Alibaba, Amazon, Square, Activision and BP - 5 Things You Must Know Tuesday

Here are five things you must know for Tuesday, Aug. 3:

1. -- Stock Futures Rise Amid Virus Worries

Stock futures rose Tuesday and Wall Street rebounded modestly from Monday's decline brought on by jitters about the spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus and soft U.S. manufacturing growth.

Contracts linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 163 points, S&P 500 futures gained 16 points and Nasdaq futures rose 19 points.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury rose Tuesday to 1.197%, but had declined to as low as 1.15%. 

Stocks ended mostly to the downside Monday, giving up the session's earlier gains on worries the spread of COVID 19's delta variant could stall the economic recovery.

“It is clear that COVID delta variant risks have not been put to bed,” said Mizuho Bank in a report.

In San Francisco, all individuals, whether vaccinated or not, will be required to wear masks in indoor spaces. New York City "strongly" recommended wearing masks indoors but didn't issue a mandate. China has been confronting its broadest coronavirus outbreak since the virus emerged in late 2019, according to Bloomberg.

Investors will be looking to U.S. jobs data on Friday for signs of a continued rebound in the employment sector.

2. -- Tuesday's Calendar: Alibaba, Eli Lilly and Activision Earnings

Eli Lilly  (LLY) - Get Report reported second-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.87 a share, 2 cents below forecasts. Revenue of $6.74 billion topped estimates.

Alibaba  (BABA) - Get Report said revenue in the three months ended in June rose from a year earlier to 205.7 billion yuan ($31.8 billion) but below analysts; estimates. 

Earnings are also expected Tuesday from Amgen  (AMGN) - Get Report, Activision Blizzard  (ATVI) - Get Report, ConocoPhillips  (COP) - Get Report, Match Group  (MTCH) - Get Report, DuPont  (DD) - Get Report and Under Armour  (UAA) - Get Report.

DuPont is a holding in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS member club. Want to be alerted before Jim Cramer buys or sells DD? Learn more now.

The economic calendar in the U.S. Tuesday includes Factory Orders for June at 10 a.m. ET.

3. -- Jim Cramer Calls Square's Purchase of AfterPay 'Brilliant'

TheStreet's Jim Cramer told his "Mad Money" viewers on Monday night that be thought Square's  (SQ) - Get Report $29 billion acquisition of Australia's Afterpay, a buy-now, pay-later company, was "brilliant."

Why? Services like "buy now, pay later" are red-hot with millennials, and that's why Square's acquisition of its Australian payments rival was so well-received. The stock rose more than 10% on Monday and was up 0.64% in premarket trading Tuesday.

Millennials, Cramer noted, have been eschewing traditional banks, credit cards and brokerages that cater to the rich in favor of services like Square and Robinhood  (HOOD) - Get Report that cater to less wealthy clientele with less-than-perfect credit. 

Cramer said Square, PayPal  (PYPL) - Get Report, Affirm  (AFRM) - Get Report and Robinhood can all be bought, especially Robinhood, which could make a similar acquisition of its own.

Cramer's Mad Money Recap: Square, Robinhood, PayPal

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4. -- Amazon May Face a Second Unionization Vote at Alabama Plant

Amazon.com  (AMZN) - Get Report may face a second unionization vote at an Alabama facility after a National Labor Relations Board hearing officer “determined that Amazon violated labor law."

The officer recommended that the regional director set aside the results of the April vote and direct a second election be held, according to a statement from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.

Amazon vowed to appeal the recommendation.

Amazon won the bitterly contested election in April but union officers moved to contest the results almost immediately.

During the NLRB hearing “we heard compelling evidence how Amazon tried to illegally interfere with and intimidate workers as they sought to exercise their right to form a union,” said Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.

In a statement, Amazon countered that "employees had a chance to be heard during a noisy time when all types of voices were weighing into the national debate, and at the end of the day, they voted overwhelmingly in favor of a direct connection with their managers and the company. Their voice should be heard above all else, and we plan to appeal to ensure that happens.”

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5. -- BP Boosts Dividend and Buybacks

BP  (BP) - Get Report increased its dividend and boosted its buyback program after earnings at the British oil and gas giant topped analysts' expectations.

The company declared a second-quarter dividend of 5.46 a share, up from 5.25 cents in the first quarter. BP also said it plans to repurchase $1.4 billion of its stock during the third quarter.

Second-quarter underlying replacement cost profit at BP was $2.8 billion, a reversal from a year-earlier loss of $6.7 billion and ahead of forecasts of $2.15 billion.

CEO Bernard Looney said Tuesday the measures BP was taking were possible due to the underlying performance of the business as well as "an improving outlook." 

American depositary receipts of BP were rising 5.65% to $25.44 in premarket trading Tuesday.