Goldman Sachs, Schwab earnings on tap
U.S. stock futures were under pressure early Tuesday, implying stocks would open lower as trading resumes following the Martin Luther King holiday on Monday.
As of 5:15 a.m. ET, Dow futures plunged 253 points, 0.71% to 35,543. S&P 500 futures gave away 50.75 points, or 1.09% to 4,604 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures shed 261.75 points, or 1.68% to 15,334.
Market participants are gearing up for a busy week of company earnings, with Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCHW), and Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE: BK) scheduled to report today.
Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Alcoa (NYSE: AA), Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), United Airlines (NASDAQ: UAL), Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) will announce their results later in the week.
Activist investor asks Kohl’s to spinoff or make major changes
Macellum Advisors, an activist investment firm, has called for major changes at Kohl’s (NYSE: KSS) to help boost its stock price, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.
The journal, citing people familiar said that Macellum has been pushing the department-store chain to make changes including altering its board.
Macellum holds around 5% stake in Kohl’s and was part of a consortium of activists that ran a proxy fight at the retailer in 2021.
The New York-based hedge fund says that if Kohl’s doesn’t make changes to its board, the company should hire bankers to explore a spinoff.
In a statement sent to the Journal, Kohl’s said it examines all opportunities for increasing shareholder value and that its solid performance last year showed its strategy was working.
Kohl’s stock was little changed in Tuesday’s pre-market trading session.
Walmart reportedly planning to join the metaverse with launch of its own NFTs and crypto
Walmart (NYSE: WMT) has filed several trademarks and patent applications that focus on cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), according to documents obtained from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
The applications, which were first reported by CNBC, show that the giant big-box retailer filed seven applications in December, outlining its intentions to start selling virtual goods, including appliances, home décor, electronics, toys, apparel, sporting equipment, and more.
One of the patents mentions “financial services, namely, providing a digital currency and a digital token of value for use by members on an online community via a global computer network.”
Another application seeks “downloadable software for use in managing portfolios of digital currency” and “online retail store services featuring virtual merchandise.”
Walmart joins several other retailers including Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL), Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF), and Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ: URBN) that have recently filed trademarks seeking to claim their own piece of the metaverse.
