US futures are pointing higher as the last day of the trading week kicks off.
Job cuts were in the frame and big national bank Wells Fargo appeared to be bracing itself for what's ahead as it revealed that up to 10%, or as many as 26,500 jobs would be culled over the next three years.
Two years ago this month, it sacked over 5,000 employees that it blamed for creating fake accounts under a high-pressure sales culture.
Ever since then, CEO Tim Sloan hae been trying to move the bank past that scandal.
Wells Fargo plans to cut as many as 26,500 jobs over three years. The troubled bank's CEO cited "changing customer preferences," including the wide adoption of digital banking. https://t.co/bw3XTwLXtp pic.twitter.com/BmfHxYEQqA
— CNN (@CNN) 20 September 2018
Shares in Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) nudged up 0.18% before the bell at US$55.55.
Elsewhere, United Natural Foods Inc (NASDAQ:UNFI) saw shares sink 10.64% to US$30.25 before the bell after it posted fourth quarter results, which missed Wall Street consensus.
Earnings per share (EPS) came in at US$0.76 cents, compared to the US$.0.85, which analysts expected.
The company is the largest supplier to Amazon-owned retailer Whole Foods, reported US$2.59bn for revenue, which was lower than the US$$2.61bn, which analysts had estimated.
Elsewhere, drug developer Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SRPT) shares are down a tad in pre-market - off 0.020% to US$152.90
It came as it revealed that the European Medicines Agency (EMA), as had been expected, confirmed its May negative opinion for a conditional marketing application for eteplirsen - the drug for muscular dystrophy.
Eteplirsen is designed to treat approximately 13% of the Duchenne muscular dystrophy community who have a certain type of genetic mutations.
Also today, Pier 1 Imports Inc (NYSE:PIR) was also in the frame before the bell, and the stock tanked over 17% to US$1.50 after the furnishings retailer reported disappointing preliminary earnings results due to what it called "execution challenges".
The company now expects a second-quarter loss of between US$0.62 and US$0.64 per share, and sales to decline 11.4% versus the same quarter last year.