Stocks – Deere, Biontech and Foot Locker Rise Premarket

(C) Reuters.

By Peter Nurse

Investing.com — Stocks in focus in premarket trade on Friday, August 21st. Please refresh for updates.

• Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock rose 0.8% after its stock price closed above $2,000 for the first time ahead of its stock split. Shareholders of record at the close Friday will receive four additional shares for each share they own, distributed after the close of trading on Aug. 28.

• Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock rose 0.2% after the tech giant closed Thursday with a market capitalization above $2 trillion, with its share price doubling since its low point in March when the coronavirus pandemic swept the markets.

• Deere (NYSE:DE) stock rose 2.5% after the agriculture and construction equipment maker reported better than expected fiscal third-quarter numbers, while providing a somewhat upbeat outlook.

• Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) stock rose 0.7% and Biontech (NASDAQ:BNTX) gained 5.8% after the companies said the Covid-19 vaccine candidate, being developed jointly, was on track to be submitted for regulatory review as early as October.

• Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) stock rose 0.2% after the pharma giant said it planned to test its experimental Covid-19 drug on 60,000 people in a phase 3 trial in September.

• Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) stock rose 0.6% after the discount retailer posted a surprise first-quarter profit and better-than-expected revenues after hours Thursday.

• Foot Locker (NYSE:FL) stock rose 4.1% after the retailer reported a comparable store sales increase of approximately 18% for the second quarter.

• Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) stock fell 1.3% after committing to blocking middle seat assignments for most passengers through Jan. 6. That will restrict its capacity through a period that covers the usually busy holiday travel season.

• Pinduoduo (NASDAQ:PDD) stock fell 10% after the Chinese e-commerce platform reported quarterly revenue that was some 5% below expectations. It’s also involved in a public spat with Tesla over a discounted Model 3 group-buy purchase.