Pre-Market Trading: Biggest Movers Include General Electric, Salesforce, Alibaba and More

GE HealthCare Technologies will be listed on the S&P 500 as a separate company starting Wednesday. In 2021, General Electric announced its intention to divide into three distinct companies in order to concentrate on its aviation sector. The energy division is expected to be spun off in 2024. Before the market opened, GE's stock had risen by approximately 2%.

Shares of Salesforce, a cloud-based company, increased by approximately 2% in the early trading session following the announcement of a restructuring plan. This plan includes reducing the workforce by 10% and shutting down some offices.

Shares of Chinese companies listed in the United States experienced a surge in value after Ant Group was given the green light to broaden its consumer finance operations, indicating that regulators' worries were being addressed. Alibaba, which has a 33% stake in Ant, and JD.com saw a rise of more than 6% in the premarket, while Pinduoduo increased by 4.5%.

Microsoft's stock prices decreased by approximately 2% after UBS changed their rating of the tech giant from "buy" to "neutral". UBS expressed worry about Microsoft's Azure and Office divisions due to a series of investigations.

Shares of Corning Inc. experienced a 2.5% increase in value following an upgrade from Credit Suisse. The investment firm changed their rating from neutral to outperform and increased their revenue estimates. They suggested that potential headwinds could become tailwinds in 2023.

Target, the retail giant, experienced a 1.3% decrease in stock after Wells Fargo downgraded it from an overweight to an equal weight. The firm stated that the outlook for Target had become worse and that the stock was not a desirable investment in the current economic climate of uncertainty.

Merck's stock saw a 1.7% increase after Bank of America upgraded it from neutral to buy. Analysts noted the company's consistent revenue growth and the progress it has made in bolstering its cancer drug Keytruda's market share and mitigating the effects of its patent expiration.

Shares of the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer dropped by approximately 1.4% after Bank of America downgraded their rating from "buy" to "neutral". The downgrade was due to the uncertainty surrounding the amount of revenue that will be lost from their Covid-19 drugs, Comirnaty and Paxlovid.

Shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services dropped close to 2% in the beginning of trading after UBS lowered the stock to sell, forecasting that earnings will be either flat or slightly higher in 2023 and will display a "real cyclical decrease".

AstraZeneca, a major pharmaceutical company, experienced a 1.8% increase in its stock prices after the European Medicines Agency approved its Type II Variation application for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer.

Shares of Honeywell dropped 1.8% in the premarket after UBS downgraded the stock from buy to sell. UBS believes that the stock is overvalued and that orders may slow down in the near future.

Tesla's stock rose 1% in the premarket following a 12% drop the day before. This was after the electric-vehicle manufacturer reported figures that did not meet expectations for fourth-quarter deliveries and production.