(Updated with Index Futures, Merck, Walmart, General Mills, Medtronic, Tech Groups)
February 21 (Reuters) –
Top stocks to watch on Tuesday on Wall Street, where futures on major indices suggest an open down from
0.95% for the Dow Jones, 0.92% for the Standard & Poor’s 500 and 1.16% for the Nasdaq
* WALMART drops 3.5% on the market after the publication of an annual profit forecast below expectations, the distribution giant being moreover cautious on the evolution of consumption in the United States which could be affected by inflation. Its competitors TARGET, MACY’S, COSTCO WHOLESALE and KROGER fell 1% to 1.9%.
* HOME DEPOT fell 3.8% in pre-market in response to the publication of an annual profit forecast below Wall Street expectations in a context of rising costs and falling demand.
* META PLATFORMS advances by 2.2% in pre-market trading, the parent company of Facebook having announced on Sunday that it is testing a paid service by monthly subscription within the framework of certified accounts.
* APPLE, AMAZON AND ALPHABET fell 1% to 1.4% ahead of the stock market with the rise in bond yields.
* MICROSOFT, ACTIVISION BLIZZARD – Microsoft President Brad Smith will try on Tuesday to convince the European authorities, during a closed-door hearing, that the offer of 69 billion dollars (64.7 billion euros) of the American software giant on the publisher of “Call of Duty” will stimulate competition, shows a European Commission document seen by Reuters.
* GENERAL MILLS – The agri-food group on Tuesday raised its forecasts for organic sales and profit for the whole of the year, expecting price increases, which pushed the stock up 2% ahead of the stock market.
* MERCK & CO announced on Tuesday that Lagevrios, its treatment for COVID-19, did not reduce the risk of contamination by the SARS-Cov-2 virus in people living with a patient infected with the virus.
* MEDTRONIC – The medical equipment maker on Tuesday posted better-than-expected quarterly profit on strong demand for its cardiology and diabetes devices, pushing its stock price up more than 2% before the opening of Wall Street. * TRAVERE THERAPEUTICS jumped 12% in pre-market after the approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the health authority in the United States, of its treatment against kidney failure. (Written by Diana Mandiá and Claude Chendjou, editing by Kate Entringer)
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