By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com -- Stocks in focus in premarket trade on Friday, April 24th.
- Zoom Video (NASDAQ:ZM) stock rose 4.0% after it was included in the Nasdaq 100 index, something that had already caused it to rise 12.6% on Thursday.
- Financially stressed oil and gas independents leaped after crude futures extended their rebound and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin flagged plans to help the troubled sector.
- Abraxas Petroleum (NASDAQ:AXAS) stock nearly doubled, while Oasis Petroleum (NASDAQ:OAS) stock, Denbury Resources (NYSE:DNR) stock and Houston American Energy (NYSE:HUSA) stock all rose by between 40% and 60%.
- Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) stock rose 2.3% while Continental Resources (NYSE:CLR) stock rose 4.6% after it said it had shut down production in the Bakken shale in response to low prices.
- Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) stock fell 4.8% after the chipmaker withdrew its guidance for the year, citing Covid-19-driven uncertainty.
- The stock is still struggling after reports on Thursday saying that Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) will drop Intel chips from its Mac computers as of next year.
- Verizon (NYSE:VZ) stock was unchanged, underperforming the market, after the company reduced its earnings guidance for the year to flat, and scrapped its revenue guidance entirely, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
- The company chose not to cut capital spending despite pressure to keep costs down while some 70% of its stores are closed to the pandemic. Earnings missed expectations as it set aside $228 million to cover possible non-payment of bills as customers’ incomes are squeezed.
- American Express (NYSE:AXP) stock fell 0.1% after the company’s first-quarter profit fell 76% due to a $1.7 billion provision against possible credit losses. That repeats a pattern seen almost universally across the banking sector during this quarter.
- Capital One (NYSE:COF) stock rose 1.2%, however, after reporting a similar picture after the bell on Thursday. Reserves against loan losses more than tripled from a year ago to $5.42 billion, something that also reflected its exposure to the oil and gas sector. he coronavirus pandemic and a drop in oil prices during the first quarter.
- E-TRADE (NASDAQ:ETFC) stock fell 0.6% after the online brokerage missed expectations for first-quarter revenue and earnings.
- While it enjoyed a sharp rise in trading volumes like its rivals, the company suffered from the effects of a price war that had forced it to cut trading commissions to zero before the pandemic struck.