Hot Stocks to Watch in the U.S. and Canada

Among the companies with shares expected to trade actively in Friday's session are BlackRock Inc. (BLK), PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (PNC) and Bank of America Corp. (BAC).

Bank of America on Friday reported its biggest annual profit in a decade as its trading business benefited from the uncertainty caused by Donald Trump's surprise election and the bank continued to slash expenses. But revenue came in lower than analysts had expected. Shares fell 0.74% to $22.75 in premarket trading.

Assets at BlackRock Inc., the world's largest money manager, continued to grow in its fourth quarter as investors put money into lower-cost index-tracking funds and withdrew it from actively-traded ones. Shares rose 0.19% to $379.00 premarket.

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. reported an increase in earnings on higher revenue, despite greater costs, while a key metric of lending profitability remained relatively steady. Shares rose 0.61% to $118.65 premarket.

Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) said its fourth-quarter profit fell as higher interest rates weren't enough to offset the impact of a recent sales-tactics scandal at the bank. Shares fell 0.97% to $53.97 premarket.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) said its fourth-quarter profit rose 24% as the bank's boost from trading helped results following the U.S. presidential election. Shares rose 0.12% to $86.34 premarket.

Canada's AltaGas Ltd. (ALA.T, ATGFF) is in talks to combine with WGL Holdings Inc.(WGL), the parent of Washington, D.C.'s natural-gas utility, in a transaction worth $5 billion to $6 billion, as increasing use of natural gas spurs merger activity.

CenturyLink Inc. (CTL) and Level 3 Communications Inc. (LVLT) refiled their Hart-Scott-Rodino papers with the Justice Department, giving the government more time to review the roughly $25 billion proposed tie-up. Both companies say they still expect the deal to close in the third quarter.

Brokerage firm Investment Technology Group Inc. (ITG) agreed to pay $24.4 million to settle claims that it improperly obtained and lent foreign shares to clients, the first penalty in a wide-ranging probe of market misconduct. ITG didn't admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement agreement.

Internet radio company Pandora Media Inc. (P) plans to cut about 7% of its employees in the U.S., excluding workers at ticketing unit Ticketfly, by the end of the first quarter.

WPX Energy Inc. (WPX) agreed to buy assets in the Permian basin in Texas in a $775 million deal that would boost its Permian acreage to more than 120,000 net acres. The deal includes 23 producing wells, WPX said. The Tulsa, Okla., company expects to pay for it using available cash along with proceeds from an equity issuance.

Write to Chris Wack at [e-mail] or Maria Armental at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 13, 2017 09:22 ET (14:22 GMT)

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