Market Tone:  Last week we asked, “Can we hold above 3700 on the S&P 500 and move to 3800 by year end?” This morning we have the answer, no. 

Covid-19 Statistics: 

Total Cases 17,647,893 from 17,452,905

Deaths 309,449 from 307,831

New Tests 1,764,566 from 1,725,036

New Cases 194,988 from 201,841 with positivity rate of 11.05% (down 0.65)

Daily Deaths 1,618

Current Hospitalizations 113,663 from 113,929

Capital Raises:

IPOs Priced: 

Secondaries Priced:   None of note.

Notes Priced of note: None of note.

Common Stock filings: CPE MCF UEC  of note.

Selling Shareholders of note: None of note.

Mixed Shelf Offerings: EIGR IMGN TELA CBRE  of note.

Convertible Offering Files:  None of note.

Senior Notes Filed: None of note.

Earnings Out After The Close:

Beats: NKE +0.16

Flat:  none

Misses: none

News After The Close (sorted by time starting at the close):

Federal Reserve latest stress tests for banks released and dividends and share repurchases are to be allowed.

President Trump signed legislation that could kick Chinese companies off U.S. exchanges.

Buzzfeed may go public through a SPAC.  (WSJ)

AstraZeneca (AZN)/Oxford vaccine may get approval in the U.K. within days of Christmas.

Perspecta (PRSP) wins Navy contract worth up to $797 million.

General Dynamics (GD) wins $4.62 billion Army contract to produce Abrams M1A2 SEPv3 tanks.

Barron’s + on CMCSA GOOGL AAPL BRKA KO ETN GS GHC MSGE MRK NEM RF CADE DKNG SQ INTU YELP GRPN EXPE BKNG LYFT and – /+ on UBER.

President Trump floating idea of making Sidney Powell as special prosecutor over election fraud and declaring martial law to rerun the election. (NYT)

Dividend Increase:  JPM

Raises Guidance: NKE

Lowers Guidance: 

Stock Buyback New Or Increase: JPM STT C  BK WFC MS (Q1)

Hourly Action: Earlier has been a struggle, 12/17.

What’s Happening This Morning: Futures value reflects the change with fair value. We will still indicate the fair value direction. Futures plummeted from 2:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m EST  over 100 points on the S&P 500.

S&P 500 -58   Dow Jones Industrial Average -405   NASDAQ -167    Russell 2000 -45 . Fair values are mixed to lower. Asia mixed and Europe lower. VIX is at  from 23.95  this morning in futures. VIX closed at from 21.93  and the three month futures at from 25.15.

Gold lower, silver higher and copper lower. WTI Crude Oil and Brent Oil Futures  lower. Natural Gas is lower. $ is higher vs Euro, higher vs Pound and higher vs Yen. US 10 year Treasury price is at $138.09 from $137.83 with the yield at 0.896% from 0.91%%.

Positive Sectors On Friday: Real Estate and Communication Services of note.

Negative Sectors On Friday: Energy, Utilities and Financials of note. 

One Month Winners: Energy, Financials Real Estate and Industrials  of note.

Three Month Winners: Industrials, Communication Services, Utilities and Financials of note.

Six Month Winners: Consumer Cyclical, Industrials, Technology and Materials of note.

Twelve Month Winners: Technology, Consumer Cyclical, Communication Services and Healthcare of note.

Year to Date: Technology, Consumer Cyclical, Communication Services, Healthcare and Materials of note.

Upcoming Earnings Of: (sorted by market cap, highest to lowest with most visible names)

Today After the Close: HEI, CVGW of note.

Tuesday Before the Open: CTAS, KMX, NEOG of note.

Earnings This Morning Of Note:

Beats: FDS +0.14

Flat: none

Misses: none

Still to Report: none

Erlanger Research Advance/Decline Chart –  Updated 12/18 Close.

Gap Ups & Down In Early Pre-Market:

Gap Up:

AJRD +28%, KBE +5%, NKE +4%, RNET +4%, MYOV +4%, JPM +4%

Gap Down:

CPE -12%, FGEN -11%, FANG -8%, RDS.A -6%, VALE -4%

Rags & Mags: Highlighted Stories may be clicked through to the original story. 

Stocks Making The Biggest Moves – TSLA NKE JPM   (CNBC)

5 things to know before the market opens. (CNBC)

Biggest analyst calls of the day – TSLA WMT MSFT FEYE . (CNBC Pro)

Congress agrees on $900 billion stimulus package now just need its passage. (CNBC)

U.K. new strain of Coronavirus causes panic sending markets lower. (CNCB)

U.K. Prime Minister Johnson order a Tier 4 shutdown. (NYT)

 Tesla (TSLA) now in the S&P 500 down 4%. (CNBC)

Dr. Scott Gottlieb notes that U.K. strain not likely to evade current vaccines. mRNA vaccines can be modified very easily to subtle changes in the virus. (CNBC)

Conflict over which country caused U.S. hacking Pompeo says Russia and Trump says maybe China. (NYT)

Stock Index Trading:

Current through 12/18 close. Overall confidence remains at 100%.

Bold means a change from prior day.

Economic:

None of note for today.

For the week – Releases of note this week include the weekly chain store sales, oil/gas numbers, mortgage applications and jobless claims as well as Q3 GDP, Consumer Confidence, Existing Home Sales, Personal Income, New Home Sales, University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment and Durable Orders.

Geopolitical & Related:

President Trump has no public events.

$21 Billion of 20 Year Treasuries to be auctioned at 1:00 p.m. EST.

Investor Meetings & Conferences of Note:

 (Investor Day) MYOV (Conference Call) NEWT (Webinar)

Sellside Conferences:

Industry Conferences:

M&A Activity:

Thomas Bravo to buy Realpage (RP) for $88.75 a 30.8% premium over Friday’s close.

Upgrades & Downgrades: