Overnight Summary: The S&P 500 closed Wednesday at 4274.04 (lower by -0.72%) from Tuesday at 4305.20 (higher by 0.19%).  The overnight high of 4287.75 was hit at 6:05 a.m. EDT. The low was hit at 4258 at 3:10 a.m. EDT, a range of 29 points high to low which is below the range of late with 45 the average range. At 7:25 a.m. EDT the current price was 4282.75 which is 0.14% and 6 points.  Currently, at 8:00 a.m. EDT the S&P 500 is now up +8.71 (+0.20%).

• IPOs Priced or News: None of note.
• New SPACs launched/News: None of note.
• Secondaries Priced:
  • MSBI: Announces Pricing of $115 Million Offering of Depositary Shares.
  • UBX: 64,285,714 shares of its common stock and accompanying warrants to purchase up to 64,285,714 shares of common stock at a combined public offering price of $0.70 per share and accompanying warrant. The warrants have an exercise price of $0.85 per share, are exercisable immediately, and will expire five years following the date of issuance.
• Notes Priced of note:
• Common Stock filings/Notes:
  • AXDX: Announces Proposed Public Offering of Common Stock.
    HUT: Launches At-The-Market Equity Program with Canaccord Genuity and Stifel of up to $200 million.
    HYRE: Form 8K.. Common Stock Purchase Agreement 5,789,716 shares.
    TNYA: Filed Form 424B5.. Up to $75,000,000 Common Stock.
    WTRH: Form 8K.. fourth amended and restated Open Market Sale Agreement.
• Pricing of Over-Allotment/Notes: None of note.
• Direct Offering:
  • ATHX: Closing of $12 Million Registered Direct Offering.
• Selling Shareholders of note:
  • RGTI: Filed Form S-1.. 23,648,889 shares of common stock by selling shareholder.
• Private Placement of Public Entity (PIPE):
  • TNXP: Form 8K Entered Purchase agreement for $50Million with Lincoln Park.
• Mixed Shelf Offerings:
  • QUIK: Filed Form S-3.. $125Million Mixed Security Shelf.
  • UMBF: Filed Form S-3ASR.. Mixed Security Shelf.
• Debt Filing: None of note.
• Convertible Offering & Notes Filed:
  • CCL: Announces Extension of Maturity of $339 Million of Convertible Notes at Existing 5.75% Rate.
  • DAR: Closing of Private Offering of $250.0 Million of Unsecured Senior Notes due 2030.
  • SACH: Prices Registered Public Offering of $35.0 Million 8.00% Notes.

Capital Raise Summary From The TradeXchange, bringing traders and investors real time news and Squawk Box, and other sources.

News After The Close:

• After Hours: 
  • Trading Up: WOLF +19%, CSCO +4%.
  • Trading Down: BBBY -15%, AXDX -12%, APRN -6%, GME -4%.

• News Since The Close:
  • Stocks making the biggest moves after hours: CSCO, WOLF, KEYS (CNBC)
  • Billionaire Ratcliffe interested in buying Manchester United (MANU) – source. (Reuters)
  • Cisco (CSCO) earnings and revenue forecast quell fears of slowdown, stock rises. (MarketWatch)
  • Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) stock drops more than 15% after Ryan Cohen plans to unload huge stake. (MarketWatch)
  • PENN Entertainment (PENN) buying the remaining stake of Barstool Sports for $325 million. (MarketWatch)
  • Rolls Royce PLC (RYCEY) awarded $1.01 billion U.S. Navy firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery, requirements contract.
• Exchange/Listing/Company Reorg and Personnel News:
  • Doug Lawler Promoted to President & COO at Continental Resources (CLR).
  • Cord Blood Banking Leader Cryo-Cell (CCEL) Announces Transfer to the NYSE American Stock Exchange.
  • Eros Media World Plc (EMWP) Receives Notice of Delisting From NYSE, Intends To Appeal The Staff Determination.
  • Grove, Inc. (GRVI) Announces Name and Symbol Change to Upexi, Inc. “UPXI“
  • Hyzon Motors (HYZN) Announces Receipt of Notice from Nasdaq Regarding Late Filing of Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
  • InnovAge (INNV) Announces Richard Feifer, MD, as its Chief Medical Officer starting 08/15/22.
  • Mitek (MITK) Announces Receipt of Notice from Nasdaq.
  • NewAge, Inc. (NBEV) Receives Nasdaq Notice on Late Filing of its Form 10-Q.
  • New Relic (NEWR) to reduce workforce by 5% as part of restructuring plan.
  • Oblong (OBLG) Granted 180-Day Extension by Nasdaq to Regain Compliance with Bid Price Rule.
• Buyback Announcements or News:
  • Henry Schein (HSIC) Announces $400 Million Increase to Share Repurchase Plan.
  • KSS: Company enters into $500 million accelerated share repurchase agreement.
  • QuidelOrtho (QDEL) Announces $300 Million Share Repurchase Authorization.
  • Winnebago Industries (WGO) Board of Directors approves a new $350 Million Share Repurchase Authorization. (see Dividends) (MarketWatch)
• Stock Splits or News:
  • Orchid Island Capital (ORC) Announces One-for-five Reverse Stock Split. (see Dividends)
• Dividends Announcements or News:
  • American Financial (AFG) increases its annual dividend to $2.52, a 12.5% jump.
  • Orchid Island Capital (ORC) Announces August 2022 Monthly Dividend. (see Stock Splits)
  • Winnebago Industries (WGO) Board of Directors approves 50% increase to Quarterly Cash Dividend to $0.27 per share. (see Buyback)

What’s Happening This Morning: Futures value reflects the change with fair value.

S&P 500 +9, Dow Jones +67, NASDAQ +38  and Russell 2000 +5 (as of 8:07 a.m. EDT). Europe mixed and Asia lower.  VIX Futures are at 23.30 from 23.75 yesterday morning and the VIX closed at 20.22 from 20.44 yesterday. Gold, Silver and Copper higher. WTI Crude Oil  and Brent Oil Futures higher and Natural Gas higher. $ is higher vs Euro, lower vs Pound and higher vs Yen. US 10 year Treasury sees yields at 2.871% from 2.884% Wednesday morning. Bitcoin is at $23,472 from $23,770 yesterday morning  and is higher by 0.77% this morning. 

Sector Action – 08/17/22 Close (1/3/6/12/YTD Updated Weekly with Monday release):  

• Daily Positive Sectors: Energy of note.
• Daily Negative Sectors: Communication Services, Basic Materials, Consumer Cyclical, Healthcare, Technology, Industrials, Financial, Real Estate of note.
• One Month Winners:  Technology, Consumer Cyclical, Industrials, Energy, Basic Materials, Financials, Utilities, and Real Estate of note.
• Three Month Winners: Consumer Cyclical, Technology, Industrials, and Real Estate of note.
• Six Month Winners: Energy and Utilities of note.
• Twelve Month Winners: Energy and Utilities of note.
• Year to Date Winners: Energy and Utilities of note.

A couple of head fakes mid-day to try boost the markets up only to pull back when people read between the lines of the Fed Minutes that the “pivot” is not at hand yet. Updated 08/17/22 close.

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

Gap Ups & Down In Early Pre-Market:

• Gap Up: WOLF +23%, CSCO +5%, KIND +5%, INNV +5%.
• Gap Down: BBBY -14%, EAR -8%, HUT -4%, GME -4%, SQM -4%.

Insider Action: AAT sees Insider buying with dumb short selling.  GRPN sees Insider buying with smart short sellers. 08/17/22 close.

Rags & Mags: Repeated stories from prior days never listed, i.e. “rehashed news”. Sorted by Global, U.S. and stock specific.

• Stocks Making The Biggest Moves: KSS BJ EL BBWI VSIQ TPR  (CNBC)
• 5 Things To Know Before The Stock Market Opens. (CNBC)
• Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day (Bloomberg)
• Bloomberg Lead Story: U.S. and Taiwan to Kick Off Trade Talks. (Bloomberg)
• Bloomberg Most Read Story: Apple sets September 7th as Release Date of iPhone 14. (Bloomberg)
• Eurozone inflation hit 8.9%. Britain hits 10.1%. (NYT)
• U.S. and Taiwan to hold investment talks this fall. (FT)
• Chinese homeowners refuse to pay mortgages on unfinished apartments. (NYT)
• Turkey cuts rates despite 80% inflation. Yup that is right. (CNBC)
• Iran’s demands have stalled nuclear talks. (WSJ)
• Amazon (AMZN) looking to hire a senior movie studio executive. (WSJ)
• Oil companies to be hit with climate change lawsuits from multiple states. (WSJ)
• Ethanol could benefit from carbon capture tax credits in climate law. (Reuters)
• Tesla (TSLA) lowers delivery wait times for Model Y in China. (Reuters)
• Kohl’s (KSS) cuts forecast on inflation concerns. (Fox Business)
• Robinhood Snacks: Dodge (STLA) kills off the Challenger and Charger as tries to catch up on EV.

Moving Average Update:

• Scotty, We need more power!  Score retreats to 71% with short term MA being violated to the downside in MID, COMPQ, NDX and RUT.  Updated 08/16/22 close.

Geopolitical: 

• Federal Reserve Kansas City President Esther George 1:20 p.m. EDT 
  
• Federal Reserve Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari 1:45 p.m. EDT.

M&A Activity:

• AeroVironment (AVAV) Acquires Planck Aerosystems, a Leading Provider of Advanced Unmanned Aircraft Navigation Solutions.
• Brooge Energy (BROG) Receives expression of interest from its majority shareholder to acquire its public shares and take the company private.
• Phillips 66 (PSX) Announces Offer to Acquire Outstanding Publicly Held Common Units of DCP Midstream, LP.
• United States Steel Corporation (X), Big River Steel LLC and BRS Finance Corp. Commence Tender Offers to Purchase for Cash $300,000,000 Aggregate Principal Amount of Securities.

Top Tier Sell-side Upgrades & Downgrades:

The recommendations listed below in this “Upgrade/Downgrade” section are compiled from what we believe are Tier I, II and III firms. Recommendations posted are taken from a variety of sources each day and we only post upgrades or significant initiations as well as downgrades to underweight or sell. The purpose of this posting it to make the reader aware of market moving recommendations. None of these recommendations should be interpreted as actual recommendations from CAPIS or its employees.

Today’s Upgrades and Downgrades:

Previous Day’s Upgrades and Downgrades: