March 31 (Reuters) – Key stocks to watch on Friday on Wall Street where index futures open up 0.17% for the Dow Jones and 0.13% for the Standard & Poor’s-500. The Nasdaq is seen down 0.02%.
* KRAFT HEINZ – The U.S. food giant has agreed to sell its baby food business in Russia to local soda and snack maker Chernogolovka, a representative of the Russian company told Reuters on Friday, which estimates the value of the transaction between 2.5 billion and 3 billion rubles (35.76 million euros).
* VALERO, the second largest US oil refiner, is seeking permission from Washington to import Venezuelan crude, according to four people familiar with the matter, hoping for a repeat of the permission granted to giant Chevron last November. The United States imposed an embargo on Venezuelan oil exports in 2019.
* VIRGIN ORBIT said on Thursday it will cut around 85% of its workforce after failing to find new investment, adding that it expects to face related charges of around $15 million. The action lost 49.6% before the market.
* NETFLIX is restructuring its film group and cutting production to ensure high-quality titles, which will lead to layoffs and the departure of two of its most senior executives, Bloomberg reported Thursday.
* TESLA – Tesla CEO Elon Musk plans to visit China, the group’s second largest market after the United States, as early as April and wants to meet Chinese Premier Li Qiang, two sources told Reuters aware of the preparations for the trip.
* UNITEDHEALTH – The CMA, the British competition authority, announced on Friday that it would refer UnitedHealth’s acquisition of health technology company EMIS to a phase 2 investigation, after rejecting remedies proposed by the American company to mitigate the competitive impact of the combination.
* NIKE – Activist investor platform Tulipshare on Thursday called on the group to offer more transparency on working conditions in its supply chain.
* VERIZON – The US Federal Civil Aviation Administration (FAA) announced on Thursday that it has awarded Verizon a contract worth $2.4 billion over 15 years to design, build and operation of the government agency’s new next-generation communication platform. (Written by Diana Mandiá, Editing by Kate Entringer)
