Overnight Summary: The S&P 500 closed Monday higher by 0.18% at 4365.98 from Friday higher by 0.94% at 4358.34. The overnight high was hit at 4385 at 4:05 p.m. EST while the low was hit at 4369.25 at 2:45 a.m. EST. The range overnight was 12 points as of 7:30 a.m. EST. The 10-day average of the overnight range is at 25.40 from 25.80 down from a peak of 31.50 on 8/15.  The average for May-September average was 20.96 from 21.10 in May through August and the September average was 19.87. Currently, the S&P 500 is lower by  -12 points which is  -0.27% at 6:25 a.m. EST.

Earnings Out After The Close: 

• IPOs Priced or News:
  • Shein to target $90 million valuation for eventual U.S. IPO. (Bloomberg)
• New SPACs launched/News: None of note.
• Secondaries Priced:
  • ALPN: Prices $150 million offering.
  • AURA: Prices offering of 11.0 million shares of common stock at $9.00 per share.
  • CWAN: Prices offering of 20.0 million shares of common stock at $17.50 per share.
  • WELL: Announces Public Offering Price of 17,500,000 Shares of Common Stock.
• Notes Priced of note:
  • NMFC: Prices Public Offering of $115.0 Million 8.250% Notes Due 2028.
  • TRGP: Prices $2.0 Billion Offering of Senior Notes.
• Common Stock filings/Notes:
  • AURA: Proposed Public Offering of Common Stock. (Leerink , TD and Evercore Bookmanagers)
  • CNM: Secondary Offering 19 million common shares and share repurchase.
  • COCO: Secondary Offering of Common Stock.. 4,000,000 shares. (BAC Underwriter)
  • CPG: Announces CDN$500 million bought deal offering of common shares.
  • EPIX: Enters into At-The-Market Equity Offering Sales Agreement.
  • KNF: Launch of Secondary Offering of Common Stock.. 5,142,383 shares. (JPM, WFC and BAC Bookmanagers)
  • PRZO: Filed Form F-1.. 14,836,366 Ordinary Shares.
  • THAR: Filed Form S-1.. to sell common stock and warrants.
  • WELL: Sale of 17,500,000 Shares of Common Stock.
• Direct Offering: None of note.
• Selling Shareholders of note:
  • BATRA: Files for 1,811,066 shares of Series C common stock by selling shareholder.
  • CWAN: Announces Launch of Secondary Offering of Class A Common Stock – 17,000,000 common stock by selling shareholders. (JPM Underwriter)
  • SPLK: Files for 12,799,822 shares of common stock by selling shareholders.
  • VTLE: Files for 8,277,106 shares of common stock by selling shareholders; also files for 1,402,258 shares of common stock by selling shareholder.
• Private Placement of Public Entity (PIPE): None of note.
• Mixed Shelf Offerings:
  • AEP: Files mixed shelf securities offering.
  • MGNX: Filed Form S-3..$300,000,000 Mixed Shelf.
• Debt/Credit Filing and Notes:
  • ASTR: Announces Closing of Additional Debt Financing and Waiver of Previously Announced Defaults.
  • ERO: Announces $105 million brought deal financing via 8.51 million shares at price of $12.35 per share.
  • SPG: Sells $1 Billion of Senior Notes.
• Tender Offer:
  • NRG: Announces Cash Tender Offers for Up to $600 Million Aggregate Principal Amount of its Outstanding 3.875% Senior Notes due 2032, 3.625% Senior Notes due 2031 and 3.375% Senior Notes due 2029.
• Convertible Offering & Notes Filed: None of note.

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: TMDX +36%, VMEO +16%, AYX +15%, TASK +13%, UIS +13%, PAY +12%, TRIP +12%, DCGO +8%, RNG +7%, MYGN +7%, JELD +6%, QTRX +6%, HIMS +6%, SKWD +6%, NEO +6%, ROVR +6%, IFF +5%, CBT +5%, MTTR +5%, CRGY +4%, KIDS +4%, CPRI +4%, ATEC +4% of note.
  • Trading Down: VTYX -77%, AURA -16%, AMRC -11%, SANM -10%, EVCM -8%, SWAV -7%, CPG -5%, COCO -5%, MMS -5%, OPK -5%, AZPN -5% of note.
• News Items After the Close:
  • Stocks making the biggest moves after the bell: TRIP, CTRA, IFF, HIMS, VECO, VRTX, SANM. FN (CNBC)
  • Fed’s Neel Kashkari Not Convinced Rate Hikes Are Over. (WSJ)
  • Intel (INTC) is the leading candidate to potentially receive billions of dollars in govt funding for US military Intelligence Applications. (WSJ)
  • Jack Dorsey’s payments company Block (SQ) to slash headcount as much as 10%: report. (NYPOST)
  • Bumble (BMBL) CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd Steps Down. (WSJ)
  • Pfizer (PFE) To Lay Off 781 Workers In New Jersey. (WSJ)
  • Citigroup (C) considers deep job cuts for CEO Jane Fraser’s corporate overhaul, ‘Project Bora Bora’. (CNBC)
  • SpaceX Eyes $15 Billion in Sales Next Year on Starlink Strength. (Bloomberg)
  • WeWork (WE) files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
  • Kratos Defense and Security (KTOS) awarded $579 million U.S. Air Force contract.

• Exchange/Listing/Company Reorg and Personnel News:
  • Arbutus Biopharma (ABUS) announces that William Collier will retire from his position as the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer.
  • B. Riley Financial (RILY) extending yesterday’s move lower in premarket trade; has now rescheduled its third quarter 2023 earnings date to November 8, 2023 from November 9, 2023.
  • Celanese (CE) names Scott Richardson COO; names Chuck Kyrish CFO.
  • GV Announces Terminated Mr. Charlie Penn’s employment as COO.
  • Syntec Optics, Inc. Listing on Nasdaq via Merger with OmniLit (OLIT) Announces NASDAQ Opening Bell Ringing to Celebrate.
  • StepStone Group (STEP) Appoints David Park as Chief Financial Officer, Following Retirement of Johnny Randel.
  • Waldencast plc (WALD) Announces Receipt of Nasdaq Listing Notice.
  • Yatsen (YSG) Announces Receipt of NYSE Non-compliance Letter Regarding ADS Trading Price.
• Buyback Announcements or News: 
  • Cenovus Energy (CVE) announces renewal of share buyback program.
  • CNH Industrial (CNHI) Board approves new $1 bln share buyback program.
  • Hims & Hers Health, Inc. (HIMS) Announces $50 Million Share Repurchase Program Authorization.
  • Rover Group (ROVR) Board approves extension of share repurchase program with additional $100 million.
• Stock Splits or News:
  • NVOS trading reverse split price.
• Dividends Announcements or News: 
  • D.R. Horton (DHI) increases quarterly dividend to $0.30 from $0.25 per share.
  • Evergy (EVRG) increases quarterly dividend to $0.6425 from $0.6125 per share.
  • FS KKR Capital (FSK) declares additional special distributions totaling $0.10 per share.
  • International Seaways (insw) Board of Directors declared a combined dividend of $1.25 per share of common stock, composed of a regular quarterly dividend of $0.12 per share of common stock and a supplemental dividend of $1.13 per share of common stock.
  • Investors Title Company (ITIC) Board Declares Special Cash Dividend and Regular Quarterly Cash Dividend.
  • MEI Pharma (MEIP) Declares Special Cash Dividend of $1.75 Per Share of Common Stock.
• Insider Sales Of Note: None of note.

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

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

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

U.S. stocks rose Monday, building on a rally that pushed major indexes sharply higher over the past week.  The S&P 500 added 0.2%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 35 points, or 0.1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.3% for its seventh consecutive session of gains, the longest winning streak since January.  Major indexes are coming off their best week of the year, boosted by hopes that the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate hiking cycle is close to done and a strong quarterly earnings season that is in its final innings. The rally took a breather on Monday, with major indexes wavering before eking out modest gains.  The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 4.662%, from 4.557% on Friday. Yields have fallen sharply over the past week after touching 5% for the first time in 16 years.  (WSJ – edited by QPI)

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

• Gap Up: TMDX 40%, UIS 27%, AYX 17%, VMEO 13%, PAY 12%, PRAA 11%, TRIP 10%, CLVT 10%, ROVR 9%, SEAT 9%, CELH 8%, RNG 8%, TASK 8%, VECO 7%, DCGO 7%, MTTR 7%, HIMS 7%, BLDP 7%, QTRX 7%, IFF 6%, ATEC 5%, NEO 4%, SKWD 4%, AAON 4% of note.
• Gap Down: VTYX -74%, AMRC -22%, AURA -17%, EVCM -16%, SANM -12%, ALPN -11%, ATSG -10%, ADTN -9%, ERO -8%, SWAV -7%, CPG -6%, MMS -6%, MED -5%, COCO -5%, BATRA -5%, HNRG -5%, OLO -4% of note.

Insider Action: VFC, TTSH sees Insider buying with dumb short selling.  HHH 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.

• Stocks making the biggest moves before the bell: UBER, PLNT, PTON, HIMS, DOCN, CWAN, DHI, UBS, SEAT, TRIP, CTRA, SANM (CNBC)
• Five Things You Need To Know Before You Start Your Day. (Bloomberg)
• 5 Things To Know Before The Stock Market Opens. (CNBC)
• Bloomberg Lead Story: WeWork declares bankruptcy, signs pact with creditors to cut debt. (Bloomberg)
• Bloomberg Most Shared Story: see above – Lead Story on WE  (Bloomberg)
• Stocks fall as Fed rate cut doubts creep in: Market Wrap. (Bloomberg)
• Civilians trapped in Gaza are running out of food, fuel and hope. (Bloomberg)
• Wall Street bosses see danger everywhere. (Bloomberg)
• Aramco profits drop 23% on lower crude oil prices. (CNBC)
• UBS loses $-785 million but stock higher by 4%. (Bloomberg)
• Uber (UBER) misses analyst expectations but revenues grew 10% year over year on reclassification of some revenues, so net net a positive. (CNBC)
• Datadog (DDOG) blows away earnings and raises forecast, stock up 24%. (MarketWatch)
• NPR Morning Report Marketplace:  Social media and “eSims”help Gazans stay connected during the war and blackouts. (Podcast)
• NY Times The Daily:  Growing Republican Feud over war funding. (Podcast)
• BBC Global News: Gaza becoming a graveyard for children per the UN. (Podcast) 
• Bloomberg: The Big Take: The junk food industry’s next sweet spot. (Podcast) 

Moving Average Update:

• Score remains at 88%.

Geopolitical: 

M&A Activity and News: 

• Hammerhead Energy Inc. (HHRS) Enters into Agreement to be Acquired by Crescent Point Energy Corp. (CPG).
• J.M. Smucker (SJM) extends offer to acquire Hostess Brands (TWNK) by one day.
• Snap-On (SNA) announced that it acquired Mountz for ~$40 mln in cash on November 1, 2023.
• Vivid Seats (SEAT) announces its acquisition of Vegas.com, in a cash and stock transaction valued at ~$240 million.

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: