(Updated with Index Futures, General Electric, Bristol Myers Earnings, Oil, Ford, Snap, Pinterest, and Amazon Forefront Quotes)
PARIS, Feb 4 (Reuters) – Top stocks to watch on Friday on Wall Street where major index futures suggest an opening down 0.4% for the Dow Jones and 0.2% for the Standard & Poor’s 500, while the Nasdaq could gain 0.3%:
* AMAZON – The American e-commerce giant on Thursday reported higher-than-expected quarterly profit and announced an increase in subscription prices for its Prime service in the United States to offset increases in delivery costs and wages . The title of the group jumped 13% in pre-market trading.
* FORD MOTOR – The automaker on Thursday posted a quarterly profit below analysts’ expectations and said it expected a slower recovery in vehicle production this year than that of its competitor GENERAL MOTORS. Ford shares fell 5.9% in pre-market trading.
* Oil-related stocks such as Schlumberger, HALLIBURTON, APA, LAREDO PETROLEUM, CALLON PETROLEUM and SM ENERGY gain between 1% and 2% in the forefront in the wake of the rise in crude prices, which have been at their peaks since October 2014 due to geopolitical tensions and a winter storm in the United States. Brent is trading around $92 a barrel and US WTI above $91 a barrel.
* ACTIVISION BLIZZARD, which is in the process of being acquired by MICROSOFT, published quarterly adjusted revenue below consensus on Thursday, due in particular to the drop in sales of the game “Call of Duty” in a context of the lifting of restrictions. health restrictions.
* SNAP – The social network announced Thursday that its advertising business has recovered faster than expected from changes to privacy rules imposed by APPLE. The group also presented forecasts for the current quarter that exceeded analysts’ expectations. Snap stock soars 48% in forecourt trading, heading for its best daily performance since its IPO in 2017.
* PINTEREST – The image-sharing site released its first-ever annual net profit on Thursday on the back of a sharp rise in advertising revenue that helped the group beat Wall Street expectations in the fourth quarter. The stock jumped 15.4% in pre-market trading, heading for its best daily performance in 15 months.
* META PLATFORMS – The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the British competition authority, announced on Friday that it had imposed a fine of 1.5 million pounds (1.7 million euros) on the parent company of Facebook for breaches related to the takeover of Giphy, an animated image platform.
* GENERAL ELECTRIC – The board of directors of EDF should, unless surprised, validate on Monday the takeover of the nuclear activities of the American group General Electric, wrote the daily Les Echos on Friday, specifying that the public group should pay 273 million euros for this operation. .
* NIKE – The American sports equipment manufacturer announced on Thursday that it is suing StockX, an online commerce platform accused of using the Nike brand, without authorization, to market virtual sneakers in the form of digital assets called tokens. fungible (NFT).
* BRISTOL MYERS SQUIBB posted slightly better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Friday thanks to strong sales of the anticoagulant Eliquis and the cancer drug Opdivo.
* PFIZER – The French laboratory Valneva and its American partner Pfizer announced on Friday new positive phase 2 data for their vaccine candidate against lyme disease.
* NOVAVAX – The laboratory announced on Thursday that it had received the green light from the New Zealand health authority for Nuvaxovid, its vaccine against COVID-19 intended for adults.
* INTERCONTINENTAL EXCHANGE – CFRA raises its advice on the value to “buy” against “hold”. (Written by Claude Chendjou, edited by Sophie Louet)