-year EBITDA is seen at $333-343 million, up from previous forecast of $268-288 million.

According to Bloomberg, MetLife (MET.US) is in talks with Great Eastern, an insurance company from Singapore, to sell its Malaysian unit. It is said that the unit may be valued at $250-300 million in a deal. However, talks are far from over and the deal may materialize no sooner than in few months if negotiations do not fall apart.

Analysts' actions

• Adobe (ADBE.US) upgraded to "overweight" at Morgan Stanley. Price target set at $660.00
• Wayfair (W.US) upgraded to "overweight" at Piper Sandler. Price target set at $97.00
• Hasbro (HAS.US) upgraded to "buy" at Bank of America. Price target set at $85.00
• Ford Motor (F.US) cut to "neutral" at Jefferies. Price target set at $15.00
• Carvana (CVNA.US) cut to "underperform" at Jefferies. Price target set at $30.00

Sofi Technologies (SOFI.US) jumped following better-than-expected earnings and reached price levels not seen since early-March 2022. The nearest resistance zone to watch can be found ranging below the $13.20 mark. Source: xStation5