Stock Market

In this article

A Delta airlines aircraft landing from Los Angeles at Kingsford Smith International airport on October 31, 2021 in Sydney, Australia.
James D. Morgan | Getty Images

Check out the companies making headlines before the bell Friday:

Travel and leisure stocks – Airline stocks are getting hit hard in the premarket by news of the new Covid-19 variant, including American (AAL), United (UAL), Southwest (LUV), Delta (DAL) and JetBlue (JBLU). Cruise stocks were also getting rocked: Royal Caribbean (RCL) slid 10.6%, Carnival (CCL) took a 10.5% hit, and Norwegian (NCLH) fell 10%.

Stay-at-home stocks – Stocks that benefited from Covid-19 closures rebounded, with Zoom Video (ZM) gaining 7.8% in premarket trading, DocuSign (DOCU) up 3%, Netflix (NFLX) higher by 2.2% and Peloton (PTON) jumping 6.2%.

Vaccine stocks – These are rising following the Covid variant news, with Moderna (MRNA) surging 8.6% in the premarket, Pfizer (PFE) jumping 5.6%, BioNTech (BNTX) surging 7.3% and Novavax (NVAX) rallying 5.3%.

Merck (MRK) – The drug maker and its partner, Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, said their experimental Covid pill cut the risk of death and hospitalization in at-risk patients by 30%. However, that was a lower efficacy rate than was seen in an earlier study, and Merck fell 3% in premarket trading.

Didi Global (DIDI) – Didi has been asked by Chinese regulators to delist from the New York Stock Exchange, according to a Bloomberg report. The request to delist the ride-haling company is said to come amid concerns about data security. Didi slid 6.3% in premarket action.

Tesla (TSLA) – Tesla will invest $188 million to expand production capacity at its Shanghai factory, according to the state-backed Beijing Daily newspaper. Tesla fell 2.3% in the premarket.

Micron Technology (MU) – Micron and Taiwan-based chip maker United Microelectronics (UMC) have withdrawn intellectual property complaints against each other. The two companies did not give a reason for ending those cases. Micron fell 1.6% in the premarket, while United Micro slid 2.3%.

Boeing (BA) – Boeing was told that its bid to sell fighter jets to Canada did not meet the government’s requirements, according to a report in the Canadian Press. The report said two other competitors, Lockheed Martin (LMT) and Sweden’s Saab, did meet those requirements and remain in the competition. Boeing lost 6.3% in premarket action.

Microsoft (MSFT) – Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella disclosed the sale of 839,000 shares in an SEC filing, leaving him with ownership of 831,000 shares following that transaction. Microsoft fell 1% in the premarket.

Pinduoduo (PDD) – The China-based e-commerce platform operator saw its shares plummet 17.7% in the premarket, after it reported quarterly revenue that was well below analyst estimates amid increasing competition from companies like Alibaba (BABA) and JD.com (JD).

Articles You May Like

Trump issued with gag order in New York ‘hush money’ case
Selling pressure ticks up, supply grows, mutual fund flows stay positive
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison for fraud
Tom Hayes loses appeal against Libor rigging conviction
As Trump’s $454 million fraud judgment deadline looms, son Eric gripes ‘they want to bankrupt him’