April 4 (Reuters) – Top stocks to watch on Tuesday on Wall Street, where index futures open up 0.08% for the Dow Jones, 0.24% for the Standard & Poor’s-500 and 0.44% for the Nasdaq
* VIRGIN ORBIT HOLDINGS – British businessman Richard Branson’s satellite launch company, which failed to secure the long-term funding needed to help it recover from the failure of its rocket LauncherOne in January filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday. The action lost 18% before the market.
* WALMART will cut more than 2,000 jobs at five U.S. e-commerce warehouses, Bloomberg reported Monday citing regulatory filings.
* APPLE will cut a small number of positions within its retail teams, Bloomberg reported Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.
* KKR & Co said on Tuesday it closed its sixth and largest European private equity fund at $8 billion to target investments in Western Europe, a significant boost for the company amid high volatility in the markets and declining interest in major acquisitions.
* STRATASYS – 3D printer maker Nano Dimension has again raised its offer to acquire counterpart Stratasys for $20.05 per share in cash, representing a 22.4% premium to the close of trading. Monday and an increase of $2.05 per share over its March 6 proposal.
* MERCK — A Delaware judge on Monday dismissed Merck’s lawsuit seeking to amplify the German group’s liabilities stemming from the purchase of Merck’s consumer products business in 2014, following lawsuits filed by consumers for the sale of talc accused of having caused cancer.
* MICRON said on Monday that its business activities in China were normal and that it was cooperating with the Chinese government in a review by China’s Cyberspace Regulatory Authority of the group’s products.
* CONOCOPHILLIPS — A federal judge on Monday rejected environmentalists’ request to temporarily suspend the US government’s approval of the Texas group’s controversial oil drilling project in northern Alaska.
* LOCKHEED MARTIN – The US defense group and Britain’s BAE Systems have won a contract to support maintenance of F-35 military aircraft worth 161 million pounds ($200 million), the department said on Tuesday British Defence.
* JPMORGAN – U.S. Virgin Islands wants to expand legal action accusing U.S. bank of aiding late financier Jeffrey Epstein in his sex trafficking of girls and young women, adding new obstruction charge and allegation that bank executives reportedly joked about the former financier.
* ETSY gained 3.8% in pre-market after Piper Sandler raised the e-commerce platform’s recommendation to “overweight”.
(Written by Diana Mandiá, edited by Blandine Hénault)
