Stocks on the move: E.W. Scripps surges on ION Media deal, United Airlines announces new COVID-19 screening

Yahoo Finance's Adam Shapiro breaks down the stocks to watch Thursday.

Video Transcript

ADAM SHAPIRO: Take a look at the markets right now. I want to look at some stocks on the move, my old stomping ground, [? WWS, ?] Scripps Howard TV station, a chain that had 59 stations, about to have 62 news stations. Why? They are purchasing ION Media. This is a deal that caused the stock price of E. W. Scripps to surge before the opening bell more than 40%, right now up about 21%.

It's a $2.65 billion deal. The company's market cap prior to this was under $1 billion, but who's backing it? Berkshire Hathaway, with a $600 million investment by Warren Buffett for them to close the deal with ION, which again, will add 62 markets for Scripps. They'll have a total of roughly 120-plus TV stations. And Buffett, by the way-- second-largest holder within the E. W. Scripps chain.

Then there's United Airlines. A lot going on with UAL. Shares were down about 4.3% at the opening bell. They announced this morning they are going to provide a rapid 15-minute COVID-19 test to passengers on their San Francisco-Hawaii route that will start October 15. But this could be a new protocol going forward as international travel starts to ramp up again.

Also, we heard from Oscar Munoz the former CEO, now the executive chair at United, saying there are no plans for a bankruptcy filing by United Airlines. Again, no plans for a bankruptcy filing.

And one last thing as you look at that stock price-- United Airlines is the official airline of the Commission on Presidential Debates. They will be flying all of the staff that are involved in putting on the presidential debates. The first one is the 29th. For the three debates, it's about 65 people who United will be shuffling between the cities where the debates will take place. More on the move right after this.