By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com -- Stocks in focus in premarket trading on Tuesday, 21st January. Please refresh for updates.
09:02 AM ET: Airline stocks underperformed in general on fears that a new pneumonia-like virus in Asia could hit passenger traffic, similar to the impact of the SARS epidemic in 2002. American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL) stock fell 2.1%, Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) stock fell 1.7%, while United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL) fell 1.5%. China Eastern Airlines ADRs (NYSE:CEA) were down 9.8%, while China Southern (NYSE:SO) ADRs (NYSE:ZNH) ADRs were down 9.4%, reflecting the fact that the new virus appears to have originated in central China.
8:55 AM ET: Raytheon (NYSE:RTN) stock was down 0.6% and United Technologies (NYSE:UTX) stock was down 0.3%, after finding a buyer for two military GPS and radio location businesses that antitrust authorities have required them to sell in order to gain approval for their merger. The buyer, BAE Systems (LON:BAES) (OTC:BAESY), rose some 3% after announcing the news in the U.K. on Monday.
08:50 AM ET: UBS (NYSE:UBS) stock was down 4.3% after the Swiss banking giant lowered its medium-term targets for profitability, citing headwinds from low interest rates.
08:44 AM ET: Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) stock edged down 0.1% after the company said it will move up the scheduled launch of its Disney+ streaming service in the U.K. and parts of western Europe by a week. The service will now hit Britain on March 24. The company is under pressure to establish itself before rival streaming services from Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) can gain decisive levels of market share. Market leader Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) is due to report earnings after the close on Tuesday.
08:39 AM ET: Boeing (NYSE:BA) stock fell 0.6% to its lowest since August, after CNBC reported that it is in talks to borrow $10 billion or more to cover costs arising from the grounding and delayed delivery of the 737 MAX aircraft. CNBC’s sources claimed Citigroup (NYSE:C), Bank of America Merrill Lynch (NYSE:BAC), Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) have all already committed to the loan.
- 8:35 AM ET: Uber (NYSE:UBER) stock was up 1.8% at a five-month high after selling its Uber Eats delivery business in India to Zomato, a rival service. In return, Uber gets a 9.99% stake in Zomato. Uber's food delivery business has contributed much to its net losses in recent quarters, unable to establish the kind of dominant market position that would allow it to raise prices. The stock has rebounded in recent weeks as the market has been cleared of major sellers such as former CEO Travis Kalanick and early investor Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS).
- 8:25 AM ET: Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) stock rose 1.5% to its highest in nearly two weeks, after the oilfield services company beat consensus forecasts for adjusted earnings by some 10% in the last quarter of the year. As with rival Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB), the group’s international performance rescued a quarter dominated at home by shale drillers cutting back on their investment spending. That led to the company taking a $2.2 billion charge, resulting in a net loss of $1.7 billion.