Stocks to follow on Wall Street (updated)

(Updated with JPMorgan Chase, Novavax, Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet, mining stocks, pre-market prices)

PARIS, May 20 (Reuters) – Main values ​​to follow on Monday on Wall Street, where futures contracts on the main indices suggest a stable opening (+0.03%) for the Dow Jones, and up slightly by 0.10 % for the Standard & Poor’s 500 and 0.18% for the Nasdaq:

* APPLE has launched an aggressive promotional campaign in China, offering discounts of up to 2,300 yuan (318 dollars or around 292 euros) on certain iPhone models, the Apple group being confronted in the high end with the competition from local players, notably Huawei.

* MICROSOFT plans to unveil new consumer products on Monday during an event at its campus in Redmond, Washington. The group is expected to announce a new version of its Surface Pro tablet and Surface Laptop which are equipped with QUALCOMM chips based on an architecture developed by ARM HOLDINGS.

* TESLA is trying to appease the anger of certain car rental companies in Europe, the repeated reductions in the prices of its electric vehicles having caused the value of their fleets to fall while these professional customers were already complaining about the slowness of its service and the cost of its repairs. Tesla will therefore agree to price reductions on purchases of certain vehicles and intends to improve the quality of its services, according to a Reuters survey.

* GOLD SECTOR – Mining stocks exposed to gold are climbing as the yellow metal has reached a record level. NEWMONT, BARRICK GOLD, GOLD FIELDS, ANGLOGOLD ASHANTI HARMONY GOLD, AGNICO EAGLE MINES and KINROSS GOLD are up 1.4% to 3.6% pre-open.

* BANKING SECTOR – The American Federal Reserve (Fed) and two other regulatory authorities could significantly reduce certain prudential ratios imposed on the country’s main banks, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

* JPMORGAN CHASE announced Monday, during a presentation to investors, that it was targeting net interest income of $91 billion this year.

* PARAMOUNT – APOLLO GLOBAL MANAGEMENT and Sony Pictures Entertainment have signed confidentiality agreements that will allow them to review Paramount’s accounts before a potential offer, the New York Times reported Friday. The two companies, however, abandoned their initial plans to make a $26 billion all-cash offer for Paramount. Paramount shares advance 3% in pre-market trading.

* JOHNSON CONTROLS INTERNATIONAL – Activist investor Elliott Investment Management has built up a position of more than $1 billion in the group, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday. Johnson Controls International shares rose 4.6% in pre-market trading.

* NOVAVAX rose 1.7% in pre-market trading, as the hedge fund Shah Capital announced that it was abandoning its campaign against the re-election of three directors to the pharmaceutical laboratory’s board.

* ALPHABET announced plans on Monday to invest an additional billion euros in the expansion of its data center campus in Finland to boost the growth of its artificial intelligence (AI) business in Europe.

* INSTRUCTURE – Private equity firm Thoma Bravo is considering selling its 83% stake in the educational software provider, whose capitalization amounts to three billion dollars.

* DIDI GLOBAL – Jean Liu, co-founder of the Chinese carpooling services group, resigned from her position as president and member of the board of directors to become a “permanent partner”, shows an internal company memo. (Written by Corentin Chappron, edited by Claude Chendjou)