5 things to know before the stock market opens on Wednesday July 21

Here are the most important news, trends and analysis investors need to start their trading day:

Dow Johnson & Johnson stock rose about 1% in pre-market trading after the U.S. drug maker reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings of $ 2.48 per share on Wednesday. Revenue of $ 23.31 billion also exceeded expectations. J&J expects to sell its unique Covid vaccine for $ 2.5 billion this year, although concerns grow about its effectiveness against the delta variant. A new study from NYU suggests that people who have received the J&J vaccine receive a second injection or booster of Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.

Shares of Coca-Cola, a component of Dow, jumped about 2% in pre-market after the beverage giant reported better-than-expected earnings of 68 cents per share. Revenue of $ 10.13 billion also exceeded expectations. Sales have surpassed pre-Covid 2019 levels, prompting the company to raise its outlook for the year.

Verizon, also a share of Dow, rose about 1.5% in pre-market trading, after the company topped estimates by 7 cents with adjusted quarterly earnings of $ 1.37 per share. Verizon also reported higher than expected revenue and subscriber growth and raised its outlook for the full year.

Shares of Netflix fell in pre-market after the video streaming giant missed its estimate on Tuesday night with second-quarter earnings of $ 2.97 per share. Revenues of $ 7.34 billion are basically in line with expectations. Global paid subscriber net additions of 1.54 million exceeded expectations. Netflix has also confirmed a surge in games. The company recently hired video game director Mike Verdu from Facebook. Netflix will be able to differentiate its gaming offerings with its extensive intellectual property bank, COO Greg Peters said during the company’s earnings call.

United Airlines shares gained about 1% in Wednesday’s pre-market, the morning after the carrier matched estimates with a loss of $ 3.91 per share in the second quarter. Revenues exceeded expectations and quadrupled to $ 5.47 billion, thanks to a resurgence in air travel after the collapse in demand induced by last year’s pandemic. Sales were still down 50% from 2019 levels. United expects to generate positive adjusted pre-tax profit for the third and fourth quarters and plans to increase flights. Delta Air Lines and American Airlines also said last week they saw improved bookings and bottom lines.

The world is in “the first stages of another wave” of infections and deaths from Covid, World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday. Speaking to members of the International Olympic Committee in Tokyo, Tedros also called on the world’s major economies to share vaccines. While the Games are scheduled to open on Friday, after being delayed for a year, new infections in Tokyo hit a six-month high on Wednesday. The head of the organization of the Olympics, Toshiro Muto, refused on Tuesday to rule out the cancellation of the Games if coronavirus cases increased. A spokesperson later said that the organizers “were 100% focused on the success of the Games”.

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Disclosure: CNBC’s parent company, NBCUniversal, owns NBC Sports and NBC Olympics. NBC Olympics is the US licensee to broadcast all Summer and Winter Games until 2032.