CAPIS Morning Note – 03/18/22: Triple Witch – Today Is A Very Large Sized Quadruple Options Expiration Expect A Volatile Day. Stocks Lower In Pre-Market.

Overnight Summary:  The S&P 500 closed Thursday at 4411.67 from 4357.85  on Wednesday.  The S&P 500 was higher for a third day in a row.  The overnight high was hit  early on at  4:05 p.m. EDT. The low came at 4368.25 at 6:55 a.m. EDT. The current level is 4372 down 30 points which is …

Overnight Summary:  The S&P 500 closed Thursday at 4411.67 from 4357.85  on Wednesday.  The S&P 500 was higher for a third day in a row.  The overnight high was hit  early on at  4:05 p.m. EDT. The low came at 4368.25 at 6:55 a.m. EDT. The current level is 4372 down 30 points which is  -0.65% at 7:10 a.m. EDT. 

Breaking News: Federal Reserve St. Louis President James Bullard says that rates should be raised to 3%. (CNBC)

Earnings Out After The Close:

  • Beats: JOAN +0.12, CURV +0.04.
  • Flat: None of note.
  • Misses: GME (2.70), FDX (0.06), STNE (0.04).

Capital Raises:

  • IPOs Priced or News:
    • TERN: Filed Form 424B5.. $75,000,000 Sales Agreement.
  • New SPACs launched/News:
    • Brookline Capital Acquisition Corp. (BCAC) and Apexigen announce business combination agreement to create publicly listed immuno-oncology company.
    • PropertyGuru successfully completes business combination with Bridgetown 2 Holdings (BTNB) and will trade as PGRU today.
  • Secondaries Priced:
    • Arbor Realty Trust (ABR) prices offering of 6.5 million shares of common stock for gross proceeds of $108.9 million. JPM, JMP and RJ Bookmanager.
    • SEDG: Prices Common Stock Offering .. Priced @$ 295 – 2Million shares.
  • Notes Priced of note: None of note.
  • Common Stock filings/Notes:
    • OR: Filed Form F-10.. Common Shares .
  • Pricing of Over-Allotment: None of note.
  • Direct Offering: None of note.
  • Selling Shareholders of note:
    • Riley Exploration Permian (REPX) reports partial distribution of common stock by investor.
  • Private Placement of Public Entity (PIPE): None of note
  • Mixed Shelf Offerings:
    • AM: Filed Form S-3ASR.. Mixed Shelf Offering .
  • Convertible Offering & Notes Filed:
    • Owens & Minor (OMI) Announces Launch of Senior Notes Offering.

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: STNE +21%, TMC +4%.
    • Trading Down: BBAI -24%, GME -9%, EMBK -9%, JOAN -5%, OR -4%, ABR -4%.
  • News After The Close:
    • GameStop (GME) stock falls after retailer swings to surprise Q4 loss, confirms NFT marketplace plans. (MarketWatch)
    • JoAnn (JOAN) stock falls after retailer misses Q4 expectations, saw jump in freight costs. (MarketWatch)
    • Boeing (BA) In Talks With Delta (DAL) For Order Of Potentially 100 Of Its 737 Max Jets, Including Large Number Of Max 10 Variant. (Reuters)
    • Moderna (MRNA) seeks FDA nod for fourth shot of its COVID booster for all adults, broader than Pfizer request. (MarketWatch) 
    • Great Lakes (GLDD) Announces Receipt of $132.3 Million in Awarded Work.
    • Russian/Ukraine News:
      • U.S. House votes 424-8 to pass legislation that would suspend normal trade relations with Russia, a move designed to further isolate Moscow’s economy in response to President Putin’s war in Ukraine; bill heads to the Senate. (NBC News)
      • S&P takes Russia’s debt rating further into junk, saying country is ‘highly vulnerable’ to default. (MarketWatch)
      • President Putin is likely to make nuclear threats if war drags, U.S. says.
  • Exchange/Listing/Company Reorg and Personnel News:
    • Brinks (BCO) appoints Mark Eubanks as President and CEO, effective May 2, 2022.
    • CBD Co. Brasileira CEO, Jorge Faiçal Filho, has presented his resignation immediately.
    • FRTA halted by Nasdaq.
    • FVCBankcorp (FVCB) Announces Extension of Share Repurchase Program.
    • LiqTech (LIQT) CEO Takes Medical Leave of Absence.
    • MSG Entertainment’s (MSGE) Andrew Lustgarten, President, is stepping down on April 1, 2022.
    • Noble Corporation (NE) and Maersk Drilling announce Executive Management Team.
    • Nordstrom ( JWN) Appoints Amie Thuener to Board of Directors.
    • NRx Pharmaceuticals (NRXP) names Ira Strassberg CFO.
    • Pulmatrix (PULM) Regains Compliance With Nasdaq Listing Requirements.
    • StoneCo (STNE) announces appoints Caio Fiuza to COOs for Financial Platform and Software divisions.
  • Buyback Announcements/News:
    • AVPT $150 Million Share Repurchase Program.
    • First Majestic Silver (AG) received regulatory consent to extend its share repurchase program.
    • Genesco (GCO) active shareholder Legion Partners (6.2%) believes more share repurchases should be immediately executed in an accelerated manner.
    • Huize (HUIZ) Announces $5 Million Share Repurchase Program.
  • Stock Splits: None of note.
  • Dividends Announcements/News: 
    • Equity Residential (EQR) increases quarterly dividend to $0.625 per share.
    • Independent Bank (INDB) increases quarterly dividend to $0.51 per share, a 6% increase.
    • Medifast (MED) increases quarterly cash dividend $0.22 to $1.64 per share.
    • UDR increases quarterly dividend $0.0175 to $0.38 per share.

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

S&P 500 -31 , Dow Jones -212 , NASDAQ -114 , and Russell 2000 -17 .  Asia higher ex Hong Kong and Europe lower. VIX Futures are at 27.90 from 27.45 yesterday morning. Gold, and Silver lower with Copper higher. WTI Crude Oil is flat and Brent Oil Futures higher. Natural Gas is lower. $ is higher vs Euro, higher vs Pound and higher vs Yen. US 10 year Treasury with yields at 2.135% from 2.131% yesterday.  Bitcoin is at $40,293 from $40,795 yesterday at 1.38%. As of 8:06 a.m. EDT

Monday’s Action – 03/17/22 Close:  

  • Daily Positive Sectors: Energy, Basic Materials, Healthcare, Industrials, Real Estate, Consumer Cyclical, Financial, Technology of note.
  • Daily Negative Sectors: None of note.
  • One Month Winners: Energy, Utilities and Basic Materials of note.
  • Three Month Winners: Energy, Utilities and Basic Materials of note.
  • Six Month Winners: Energy, Basic Materials, Utilities of note.
  • Twelve Month Winners: Energy, Utilities, and Basic Materials of note.
  • Year to Date Winners: Energy and Basic Materials of note.

SP 500 has best 3 day gain since Nov. 2020.  Indexes accelerated into the close to close all up over 1%.  USO was up almost 8%.  Updated 03/17/22 close.

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

  • Friday After the Close: None of note.
  • Monday Before the Open: None of note.

Earnings of Note This Morning:

  • Beats: None of note.
  • Flat: None of note.
  • Misses: ONON (0.06).
  • Still to Report: None of note.

Guidance:

  • Positive Guidance: GIII, ONON.
  • Negative Guidance: SCWX, NUE, X, BBAI, SCHN.

Erlanger Research Advance/Decline Chart: Updated through 03/17/22 close.

Gap Ups & Down In Early Pre-Market:

  • Gap Up: STNE +24%, WULF +7%, USAS +6%, LXRX +4%, TMC +4%.
  • Gap Down: BBAI -18%, JOAN -8%, GME -7%, ABR -5%, MSGE -5%.

Insider Action: LSTR, LGIH, DOCU, BIGC sees Insider buying with dumb short selling. JELD, LMNR sees Insider buying with smart short sellers. 03/17/22 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: FDX, GME, MRNA, JOAN, BA, X  (CNBC)
  • Five Things You Need To Know To Start Your Day (Bloomberg)
  • Russia slowing campaign in Lviv amid loses and logistical issues. (NYT)
  • President Biden to push China away from helping Russia in a call today at 9:00 a.m. EDT.
  • Chinese President Xi notes will open up economy while maintaining zero tolerance policy. Not sure can be done but okay. (Bloomberg)
  • Dr. Fauci head of the NIH comes back from a long vacation to proclaim BA.2 variant will raise cases for vulnerable and masks may come back. (Bloomberg)
  • Uber (UBER) and Lyft (LYFT) drivers are limiting hours due to high gas prices. (NYT)
  • Stocks brace for a large sized options expiration on this quadruple witching day. (Bloomberg)
  • Nickel prices fell -12% today in London as limit down hit. (Bloomberg)
  • Tesla (TSLA) restarts production at a plant in Shanghai. (Reuters)
  • American Airlines (AAL) to restart alcohol sales in April. (WSJ)
  • Robinhood Snacks looks at pay for women which is still only $0.82 compared to men at $1.00. Instacart use Tik Tok to bring recipes to home cooks.

Moving Average Update:

  • Score inches up to 66% from 63%.  Updated 03/17/22 close.

Geopolitical: 

  • President’s Public Schedule:
    • The President speaks with His Excellency Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China, 9:00 a.m. EDT
    • The President receives the President’s Daily Brief, 11:00 a.m. EDT
    • The President meets with researchers and patients to discuss ARPA-H, a new cutting-edge health research agency that will accelerate progress on curing cancer and other health innovations, 1:30 p.m. EDT
    • Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jen Psaki, 2:30 p.m. EDT
    • The President departs the White House en route Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, 5:10 p.m. EDT
    • The President arrives in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, 6:10 p.m. EDT

Economic: 

  • February Existing Home Sales is due out at 10:00 a.m. EDT and is expected to fall to 6.20 million from 6.50 million.
  • Leading Indicators 10:00 a.m. EDT
  • Baker Hughes Rig Count 1:00 p.m. EDT .

Federal Reserve Speakers:

  • None of note.

M&A Activity:

  • Equinix (EQIX) to Expand into Chile and Peru with US$705 Million Acquisition of 4 Entel Data Centers.
  • Targa Resources Corp. (TRGP) Executes Agreements to Acquire Bolt-On Assets for $200 Million

Meeting & Conferences of Note:

  • Sellside Conferences:
    • Bank of America Space, Transportation, Aviation, and Autos Research Summit 2022 (03/20/22-03/21/22)
      • Previously Announced  Conferences:
        • Guggenheim Healthcare Talks 2022 (03/16/22-04/01/22)
        • Bank of America Asia Pacific APAC Telecom, Media & Technology TMT Conference 2022 (03/14/22-03/26/22)
        • HIMMS Global Health Conference 2022 (03/14/22-03/18/22)
  • Company Meetings: AMAO, BRLI, HEI.
  • Fireside Chat: AFRM.
  • Investor/Analyst Day/Calls: E.
  • Update: None of note..
  • R&D Day: None of note.
  • Company Event: None of note.
  • Industry Meetings:
    • Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) 2022 Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer 2022 (03/18/22-03/21/22)
    • Chief Information Systems Officers Association (CISOA) Technology Summit 2022 (03/20/22-03/23/22)
    • Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC) 2022 – Houston (03/20/22-03/24/22)
      • Previously Posted and Ongoing Conferences:
        • Life Science Intelligence LSI Emerging Medtech Summit 2022 (03/15/22-03/18/22)
        • American Society for Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (ASCPT) 2022 (03/15/22-03/18/22)
        • Advanced Bioeconomy Leadership Conference (ABLC) 2022 (03/15/22-03/18/22)
        • Alzheimer & Parkinson’s Diseases Conference 2022 (03/15/22-03/20/22)
        • 2022 South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference & Festivals. (03/11/22-03/20/22)

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:

      

Thursday’s Upgrades and Downgrades: