In more Citi news, The Wall Street Journal reported Citi's board is backing its CEO. Also late Friday, it was announced that Robert Rubin would retire from Citi. Citi shares traded over 2% lower in premarket action.
Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) is set to report its fourth-quarter results after the close Monday, unofficially kicking off the earnings season. Only last week Alcoa said it would cut 13% of its workforce as well as production as demand has been severely hit by the recession and aluminum prices plummeted to about 70 cents per pound from about $1.50 per pound last summer. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on average, expect Alcoa to report a loss of 5 cents per share on revenue of $5.41 billion, but I've other estimates pegging Alcoa's loss at 10 cents per share.
Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank downgraded Alcoa to Sell from Hold, saying recently announced production cuts will lead to significant losses in the short term. AA shares were 4.3% lower in premarket trade.
[Update 9:15 am:
Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) and Advanced Medical Optics (EYE) announced that Abbott would acquire Advanced Medical Optics for $22 a share, or about $2.8 billion including debt. The per share price is more than double the closing price of $8.85 on Jan. 9. ABT shares were 1% lower in premarket, but EYE shares were over 144% higher in premarket trade.]
Pfizer, Inc. (NYSE: PFE) was upgraded at Goldman Sachs to Neutral from Sell. The brokerage said it believes a stock-moving restructuring is now inevitable. PFE shares were 1.5% higher in premarket trade.
Wipro (NYSE: WIT) shares could see some pressure today after it became the second Indian software firm to be barred from World Bank contracts. The World Bank on Sunday said it plans to name blacklisted Indian IT firms. WIT shares were 11.6% lower in premarket trade.
Satyam Computer Services (NYSE: SAY), meanwhile, rallied in Mumbai after the Indian government dissolved its board and appointed three to the board. Satyam's U.S.-listed shares were halted following the fraud announcement last week and have yet to trade.
Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) may have to seek the help of federal loans after all, despite trying to avoid that, as the weakening economy continues to hurt domestic sales even lower than the company's forecast. F shares were over 1% higher in premarket as Mullali said
Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) is trying to bank on Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone's touchscreen success and push a similar technology for personal-computer screens. This technology could eventually replace the computer mouse.
Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) was upgraded by Citigroup from Sell to Hold. PALM shares traded 6.7% higher in premarket.
Harley Davidson (NYSE: HOG) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral and added it to its Conviction Sell List. Shares dropped over 14% in premarket trading.
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Closing Bell: What sell-off? (AIG, ABK, EPR, MBI, JAVA, ORCL, ERTS)
