Before the bell: PEP, VIA, KFT, YHOO, LLY ...


Before the bell: Stocks to tumble at the open on credit concerns

U.S. film and television writers went on strike today, after last-minute talks failed to prevent the Writers Guild of America's first walkout in almost two decades. Several media companies holding film and television studios could be affected including Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS), Viacom (NYSE: VIA), News Corp (NYSE: NWS), CBS (NYSE: CBS), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), General Electric (NYSE: GE) and others.

A key study found that Eli Lilly and Co's (NYSE: LLY) experimental anti-clotting drug boosts the risk of serious bleeding compared to the standard therapy. This caused Wall Street analysts to question the outlook for the product on Sunday with HSBC downgrading the stock from Neutral to Underweight. Still, Lilly's shares are up over 1.25% in premarket.


PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) announced a restructuring that will split the company into three units -- one for food in the United States, one for U.S. drinks and one for food and drinks abroad. This is a change from the previous structure of two operating segments, one for North America and one for international.

According to TechCrunch, Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) is launching Kickstart, a new social network around college students and alumni. While it reminds of how Facebook got started, TechCrunch notes that the "service is actually much more like LinkedIn in that it connects students and alumni at specific colleges and universities and helps them connect on a professional level."

Kraft Foods Inc (NYSE: KFT) is close to agreeing to a deal to sell its Post cereals business to store-brand food maker, Ralcorp Holdings Inc (NYSE: RAH), for about $2.8 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA-89.2312,801.23
NASDAQ-23.352,903.88
S&P 500-9.311,342.64

Last updated: February 12, 2012: 08:16 PM

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