Shares of Disney, Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery were higher in the premarket after Hollywood writers and studios reached a tentative deal that would end the Writers Guild of America’s strike.

Disney rose 1.2%, while Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery gained 3.5% and 4.1%, respectively.

“What we have won in this contract – most particularly, everything we have gained since May 2nd – is due to the willingness of this membership to exercise its power, to demonstrate its solidarity, to walk side-by-side, to endure the pain and uncertainty of the past 146 days,” the WGA negotiation committee wrote in a letter to members Sunday night.

The WGA and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are still drafting the contract’s final language.

— Fred Imbert, Sarah Whitten

European markets opened lower, with all sectors in the red.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was down 0.3% in early trade, with all sectors in negative territory. Mining stocks led losses with a 1.9% drop, followed by travel and leisure, which fell 1.4%.

— Hannah Ward-Glenton

Japanese markets were the sole gainer among major Asian markets on Monday, with both the Nikkei 225 and Topix in positive territory amid a broader sell-off.

The Nikkei gained 0.88%, while the Topix was up 0.41%. According to FactSet data, the gains are led by health technology and retail trade stocks.

The largest gainer on the Nikkei was pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo, while other top gainers include departmental store chain Takashimaya and investment company SoftBank.

Shares of embattled Chinese real estate firm Evergrande tumbled about 20% after the company said over the weekend that it would delay a debt restructuring meeting due Monday.

In a filing with the Hong Kong exchange, Evergrande said “the sales of the Group has not been as expected by the company” since its March debt restructuring announcement.

As such, Evergrande “considers it necessary to re-assess the terms of the proposed restructuring to meet the company’s objective situation and the demand of the creditors.”

On Sunday, the company also revealed that due to an investigation into subsidary Hengda Real Estate it was unable to issue new notes under its debt restructuring plan.

Reuters reported the Evergrande unit was being probed by the Chinese securities regulator for suspected violation of information disclosure.

Congress is still in a stalemate on the federal budget as GOP hard-liners refuse to budge on further spending cuts.

Current spending laws are due to expire on Sept. 30. That means if Congress does not reach an agreement before 12:01 a.m. on Oct. 1, the government will shut down. House Republicans on Thursday sent the chamber into recess, delaying further developments in the negotiations.

— Yun Li, Rebecca Picciotto

Earnings for the S&P 500 companies are forecast to edge lower by 0.2% and decline for the fourth quarter in a row, but the outlook is improving, according to FactSet senior earnings analyst John Butters.

The 0.2% decline for ther entire index is better than the 0.4% decrease that was forecast on June 30, and would prove the smallest during the four-quarter-long skid. Meanwhile, a 0.2% decline in individual stock third quarter per-share earnings estimates since the end of the second quarter is far less than the five-year average decline of -3.6% and 10-year average of -3.4%, FactSet said.

Eight of the 11 main sectors in the S&P 500 are estimated to post higher year-over-year third quarter earnings, led by communication services and consumer discretionary companies. Three are forecast to see earnings declines, led by energy and materials.

Earnings are expected to continue to improve, with fourth quarter S&P 500 profits expanding by 8.2% from last year, and 12.2% in all of 2024, up from just 1.1% in calendar 2023, Butters said Friday.

— Scott Schnipper