By Peter Nurse
Investing.com -- Stocks in focus in premarket trade on Monday, August 23rd. Please refresh for updates.
General Motors (NYSE:GM) stock fell 2% after the auto giant’s decision to suspend sales of its Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles after it ordered another recall of the automobile due to the risk of fires from the high-voltage battery pack.
Uber (NYSE:UBER) stock fell 4.1% and Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) stock dropped 4.4% after a Californian judge declared unconstitutional a ballot which had enabled these companies to call their drivers independent contractors.
Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) stock rose 3.5% and BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) stock rose 7% following a report in the New York Times that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is aiming to give full approval to the Covid-19 vaccine made by the two drug companies. Additionally, the U.K. has signed a deal for an additional 35 million vaccines from the two companies.
Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) stock rose 0.8% after the entertainment giant generated $125 million in online revenue from Marvel superhero film "Black Widow". The company is being sued by the movie's star Scarlett Johannsen because the simultaneous streaming release undercut the box office revenues to which her remuneration was tied.
Chevron (NYSE:CVX) stock rose 1.9%, helped by a strong rise in oil prices, while the Wall Street Journal reported that the oil major has begun requiring some employees to receive Covid-19 vaccinations and is evaluating mandates throughout its entire workforce.
Boeing (NYSE:BA) stock rose 1.4% after the Wall Street Journal reported that the plane manufacturer was planning investment in Virgin Orbit's $3.2 billion SPAC listing.
Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) stock rose 3.6% with the cryptocurrency exchange benefitting from the rise in bitcoin over $50,000, to the highest level since early May.
PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) stock rose 0.9% after the U.S.-based online payments company announced it will let British customers buy, hold and sell digital currencies starting this week.