Trending tickers: Microsoft | Splunk | Amazon | Ocado
Microsoft (MSFT)
Microsoft stock held steady in premarket trade on Friday amid news that its deal to acquire Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard could soon be cleared by the UK competition regulator.
A revised offer for the game producer "opens the door" to overcoming hurdles, after its original $69bn (£59bn) deal was blocked by the Competition and Market Authority (CMA).
The deal was blocked because the CMA was concerned if Microsoft took over the entire company it may harm competition in cloud gaming.
Read more: The best mortgage rates on the market right now
A restructured deal saw Microsoft agree to transfer the rights to stream Activision games from the cloud to the French video games publisher Ubisoft for 15 years.
Splunk (SPLK)
Splunk stock saw a more than 20% bump on Thursday in the US following news that tech giant Cisco had executed a deal to buy the software company, known for data analytics, for $28bn dollars.
Cisco valued Splunk at $157 a share, a 31% premium to Wednesday's closing price. The company will fund the transaction via a mix of cash and new debt.
"The strategic combination of Splunk’s leading SIEM solution to predict and prevent threats with Cisco’s broad security portfolio that focuses on detection and response does make sense to us," Guggenheim analyst John DiFucci said in a client note.
Amazon (AMZN)
Amazon was among growth stocks that took a pummelling following the US Federal Reserve's decision to hold interest rates as they are, rather than hiking.
The stock closed around 4.4% lower on Thursday, dragging down the Nasdaq, the flagship tech index.
The stock was also down because of heightened speculation on whether the Federal Trade Commission will file a competition claim against the online retailer.
Ocado (OCDO.L)
British food delivery and warehousing tech service Ocado recovered somewhat after taking a beating yesterday.
The knock came after Exane downgraded the stock to "underperform" citing growth concerns in its retail business. It put the price target at 390p.
Stock was up around 5% by noon in London on Friday.
Watch: UK may clear Microsoft-Activision deal
