Early Movers: WMT, TGT, M & More
Check out which companies are making headlines before the bell on Wednesday:
Wal-Mart Stores, Target, Macy's, and other retail stocks - Holiday spending growth was just 0.7 percent from a year ago, the smallest since 2008 and well below the 3 percent to 4 percent growth that many analysts had been expecting, according to a MasterCard SpendingPulse report.
Netflix - Some customers were impacted by a service outage during the Christmas holiday, an incident that Netflix blamed on servers operated by Amazon.com. Service was disrupted on Christmas Eve, but was fully restored by yesterday morning.
Toyota Motor - Toyota is expecting global sales of its Toyota and Lexus brands to be up 2.5 percent to 8.9 million vehicles in 2013. The automaker has set its 2013 production target at 8.7 million vehicles, about the same as this year.
NYSE-Euronext - The company is being sued by the New Jersey Carpenters Pension Fund over its $8.2 billion deal to be acquired by IntercontinentalExchange. The fund, which holds NYSE-Euronext shares, said the deal undervalues the stock.
Facebook - Facebook's Instagram unit has been hit by a class action lawsuit, stemming from a change in service terms. The suit accuses the photo sharing service of breach of contract as well as other claims. Facebook said the suit is without merit and that it will fight it vigorously.
Google - Google is cutting into Microsoft's dominance in business applications, The New York Times reported. The article said the cloud-based Google Apps service — which had been mostly popular with small businesses — is now being adopted by such large users as Swiss drugmaker Hoffmann-La Roche and the U.S. Interior Department.
Herbalife - Herbalife has retained a legal firm to help defend itself against attacks by hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, according to The Wall Street Journal. Ackman is, in his words, is "enormously short" the stock. He's accused Herbalife of operating a pyramid scheme, but Herbalife characterizes Ackman's stance as a malicious attack.
(Read More: See CNBC's Market Insider Blog)
—By CNBC's Peter Schacknow
Questions? Comments? Email us at marketinsider@cnbc.com
