(Updated with “techs”, oil companies, Twitter and market previews)
PARIS, June 24 (Reuters) – Key stocks to watch on Friday on Wall Street, where major index futures suggest an open up 0.6% to 0.9%:
* Several of the main capitalizations of the HIGH TECHNOLOGY sector are progressing in the market pre-market trading, benefiting from the downward revision of expectations on interest rates: APPLE and TESLA, for example, are gaining around 1%.
* OIL stocks rise ahead of the stock market with the rise in oil prices: CHEVRON and EXXON MOBIL gain 1.2%, SCHLUMBERGER 1.6%, VALERO ENERGY 1.2%.
* FEDEX on Thursday evening published quarterly profit up and presented an annual forecast above expectations, explaining that it now favors the most profitable activities in a context of slowing demand in the shipping market. The title gained 3.4% in pre-market trading.
* BANK SECURITIES could react to the Federal Reserve’s release on Thursday of the sector’s annual stress tests, which show that major US banks would remain well capitalized even in the face of a severe economic shock, which could facilitate dividend distributions and share buybacks. MORGAN STANLEY gained 0.7% in pre-market trading but BANK OF AMERICA only 0.3% while CITIGROUP lost 0.3%, the solvency ratio of the latter two being below the sector average.
* ZENDESK – The software company, whose market capitalization exceeds seven billion dollars, is on the verge of reaching an agreement for a takeover by a financial consortium which includes Hellman & Friedman and Permira, it has been reported learned Thursday from sources familiar with the matter. The title jumped nearly 55% in pre-market transactions.
* TWITTER gains 1.3% in pre-market trading after a Business Insider report that the social network provided Elon Musk with new data on its users, including real-time data, to analyze the share of fake accounts and “bots” in posts.
* TESLA – Credit Suisse lowered its price target to $1,000 from $1,125, saying it expected the group’s car deliveries to be below consensus in the second quarter due to lockdowns in China.
* BLACKBERRY released better-than-expected quarterly revenue on Thursday thanks to growth in its automotive and cybersecurity products. (Written by Marc Angrand, edited by Sophie Louet)