Overnight Summary: The S&P 500 closed Wednesday higher by 0.57% at 4783.45 from Tuesday lower by -0.15% at 4756.50. The overnight high was hit at 4838 at 3:55 a.m. EST while the overnight low was hit at 4818 at 6:05 a.m. EST. The range overnight was 20 points as of 7:25 a.m. EST. The 10-day average of the overnight range is at 19.40 from 18.80. The average for May-December average was 20.87 from 21.43 during May-November. Currently, the S&P 500 is higher by +3.50 points at 7:25 a.m. EST.
Executive Summary: Big morning as we get the latest CPI. Late yesterday Federal Reserve New York President reiterated his stance he made clear in late December of rates staying higher. In a deja vous moment, the SEC announced that the would approve Bitcoin Spot ETFs.
- December CPI is due out at 8:30 a.m. EST and is expected to rise to 0.20% from 0.10%.
- December Treasury Budget is due out at 2:00 p.m. EST and came in November at $-314 billion.
- Short interest – The latest NYSE and NASDAQ Short Interest Data is out and NYSE fell by -4.06% while NASDAQ fell -4.23%.
Earnings Out After The Close:
- Beats: KBH +0.15 of note.
- Flat: None of note.
- Misses: None of note.
- IPOs Priced or News:
- Smith Douglas (SDHC) prices 7.7 million share IPO at $21.00 per share, at the high end of the $18-21 expected range.
- New SPACs launched/News: None of note.
- Secondaries Priced:
- PRAX: Announces Pricing of $150.0 Million Public Offering.
- Notes Priced of note:
- BERY: Announces Pricing of Offering of First Priority Senior Secured Notes.
- HGV: Announces Pricing of Senior Secured Notes.
- MAIN: Prices Public Offering of $350 Million of 6.95% Notes due 2029.
- Common Stock filings/Notes:
- PRAX: Proposes public offering of its common stock; subsequent 15% buyback.
- TRVN: FORM S-3 – 2,779,906 Shares of Common Stock Underlying Pre-Funded Warrants 8,648,666 Shares of Common Stock Underlying Warrants.
- VCNX: Form S-3.. 712,484 Shares of Common Stock.
- Direct Offering: None of note.
- Selling Shareholders of note: None of note.
- Private Placement of Public Entity (PIPE):
- CACO: Announces a Private Placement of up to $6.8 Million.
- Mixed Shelf Offerings:
- OCUP: Filed Form S-3.. $175,000,000 Mixed Shelf.
- Debt/Credit Filing and Notes:
- PBA: Announces $1.8 Billion Public Note Offering.
- Tender Offer:
- Pfizer (PFE) recommends shareholders reject unsolicited mini-tender offer by TRC Capital Investment to purchase up to 4 million shares of Pfizer common stock at $27.35 per share.
- Convertible Offering & Notes Filed:
- HCI: Has notified holders of its 4.25% Convertible Senior Notes that it has elected to redeem the remaining $24 million principal balance of the 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 Movers:
- BCEL: +71% 13G Filed by Baker Bros 19.99%
- MRT: +25% up to $2.5M Share Repurchase Program
- DCGO: +6% Rejects Short Seller Report and Releases Preliminary 2024 Revenue Guidance
- TPHS: -14% Enters Into Recapitalization Transactions
- RELL: -12% Reports Second Quarter Fiscal 2024 Results
- KBH: -2.5% Earnings
- News Items After the Close:
- SEC Authorizes Bitcoin-Spot ETFs in Crypto’s Breakthrough. (Bloomberg)
- WisdomTree (WT) announces that the WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund (BTCW) was declared effective by the U.S. SEC; The WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund (BTCW) will be listed on the Cboe BZX Exchange with an expense ratio of 0.30%, although for a six-month period commencing January 11, 2024.
- BlackRock’s (BLK) spot bitcoin ETF, the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), has been declared effective by the SEC; seeks to track the price of bitcoin and is expected to begin trading on Nasdaq on January 11, 2024.
- Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC): SEC approves Grayscale Bitcoin Trust to uplist to NYSE Arca as Spot Bitcoin ETF.
- GOOGL laid off hundreds of employees in several areas of the business on Wednesday. (WSJ)
- SAP SE (SAP) ordered to pay over $220 million to resolve investigations by the U.S. DoJ and SEC into violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. (DOJRelease)
- Leonardo DRS (DRS) awarded contracts valued at over $3 billion to provide integrated electric propulsion system products for the U.S. Navy’s Columbia-class submarines.
- General Dynamics (GD) awarded $439 million U.S. Navy contract modification.
- Exchange/Listing/Company Reorg and Personnel News:
- BeyondSpring (BYSI) gets Nasdaq delinquency notice.
- Columbia Sportswear Company (COLM) Appoints Charles Denson to Its Board of Directors.
- Elutia (ELUT) Regains Compliance with Nasdaq Listing Requirements.
- Global System Dynamics, Inc. (GSD) Receives Notice of Non-Compliance with Nasdaq’s Listing Rule 5620(a).
- Huntington Banc (HBAN) COO and CTO Paul Heller to retire.
- LIZHI INC. (LIZI) to Change its Nasdaq Ticker Symbol to “SOGP”.
- NW Natural Renewables (NWN) Announces New President.
- UiPath (PATH) Appoints Co-CEO Rob Enslin and Veteran Technology Executive June Yang to its Board of Directors.
- Werner Enterprises (WERN) Names Nathan Meisgeier as President.
- Yum! Brands (YUM): Joe Park Promoted to Yum! Brands Chief Digital & Technology Officer.
- Buyback Announcements or News:
- Commercial Metals (CMC) authorizes a $500 million increase to its existing repurchase program; aggregate capacity at $850 million.
- Daqo New Energy (DQ) Provides Update on Share Repurchase Program.
- Marti (MRT) Announces up to $2.5M Share Repurchase Program.
- Stock Splits or News:
- Steel Partners (SPLP) abandons reverse/forward unit split.
- Dividends Announcements or News:
- Apogee Enterprises (APOG) raises quarterly dividend by $0.01 to $0.25 per share.
- STAG Industrial (STAG) increases monthly cash dividend to $0.12333 per share from $0.1225 per share.
- Insider Sales Of Note: None of note.
- Monthly Assets Under Management: VRTS $172.3 Billion, VCTR $166.6 billion, APAM $150.2 billion. IVZ $1,585.3 billion +2.8%, AB $725 billion from $696 billion, BEN $1.46 trillion vs. $1.41 trillion.
What’s Happening This Morning: Futures value reflects the change with fair value.
S&P 500 +7, Dow Jones +16, NASDAQ +72, and Russell 2000 +9. (as of 7:53 a.m. EST). Asia is higher ex South Korea and Europe is higher this morning ex the FTSE. VIX Futures are at 14.22 from 14.90 this morning. Gold, Silver and Copper higher this morning for the second day in a row. WTI Crude Oil and Brent Crude Oil are higher with Natural Gas lower. US 10-year Treasury sees its yield at 3.988% from 3.994% yesterday. The U.S. Dollar is lower versus the Euro, lower versus the Pound and lower against the Yen. Bitcoin is at $47,282 from $45,154 higher by 3.24% this morning.
Sector Action – (1/3/6/12/YTD Updated Weekly with Monday release):
- Daily Positive Sectors: Communication Services, Technology, Consumer Cyclical, Industrials, Healthcare of note.
- Daily Negative Sectors: Energy, Basic materials of note.
- One Month Winners: Healthcare, Financial, and Basic Materials of note.
- Three Month Winners: Real Estate, Utilities, and Financial of note.
- Six Month Winners: Financial, Communication Services, and Energy of note.
- Twelve Month Winners: Technology, Communication Services, Consumer Cyclicals and Industrials of note.
- Year to Date Winners: Healthcare, Utilities, and Energy of note.
Major stock indexes rose Wednesday in a quiet session ahead of key inflation data and bank earnings. The S&P 500 added 0.6% to close within 0.3% of its record high, set just over two years ago. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.8% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.5% higher. Stocks fell in the first week of 2024 but have regained ground since, with the S&P 500 turning positive for the year on Wednesday. Investors will get their latest look at inflation on Thursday with the release of consumer-price data for December. Stocks have rallied since the Federal Reserve signaled last month that it could cut benchmark interest rates this year in response to falling inflation. Traders are eager to see if the data still looks encouraging. (WSJ – edited by QPI)
Upcoming Earnings Of Note: (From Chartroom Software – sorted by market cap, highest to lowest with most visible names)
- Thursday After the Close: None of note.
- Friday Before the Open: BAC, BLK, BK, C, DAL, JPM, UNH, WFC
Earnings of Note This Morning:
- Beats: None of note.
- Flat: None of note.
- Misses: None of note.
- Still to Report: None of note.
Company Earnings Guidance:
- Positive Guidance: GTY, MASI, GDRX, ATOM, ITGR of note.
- Negative Guidance: DCGO of note.
Erlanger Research Advance/Decline Chart: Chart will return tomorrow
Gap Ups & Down In Early Pre-Market:
- Gap Up: TGAN +30%, TTGT +13%, CRNT +12%, RCEL +9%, DCGO +4% of note.
- Gap Down: RELL -10%, SWN -4% of note.
Insider Action: No stock sees Insider buying with dumb short selling. No stock sees Insider buying with smart short sellers.
Rags & Mags: Repeated stories from prior days never listed, i.e. “rehashed news”. Sorted by Global, U.S. and stock specific.
- What You Need To Know To Start Your Day. (Bloomberg)
- 5 Things To Know Before the Stock Market Opens on Wednesday. (CNBC)
- Bloomberg Lead Story: US CPI Report to Show Soft Core Inflation As Goods Prices Slide. (Bloomberg)
- Bloomberg Most Shared Story: SEC Authorizes Bitcoin Spot ETFs, Really They Did!! (Bloomberg)
- Stocks edge higher in countdown to U.S. inflation: MarketsWrap. (Bloomberg)
- Chesapeake (CHK) aims to be top Nat Gas producer with deal to buy Southwestern Energy (SWN). (CNBC)
Moving Average Update: Score back up to 898% from 82%.
Geopolitical:
- President’s Public Schedule:
- The President receives the Presidential Daily Briefing, 11:30 a.m. EST
- Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby, and National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard, 1:00 p.m. EST
Economic:
- December CPI is due out at 8:30 a.m. EST and is expected to rise to 0.20% from 0.10%.
- Jobless Claims 8:30 a.m. EST
- EIA natural Gas Report 10:30 a.m. EST
- December Treasury Budget is due out at 2:00 p.m. EST and came in November at $-314 billion.
Federal Reserve / Treasury Speakers: None of note.
M&A Activity and News:
- Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (AJG) Acquires MCMM Services Limited.
- Southwestern Energy (SWN) to merge with Chesapeake Energy (CHK) in all-stock transaction valued at $7.4 billion, or $6.69 per share.
- Renesas to Acquire Transphorm (TGAN) to Expand its Power Portfolio with GaN Technology.
Meeting & Conferences of Note:
- Sellside Conferences:
- Emerging Growth Conference
- Evercore ISI Utility
- Previously posted and ongoing conferences:
- J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference
- Top Shareholder Meetings: ADIL, POWW, SUM
- Fireside Chat: None of note.
- Investor/Analyst Day/Calls: CRTG, GRFS, HPE, JNPR
- Update: None of note.
- R&D Day: None of note.
- Company Event: None of note.
- Industry Meetings: None of note.
- Previously posted and ongoing conferences:
- Consumer Electronics Show
- Future Minerals Forum
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 is 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:
