The main earnings reports due today: Unitedhealth, Bank of America, L'Oreal, PepsiCo, Citigroup, BlackRock, Publicis…

 

A few results:

Bank of America reported a quarterly profit more than doubled in the first three months of the year thanks to provision reversals and announced a $25 billion (€20.9 billion) share buyback plan. The stock gained 1.9% in pre-opening trading.

BlackRock reported Thursday a quarterly profit of $1.2 billion, beating expectations, as increased market activity pushed its assets under management to a record $9 trillion (€7.5 trillion).

Citigroup reported better-than-expected quarterly results as the economic recovery and the impact of fiscal stimulus measures allowed it to reduce provisions. The group also announced its intention to exit the retail banking market in 13 Asian countries and the Europe-Middle East-Africa division.

Publicis: organic growth reached 2.8% in Q1, but should accelerate to between 8 and 10% in Q2. The start of the year looks better than analysts expected.

ABB Ltd: after organic growth of 7% in Q1, the company expects its annual revenues to grow by 5%, against a previous range of 3 to 5%.

Chr. Hansen: the Danish food ingredients group raised its 2021 guidance after its Q1 numbers.

Deliveroo: orders rose 114% in Q1 to 71 million, with transaction value up 130% to £1.65bn.

Entain: the betting group reported a 13% decline in business in Q1, despite a 33% acceleration in online revenues.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company: the Taiwanese foundry company beat expectations in Q1. It is targeting $12.9 to $13.2 billion in revenue in Q2 and has raised its annual investment targets to $30 billion.

 

Other news:

Dell Technologies is spinning off VMware and paying itself a $10B dividend and is reportedly considering selling its Boomi cloud division.

Thermo Fisher Scientific is reportedly negotiating to buy PPD for more than $15B, according to Reuters.

The EU is opening an investigation into Facebook for data leaks.

Softbank's Vision Fund is said to be close to a $30bn capital gain on Coupang.

Norwegian bank DNB ASA to buy smaller rival Sbanken after agreement on a price of NOK 103.85.

Infosys heckled on the stock market after disappointing figures.