By Peter Nurse
Investing.com -- Stocks in focus in premarket trade on Friday, July 9th. Please refresh for updates.
Levi Strauss (NYSE:LEVI) stock rose 2.4% after the denim jeans manufacturer reported strong second-quarter results after the close Thursday, raising its full-year revenue and profit forecasts.
General Motors (NYSE:GM) stock rose 3.5% after Wedbush initiated coverage of the auto giant with an ‘outperform’ rating and a price target that implies gains of around 50% from current levels. The note stated that GM has the potential to trade at similar multiples to Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA).
Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) stock rose 0.6% and BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) stock rose 4.3% after the partners announced plans to seek approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to distribute a booster shot of their Covid-19 vaccine. They'll also start work on an updated vaccine to boost protection against the variants of the original virus.
Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) stock rose 1.9%, Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) stock rose 1.9%, Citigroup (NYSE:C) stock rose 2.3% and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) stock rose 1.6% as U.S. Treasury bond yields recovered from Thursday’s sharp drops, helping the profitability of the banking sector.
American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL) stock rose 2.4%, United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL) stock rose 1.7% and Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) stock rose 1.6% with the sector rebounding from the previous session’s sharp losses on the back of raised pandemic concerns.
AT&T (NYSE:T) stock rose 0.3%, Verizon (NYSE:VZ) stock rose 0.1% and Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) stock rose 0.4%, with the market reserving judgement on a report that the Biden administration will look to restore the Obama-era net neutrality rules. New regulation could affect such companies' profitability.
- Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) stock fell 0.4% after Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) downgraded its recommendation on the oil industry services provider to 'equal weight' from 'overweight' on valuation, seeing long-term downside revision potential.
- Altria (NYSE:MO) stock rose 0.6% after the tobacco giant announced plans to sell its Ste. Michelle wine estates business to Sycamore Partners for around $1.2 billion.