Stocks dipped on Friday as investors remain cautious due to the pandemic, a Federal Reserve meeting next week and a historical tendency for September to be a weak month for equities.
$Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$ lost 166.44 points or 0.5% to close at 34,584.88, dragged down by a nearly 2.9% drop in Dow Inc . $iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV.US)$ shed 0.9% to 4,432.99 and $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ lost 0.9% to close at 15,043.97.
$Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO.US)$ $Invesco (IVZ.US)$ $Centene (CNC.US)$
$Unum Group (UNM.US)$ $International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF.US)$ $Copart (CPRT.US)$

Asia stocks set for muted open
Asian stocks look set for a steady initial start Wednesday as traders gird for a Federal Reserve meeting that is expected to telegraph a reduction in stimulus.
Futures for Japan and Australia slipped. China resumes trading later in the morning after a two-day holiday, while Hong Kong is shut. U.S. equity contracts fell after dip-buying waned in the U.S. session, leaving the S&P 500 little changed.
S&P closes nearly flat in chaotic session as Fed decision looms
The $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$'s tenuous rebound from a two-month low fizzled on Tuesday amid a lack of strong catalysts to propel the market forward.
"The first wave of dip buying appears is over as investors await clarity over Fed tapering," said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda Corp. Also, investors remain nervous that persistent supply chain issues and a labor market shortage will continue to eat at growth over the coming quarters, the analyst added.
AMC CEO asks Twitter users if chain should also take Dogecoin
$AMC Entertainment (AMC.US)$CEO Adam Aron is asking Twitter users if the movie theater chain should add Dogecoin to the list of cryptocurrencies it will accept for online payments. Aron's Twitter poll garnered nearly 10,000 responses within 20 minutes of being posted, with over 70% in favor of the addition of the cryptocurrency inspired by the popular meme of a Shiba Inu dog.
Last week, Aron confirmed that AMC would, by the end of this year, accept Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash in addition to Bitcoin for online ticket and concession payments.
Facebook looks to carve out market for mobile video-chat device
$Meta Platforms (FB.US)$introduced a portable version of its Portal video-chat device, looking to provide a more mobile alternative to $Amazon (AMZN.US)$'s Alexa hardware and other so-called smart speakers.
The product, called the Portal Go, has a 10-inch screen, 12-megapixel front camera and speakers. That suggests the Portal is tiptoeing into the market for iPad and other tablets, but Facebook maintains that the device's main use is still videoconferencing. And -- at a hefty three pounds (1.4 kilograms) -- it will be harder to lug around than an iPad.
U.S. Bancorp to buy MUFG Union Bank for about $8 billion
$U.S. Bancorp (USB.US)$said it agreed to buy MUFG Union Bank's core retail banking operations in an $8 billion cash-and-stock deal meant to boost the Minneapolis-based bank's presence on the West Coast.
The deal, if completed, would give U.S. Bank about $664 billion in assets and solidify its status as the fifth-largest retail bank in the country. U.S. Bank said the acquisition would give it the scale to compete with the largest consumer banks in California, including in the lucrative markets of Los Angeles, San Diego and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Disney shares tumble as CEO projects lower fourth-quarter subscriber growth than estimates
$Disney (DIS.US)$CEO Bob Chapek warned of headwinds on subscription video streaming growth in the fourth quarter. Chapek noted production slowdowns caused by the pandemic will lead to a lighter slate of new programming than Disney had originally projected.
Disney shares fell more than 3% after his comments at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference.
Surging gas prices are the 'transition premium' in the push toward renewables, OPEC chief says
"I have talked about a new premium that is emerging in the energy markets that I term the transition premium," Mohammed Barkindo told CNBC's Dan Murphy at the Gastech conference in Dubai.
Global gas prices have tripled this year alone, sending ripples through markets and raising concerns that prices of the commodity will only continue to rise.
Able to power 50,000 homes, the 'world's largest floating wind farm' takes another step forward
Norway's Statkraft said Tuesday that a long-term purchasing agreement related to a floating offshore wind farm dubbed "the world's largest" had started, in another step forward for the emerging renewable energy sector.
Statkraft is one of several major companies involved with floating offshore wind projects.
Source: Bloomberg, WSJ,CNBC

$SGX (S68.SG)$ when is the best time to buy?

$Alibaba (BABA.US)$ wow the dip!

$Moderna (MRNA.US)$ stock gained 7.8% Thursday, its virtual R&D day, which began at 8 a.m. Eastern. It plans to announce the development of a vaccine candidate that will protect against Covid-19 and the flu, to be known as mRNA-1073. 
Moderna was a very different company at the time of its last virtual R&D day in September of 2020. Still a clinical-stage company at the time, Moderna had no authorized or approved products. That changed months later, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine, which is expected to bring in $20.1 billion in revenues this year alone.
Its stock price has been up more than 300% this year. 
Just to mention, another vaccine maker $Novavax (NVAX.US)$ had also initiated an early-stage study to test its combined flu and COVID-19 vaccine. However, the same scenario didn't show on its stock price. Kinda tricky.
Source: Moderna Stock Jumped Because It Just Unveiled a Two-in-One Vaccine for Covid and the Flu

$IronNet (IRNT.US)$ Can anyone explain on the reasons for the pre-market price surge?