BHP Biliton (NYSE: BHP), the largest mining company in the world, said it would lay off 6% of its global workforce or 6,000 workers as a result of production cuts. Around 550 of them will be in the U.S. Shares declined nearly a percent in premarket trading.
Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC), the Swedish telecom equipment maker, announced a 31% profit drop and a 23% surge in sales. It also said it would cut 5,000 jobs in the attempt to save $1.2 billion in costs in 2009. Shares gained nearly 13.5% in premarket trading.
Many companies are due to report results on Wednesday: AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR), UAL Corp. (NASDAQ: UAUA), BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) and Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) and after the close, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY).
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) said it expects to earn $1.06 to $1.35 per share on sales from $9 billion to $10 billion in the first quarter, but analysts seem to expect more, estimating income of $1.39 per share on $9.74 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters. Meanwhile, U.S. regulators are examining Apple's disclosures about Jobs' health problems to ensure investors weren't misled, according to Bloomberg sources. Shares gained about 1.3% in premarket trading.
United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) said fourth-quarter net income rose 8% to $1.15 billion, or $1.23 a share, including a one-time gain of 6 cents a share. Revenue dipped 1% to $14.5 billion. Analysts expected earnings of $1.23 a share and revenue of $14.85 billion, according to a survey by FactSet Research. The aerospace and elevator giant plans to accelerate 2009 restructuring and confirmed its prior expectation for 2009 earnings per share. Shares indicated lower in premarket trading.
General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) was supposed to get its second installment of government loans last week, but a top company executive says he expects the second installment of $5.4 billion to arrive in the next several days. Shares were 1.4% higher in premarket trading.
Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) was upgraded at Deutsche Bank to Hold from Sell, saying that it believes the company has sufficient liquidity to withstand its worst-case scenario even with its current cash-burn. Shares were 2.8% higher in premarket trading.
Barclays Plc (NYSE: BCS) shares continued to decline today, for a seventh straight day. The U.K. bank that turned down government funding last year, is now speculated that it may be forced to take more writedowns and be nationalized. Shares were 20% lower in premarket trading.
Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Citigroup (NYSE: C) and other financial stocks continue to be in focus as investors are concerned about the whole banking sector. Citigroup also declared a quarterly dividend of a penny on the company's common stock. Citi shares were about 10% higher in premarket trading. Robert W. Baird downgraded BAC from Outperform to Neutral. BAC shares were 4.7% higher in premarket trading.
Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) was downgraded at Credit Suisse from Outperform to Neutral. Shares were about 1% lower in premarket trading.
Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) was upgraded by Citigroup from Sell to Hold. Shares were 3.2% higher in premarket trading.
Unilever (NYSE: UL) was upgraded by Citigroup from Hold to Buy. Shares were 1.4% higher in premarket trading.
Time Warner (NYSE: TWX)'s movie studio Warner Brothers will cut 800, or 10%, of its jobs.
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