BB BlackBerry Limited

By James Willhite 

Here's what we're watching ahead of Friday's opening bell.

-- U.S. stock futures edged lower as some investors grew concerned that President-elect Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief plan could lead to higher taxes.

Futures tied to the S&P 500 fell 0.4%, putting the benchmark on course to decline for a second day. Contracts tied to the Nasdaq-100 were flat and those linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.6%. Read our full market wrap here.

Retail sales declined 0.7% in December, as holiday shoppers avoided stores during a rise in Covid-19 cases.

What's Coming Up

-- A preliminary reading of consumer sentiment, due at 10 a.m., is expected to register a small drop.

Market Movers to Watch

-- Corporate earnings season kicked into high gear with updates before the bell from JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo. Shares of JPMorgan slipped 2% after its profit jumped 42% during the recent quarter. Wells Fargo dropped 4.1% after revenue fell more than forecast but profit broke a streak of misses. Citigroup shed 1.5% after its profit beat forecasts.

-- Shares of Blackberry jumped more than 20% premarket. The rise comes after the maker of the eponymous device from technology days of yore, now a security software and services company, saw its stock climb more than 20% on Thursday. Earlier this week Canada's the Globe and Mail reported the company had sold 90 patents to Huawei. No word on whether " Blackberry thumb" is going to become a thing again.

-- After surging for two days, GameStop shares are taking a break, falling 4.5% premarket. Some investors had pointed to a short squeeze as behind the recent jump.

-- Online resale marketplace Poshmark's shares fell 3.5% premarket, but held on to most of the prior day's gains, when its stock soared more than 140% in its trading debut.

-- Shares of Palantir Technologies are up more than 5% premarket, as investors appear unmoved by yesterday's downgrade of the stock from Citibank.

-- Energy giant Exxon Mobil's shares lost 3.5% before the open. The SEC launched an investigation after an employee filed a whistleblower complaint last fall alleging it overvalued one of its most important oil and gas properties.

-- Business-application software firm Progress Software reported higher-than-expected adjusted earnings and revenue for its most recent quarter. Its shares slipped 1.5% premarket.

Market Fact

Smartphone giant Xiaomi's Hong Kong-listed shares fell almost 14% Friday before closing 10% lower, after the company became the latest Chinese technology group to be targeted by the Trump administration, with its surprise addition to an investment blacklist.

Chart of the Day

The world's fastest Covid-19 vaccination rollout is drawing investors to Israel, making its stock market one of the top performers in 2021.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 15, 2021 09:09 ET (14:09 GMT)

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