Washington Mutual Inc. (NYSE: WM) reported a fourth quarter $1.87 billion loss, hurt badly by the sinking value of its mortgage portfolio. The quarterly loss was $2.19 per share, compared with a profit of $1.06 billion, or $1.10 per share in the same period last year. WaMu shares are up 2.3% in premarket trading.

The New York Stock Exchange has agreed to buy the American Stock Exchange.

Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB) said Friday profit rose 22% in the fourth quarter due to strong demand for oilfield services. The results were below Wall Street estimates and the shares are down over 3% in premarket trading. Earnings rose to $1.38 billion in the fourth quarter, or $1.12 per share, on revenue of $6.25 billion. Excluding a gain, the company's earnings rose to $1.37 billion, or $1.11 a share. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had expected fourth-quarter earnings of $1.13 per share on revenue of $6.14 billion.

Some early analyst calls:

• Wrigley (NYSE: WWY) was upgraded by JP Morgan to Overweight from Neutral due growing international business.
• Phillips (NYSE: PHG) was downgraded at Merrill from Overweight to Underweight due to softer macro environment. Lehman Brothers also downgraded the company from Overweight to Underweight.
• Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY) and Staples (NASDAQ: SPLS) were upgraded by UBS from Neutral to Buy
• Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) was upgraded by Oppenheimer from Perform to Outperform. Shares are up 3.75% in premarket trading.

Tiffany (NYSE: TIF) shares are up over 2.2% in premarket trading after the company announced an additional stock buy-back of $500 million.

Under Armour Inc. (NYSE: UA) shares are continuing yesterday's plunge of 13.51% with a 16.35% drop in this morning pre-open trading (7:45 a.m.) after the company gave preliminary results and outlook below estimates Thursday. Wachovia downgraded the company from Outperform to Market Perform.
Workers at Ford Motor Co's (NYSE: F) plant in Belgium have gone on strike, chiefly over higher wage claims.