By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com -- Stocks in focus in premarket trading on Thursday, April 9th. The broader market is set to open more than 1% higher after the Federal Reserve fleshed out the details of its Main Street Lending Program. Together with other measures designed to support U.S. local governments, the Fed's actions put a further $2.3 trillion safety net under the economy, just as another 6.6 million people filed for unemployment benefits.
- Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) stock was up 5.3% after the company said its Disney+ streaming service had clocked up 50 million paid subscribers, helped by rollouts in Europe and India.
- The company had said it expects between 60 million and 90 million by the end of its fiscal 2024 year, so appears well on track to meet its target.
- Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) stock was down 0.9% after suspending its buyback program and forecasting a 47% drop in second-quarter earnings.
- The company said it would continue to pay its quarterly dividend but warned that the financial hit from the coronavirus pandemic would extend into the final quarter of the year.
- Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) stock was down 2.3% despite reporting a surge in sales in March due to consumer stockpiling as the Covid-19 lockdowns spread across the country.
- Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ:ZM) stock stabilized, rising 0.6%, after a 25% fall in the last couple of weeks on the back of concerns about lax security and data privacy policies.
- The U.S. Senate became the latest institution on Thursday to swear off using the company’s video conferencing software.
Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) stock was up 3.4%, Citigroup (NYSE:C) stock was up 4.3% and JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) stock was up 3.1% after the Federal Reserve announced the details of its plans to backstop credit risks at small businesses and local governments
Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) stock was up 2.6% after it said it aimed to start testing a potential treatment for Covid-19 on humans early in the summer.