By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com -- Stocks in focus in premarket trade on Friday, 17th April. Please refresh for updates.
- Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) stock fell 0.4% after the consumer products giant reported a 6% increase in organic sales in its fiscal third quarter, driven in part by stockpiling by consumers against the backdrop of Covid-19-related lockdowns.
- The rise would have been even greater had it not been for the dollar’s strength, which took two full percentage points off the sales growth number. P&G said pricing only accounted for one point of growth.
- AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC) stock rose 51% after the company said it had enough cash to last it through July.
- AMC was also helped by new guidelines issued by the White House put movie theaters in the first row of businesses to be allowed to reopen. According to the three-stage timeline in the guidelines, theaters will be among the first businesses allowed to open – albeit social distancing will force them to do so at much-reduced capacity.
- Gilead (NASDAQ:GILD) stock pared earlier gains to be up 9.6%, after the company cautioned against reading too much into leaked video footage that suggested its experimental antiviral drug remdesivir could be an effective treatment for Covid-19.
- “Anecdotal reports, while encouraging, do not provide the statistical power necessary to determine the safety and efficacy profile of remdesivir as a treatment for Covid-19,” Gilead said.
- Boeing (NYSE:BA) stock was up 9.9% after saying it intended to partially restart production at its facilities in Washington state from Monday.
- Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) stock rose 1.6% after the oilfield services company said it would continue to pay 25% of its dividend instead of suspending it entirely, as feared. The company stiill posted a net loss of $7.4 billion after registering over $8 billion of impairments, as oil and gas companies across the world slash their capital spending in the low-price environment.
- State Street (NYSE:STT) stock rose 9.2% after it handily beat expectations for earnings and revenue in the first quarter thanks to the spike in market volatility that led to much higher levels of client activity.
- Altria (NYSE:MO) stock rose 2.3% after the Marlboro owner announced CEO Howard Willard will step down and be replaced by acting CEO Billy Gifford. Willard had earlier stepped aside after a coronavirus diagnosis.