By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com -- Stocks in focus in premarket trade on Wednesday, March 25.
- Target (NYSE:TGT) stock was down 1.1% after the retailer said the Covid-19 pandemic was having a mixed impact on sales.
- Higher-margin discretionary spending has fallen 20% so far in March, while spending on food and essentials has risen 50%, the company said. It also noted higher costs for staffing and cleaning stores.
- Boeing (NYSE:BA) stock was up 15.4% after the Senate agreement on a $2 trillion package brought the prospect of federal aid closer. The company’s CEO had said on Tuesday he would try to avoid the government taking a stake in the company (and thus diluting existing shareholders).
- American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL) stock and Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) stock were both up 16%, likewise on the prospect of a comprehensive government backstop to help them through the expected collapse in revenue caused by the pandemic.
- Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock was up 1.2% after an upgrade from Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) analysts to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’, on the view that the sell-off in the stock had gone too far.
- Ford Motor (NYSE:F) stock was up 12.3%, despite a Reuters report saying that the company’s timeline for reopening its plants may slip beyond the envisaged March 30.
- Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ:ZM) stock was up 3.9%, amid anticipation that investors would use Tuesday’s sell-off as an entry point for new positions in what has been one of the most favored “work from home” stocks in recent weeks.