Stocks inched higher on Monday morning as a busy week of economic data, including updated prints on inflation and the labor market, await investors in the coming days.
But before the economic onslaught, several news stories were driving action on individual stocks to start the week on Yahoo Finance’s trending tickers page.
3M Company
Shares of 3M Company (MMM) roughly 4% on Monday after the Wall Street Journal reported the company was close to a settlement on claims from hundreds of thousands of veterans over faulty earplugs.
3M would pay $5.5 billion in the settlement, according the Journal.
Citi managing director Andrew Kaplowitz believes the $5.5 billion number is lower than the range of $5 billion-$10 billion that investors had been expecting and could be a catalyst for the stock.
“With the potential settlement amount toward the lower end of expectations, we view the announcement as a potential positive for MMM,” Kaplowitz wrote in a new note on Monday.
“Equally importantly, we think the potential settlement could mark another step in MMM alleviating its legal burden and moving away from litigation noise that has been weighing on MMM’s valuation and could, in our view, be received favorably by investors.”
3M shares entered Monday’s trading session down nearly 18% year-to-date.
Xpeng
Shares of Chinese electric-vehicle maker XPeng (XPEV) rose about 2% after the company said it will pay up to $744 million for DiDi Global’s electric car development business.
As part of the deal, XPeng plans to launch a brand new smart EV brand. The first car in that brand, an A-class Smart EV, is expected to be released in 2024.
“XPENG’s A-class Smart EV products under the new brand will not only significantly increase our scale, but also accelerate the adoption of our Smart EV technologies in the mass market segment, bringing our technologies to a much broader customer base,” said He Xiaopeng, Chairman and CEO of XPENG in a press release.
Other EV companies including Tesla (TSLA) and Nio (NIO) initally popped on the news. Nio is expected to report earnings on Tuesday.
Rite Aid
Rite Aid (RAD) stock remained on the Yahoo Finance trending page after news broke late Friday that the company is preparing a bankruptcy filing.
The stock was up about 6% in mid-morning trade on Monday before giving back most of its gains on the day.
A source familiar with the matter confirmed to Yahoo Finance that bankruptcy planning is underway, with part of that plan likely to include shuttering more than 400 stores.
The company was sued by the US government in April over its failure to detect what the Department of Justice called “red flags” around its filling of prescriptions for opioids and other painkillers. The bankruptcy filing could help alleviate the costs owed to claimants in the opioid case and also limit costs attached to shutting down stores.
Revenue in Rite Aid’s most recent quarter, the first quarter of its fiscal year 2024, fell about 7% compared to the year prior to $5.65 billion. Its net loss in the quarter totaled $306 million.
Shares of the retailer sank more than 50% on the news during Friday’s trading session and are now down nearly 98% over the last five years.
Josh Schafer is a reporter for Yahoo Finance.
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