Dow Jones Industrial Average and Tesla Stock Rise – Barron’s

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U.S. stock futures pointed to a slightly higher open.

Stock futures pointed to a sleepy open Thursday morning as traders returned following the Wednesday’s market closure in observance of the Christmas holiday.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 32 points, or 0.1%, as of 7:37 a.m. ET. Elsewhere, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite futures were up similarly, climbing 0.1% and 0.15%.

Thursday is expected to be a light trading day in light of the holidays. Still, there were some notable movers early trading.

Spectrum Pharmaceuticals (ticker: SSPI) saw its shares plunge 46.9% in premarket trading after the company revealed that its Phase 2 clinical trial for treatment for non-small cell lung cancer missed its target.

Tesla (TSLA) shares got a slight boost in early trades, climbing 0.4% after Wedbush analyst Dan Ives raised his price target on the electric auto maker to $370 from $270 while maintaining a Neutral rating on the stock. To be sure, Tesla shares have been steadily climbing in recent weeks, closing at $425.25 on Tuesday—an all-time closing high.

Elsewhere, investors will be keeping an eye on retailers after Mastercard (MA) SpendingPulse said that holiday shopping sales increased 3.4%—with online shopping sales growing 18.8%—compared with last year. Mastercard tracked sales from November 1 to December 24 and saw that, although department store sales were down 1.8%, their online sales climbed 6.9%, suggesting that companies with solid digital strategies were rewarded.

In other holiday shopping news, Tiffany (TIF) revealed preliminary sales figures for the holidays and saw net sales increase in the low single digits. Shares of the jeweler were little changed in premarket trading as the company agreed to be acquired by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) earlier this year.

Shares of the private equity giant KKR (KKR) are up 2.6% after it said it reached an agreement to acquire a 65% equity interest in the Coastal GasLink Pipeline Project from TC Energy Corp oration. The acquisition was made alongside Alberta Investment Management Corporation.

Write to Carleton English at carleton.english@dowjones.com