Top US Stocks to Watch Before the Bell Morgan Stanley BNY Mellon and NXP

Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley said profits surged higher in the first quarter of 2021, smashing expectations, as an explosion in deal making benefited its investment banking division and heightened trading activity boosted its securities division. The company said net income attributable to shareholders jumped to $2.19 per share from just $1.01 a year ago. That was well ahead of the $1.70 forecast by analysts.

Bank of New York Mellon

Bank of New York Mellon also beat expectations after reporting revenue of $3.92 billion and EPS of 97 cents in the first quarter. Although that beat analyst expectations for $3.85 billion in revenue and EPS of 87 cents, it represented a 5% year-on-year fall in revenue and an 8% drop in earnings.

Citigroup

Citigroup is hiring 300 relationship managers in Hong Kong as part of plans to triple the number of clients and double the amount of assets under management for its wealth division in Asia. The news comes the day after Citigroup said it was withdrawing from 13 consumer banking markets across Asia and Europe to instead focus on Asia.

PNC Financial

PNC Financial’s first-quarter earnings came in considerably higher than expected while revenue was broadly in line with estimates. First-quarter revenue of $4.10 billion and earnings per share of $4.10 compared to analyst expectations for revenue of $4.10 billion and EPS of $2.75.

Stellantis and NXP Semiconductors

A federal judge will decide later today whether an emergency order should be granted to force NXP Semiconductors to supply chips to a supplier of carmaker Stellantis, amid a global supply shortage.

JVIS-USA has claimed that it will have to shut its Detroit factory if it does not secure the chips it needs to help control the heating, cooling and ventilation systems of the Jeep Grand Cherokee and other cars made by Stellantis. The supplier has warned production could cease as early as April 19 without the chips.

NXP argues that it has no contractual relationship with JVIS-USA and is therefore not obliged to send the chips, which the supplier usually sources from other companies rather than NXP itself.

Alphabet

Alphabet-owned Google misled consumers about the personal location data it collects through Android mobile devices, an Australian court has found.

The court found that Google wrongly told customers that it could not collect location data if it was switched off, but was still able to access that data if other settings were left turned on. The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission is seeking to impose a penalty on Google as a result, although the size of any potential fine is not known.

Eli Lilly

Eli Lilly has asked the Food & Drug Administration to revoke the emergency authorisation granted for its Covid-19 antibody, bamlanivimab, because it wants to change its plans by combining it with another drug named etesevimab.

The FDA stopped using the drug last month after it was found bamlanivimab was ineffective against new variants of the virus, which has prompted Eli Lilly to introduce a new drug to compliment it and allow it to fight new strains of the virus.

Grab

Grab, the Asian ride-hailing and food delivery giant that is set to list in the US through a SPAC deal, is reported to be eyeing a secondary listing in Singapore once it has joined the Nasdaq, according to Reuters.

The company has struck a $40 billion deal to merge with a blank cheque company to join the Nasdaq, marking the biggest deal of its kind, and is contemplating a Singapore listing to allow customers, staff and partners in the region it operates to access its stock.

How to trade top US stocks

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