Lead Story: Congress certified President-Elect Joe Biden despite protest from 7 Senators and 138 House members. (NYT)

Covid-19 Statistics: With the winter holidays, we expect a number of reporting and data anomalies for the next few weeks. We urge caution in using these figures (new disclaimer from them).

Total Cases 21,340,773 from 21,070,136

Deaths 356,229 from 352,123

New Tests 1,914,839 from 1,605,799

New Cases 266,197 from 243,346 with positivity rate of 13.9%15.1% (down 1.1)

Daily Deaths 4,033

Current Hospitalizations 132,370 from 132,476

Capital Raises:

IPOs Priced:  Cullinan Management (CGEM) was priced at $21 a share above range of $17 to $19. Garcell Biotechnologies priced at $19 above range of $16 to $18.

Secondaries Priced: CERC BLNK RGNX   of note.

Notes Priced of note: INN of note.

Common Stock filings: CERC BNGO   of note.

Selling Shareholders of note: SYRS of note.

Mixed Shelf Offerings: HBNC  of note.

Convertible Offering Files:  of note.

Earnings Out After The Close Of Note:

Beats: WDFC +0.69, PSMT +0.23, MU +0.09, ACCD +0.03, DCT +0.03

Flat:  none

Misses: none

News After The Close:

Merus (MRUS) gets FDA Fast Track  designation for Zenocutuzumab.

Department of Justice fines Boeing (BA) for fraud related to the 737 Max crashes and fines  $2.5 billion.

Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT) did not meet end points for Study 102 Part 1 so it was halted.

Honda Motor (HMC) to reduce vehicle production due to semiconductor shortages.

The Head of the Capitol Police to resign.

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos resigns from her position and the cabinet.

President Trump last night releases a new video where he agreed to a smooth transition of power and recognized Biden as the winner.

Dividend Increases: 

Split Announcement: 

Raises Guidance: SIRI WDFC MU FFIV

Lowers Guidance: 

Stock Buyback New Or Increase: 

Insider Buys:

What’s Happening This Morning: Futures value reflects the change with fair value. We will still indicate the fair value direction. 

S&P 500 +16   Dow Jones Industrial Average +121   NASDAQ +76    Russell 2000 +17 . Fair values are mixed. Asia higher ex Shanghai and Europe mixed. VIX is at 22.90 from 23.82 this morning in futures. VIX closed at 22.37 from 23.34  and the three month futures at 25.02 from 28.79.

Gold and silver lower with copper higher. WTI Crude Oil and Brent Oil Futures higher. Natural Gas is lower. $ is higher vs Euro, lower vs Pound and higher vs Yen. US 10 year Treasury price is at $136.83 from $137.05  with the yield at 1.03% from 1.03%.

Positive Sectors On Thursday:  Technology, Communication Services and Consumer Cyclical of note.

Negative Sectors On Thursday: Utilities and Consumer Defensive 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: None of note.

Monday Before the Open: CMC, AZZ of note.

Earnings This Morning Of Note:

Beats: None

Flat: None

Misses: None

Still to Report: None

Erlanger Research Advance/Decline Chart –  Updated 1/7 Close.

Gap Ups & Down In Early Pre-Market:

Gap Up:

MRUS +28%, MICT +17%, WDFC +14%, OEC +13%, CATM +12%, SOL +11%, ACEV +10%, CMRX +10%, DRTT +8%, BNTX +6%, NBTX +5%, PSMT +5%, MU +5%, UMC +4%, TSLA +4%

Gap Down:

SRPT -48%, SLDB -17%, BNGO -14%, VLDR -6%, CERC -6%, SGH -5%, UBER -4%, PME -4%

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

Stocks Making The Biggest Moves –    (CNBC)

Today’s Analyst Calls of note –. (CNBC)

President Biden says $2000 stimulus checks will be his first priority. (Bloomberg)

President Biden to propose a $3 trillion infrastructure package with tax increase on wealthy and a capital gains rate of 40%. (Axios)

Vice President Pence against using 25th Amendment on President Trump. (NYT)

Amazon (AMZN) shuts Prime Pantry. (Bloomberg)

BioNTech (BNTX) and Pfizer (PFE) Covid-19 vaccine works on the U.K. strain that has faster transmission.

Stock Index Trading:

Current through 1/7 close. Overall confidence remains at 100%.

Bold means a change from prior day.

Economic:

December Nonfarm Payrolls is due out at 8:30 a.m. EST and is expected to fall to 112,000 from 245,000. The unemployment rate is expected to stay at 6.7%. Result was 140,000 lost.

Geopolitical & Related:

Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Clarida will speak at 11:00 p.m. EST from The Council on Foreign Affairs.

President-Elect Biden will name his economic team today at 1:00 p.m. EST.

Investor Meetings & Conferences of Note:

SQNS (Investor Event) SCOR CADE (Conference Call)

Sellside: Morgan Stanley New China Summit (1/6-1/8) Credit Suisse Greater China Technology & Internet Conference (1/6-1/8)

Industry Conferences: Consumer Electronics Show (1/6-1/9)

M&A Activity:

Upgrades & Downgrades of Note This Morning: