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Micron Technology (MU) – Micron and Taiwan-based chip maker United Microelectronics (UMC) have withdrawn intellectual property complaints against each other.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).
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