08:41 AM EDT, 04/08/2024 (MT Newswires) -- The broad market exchange-traded fund SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) advanced by 0.1% and the actively traded Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) gained 0.2% in Monday's premarket activity, as the likelihood of a June interest-rate cut diminishes.

US stock futures were edging higher, with S&P 500 Index futures, Nasdaq futures, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gaining marginally before the start of regular trading.

Minneapolis Federal President Neel Kashkari is slated to speak at 7 pm ET.

In premarket action, bitcoin was up by 4.4% and the cryptocurrency fund ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) was 7.5% higher.

Power Play:

Consumer

The Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLP) was flat, while the Vanguard Consumer Staples Fund (VDC) was inactive. The iShares US Consumer Staples ETF (IYK) was inactive, and the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLY) gained 0.4%. The VanEck Retail ETF (RTH) was inactive, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) was also inactive.

U Power ( UCAR ) shares traded up more than 64% pre-bell after the company said it plans to commercially launch its battery-swapping and sharing model for electric vehicles in Wuhu, China, in April.

Winners and Losers:

Health Care

The Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLV) retreated 0.2%. The Vanguard Health Care Index Fund (VHT) was inactive while the iShares US Healthcare ETF (IYH) was also inactive. The iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) was 0.6% higher.

Scinai Immunotherapeutics ( SCNI ) shares were up more than 12% premarket after the company said Ayana Pharma inked a five-year deal with Scinai's Bioservices unit for drug development and manufacturing services.

Financial

Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF) retreated marginally by 0.02%. Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (FAS) was up 0.2%, while its bearish counterpart Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (FAZ) was 0.1% higher.

Iris Energy ( IREN ) shares were up 7.5% pre-bell Monday after the company announced an expansion and extension of its AI cloud services agreement with AI startup ****Poolside, doubling the contracted NVIDIA (NVDA) H100 GPU cluster size from 248 to 504, with an added 4-month term starting in mid-April and a potential 2-month extension.

Industrial

Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLI) advanced marginally by 0.01% and the Vanguard Industrials Index Fund (VIS) was inactive, while the iShares US Industrials ETF (IYJ) was also inactive.

Ducommun ( DCO ) shares were more than 19% higher before the opening bell after the company said its board of directors received an unsolicited non-binding takeover offer from Albion River for $60 per share in cash.

Technology

Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK) retreated 0.1%, and the iShares US Technology ETF (IYW) was 0.6% higher, while the iShares Expanded Tech Sector ETF (IGM) was up 0.6%. Among semiconductor ETFs, SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (XSD) rose 1.9%, while the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) was flat.

Pineapple Energy ( PEGY ) shares were down 2.8% in recent Monday premarket activity after the company released a statement urging shareholders to participate in the April 12 meeting and vote in favor of the reverse stock split and increase in authorized shares.

Energy

The iShares US Energy ETF (IYE) was flat, while the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) was down by 0.2%.

Commodities

Front-month US West Texas Intermediate crude oil was down by 0.7% at $86.27 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Natural gas advanced 0.2% to $1.79 per 1 million British Thermal Units. United States Oil Fund (USO) gained 0.5%, while the United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) was 0.7% higher.

Gold futures for June advanced 0.4% to $2,355.70 an ounce on the Comex, and silver futures were up by 0.8% to $27.73 an ounce. SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) gained 0.4%, and iShares Silver Trust (SLV) was 0.7% higher.