Executive Summary: Putin made a visit to the Gulf in a rare trip out of Russia. We get the start of the job’s data this morning with ADP Payroll. Watch the reaction by bonds as rates drop to new lows. Stocks are hanging tough but going sideways the last few days. Will it hold?

• November ADP Employment Report is due out at 8:15 a.m. EST and expected to rise to 127,000 from 113,000.
• Bank CEOs to testify on regulatory oversight. (Bloomberg)

• IPOs Priced or News: None of note.
• New SPACs launched/News:
  • Eco Modular, a Leader in Sustainable Modular Building Manufacturing, to Go Public Through Merger with Zalatoris II Acquisition Corp (ZLS).
• Secondaries Priced:
  • ATAT: Prices secondary offering of 9.6 million shares of common stock at $15.80 per share.
  • CRDO: Prices offering of 10.0 million shares of common stock at $17.50 per share.
  • EYPT: Prices offering of 11,764,706 shares of its common stock at $17.00 per share.
  • IPA: Announces Pricing of $1.1 Million Public Offering of Common Shares.
  • PHVS: Pricing of $300 Million Underwritten Offering of Ordinary Shares and Pre-funded Warrants.
  • SN: Prices secondary offering of 6,095,169 ordinary shares at $47.00 per ordinary share.
• Notes Priced of note:
  • CACC: Announces Pricing of $600.0 Million Senior Notes Offering.
  • CRGY: Pricing of $150 Million Private Placement of Additional 9.250% Senior Notes Due 2028.
  • EVH: Prices offering of $350.0 million of convertible senior notes due 2029.
  • SPHR: Announces pricing of $225 million offering of convertible senior notes.
• Common Stock filings/Notes:
  • CRDO: Launch of public offering.. 10,000,000 of its ordinary shares. (GS Bookmanager) (see Mixed Shelf and Pricing too)
  • FLNC: Announces Secondary Offering of Class A Common Stock by Existing Controlling Stockholders.
  • IPA: Proposed Public Offering of Common Shares.
  • POLA: Announces Closing of Public Offering.
  • SDIG: Filed Form S-3.. 2,798,590 Shares.
  • VTMX: Announces Proposed Follow-On Offering.
• Direct Offering:
  • KZIA: Announces Closing of $2 Million Registered Direct Offering.
• Selling Shareholders of note: None of note.
• Private Placement of Public Entity (PIPE):
  • COYA: Announces $26.5 Million Private Placement.
• Mixed Shelf Offerings:
  • CRDO: Filed Form S-3ASR.. $300,000,000 Mixed Shelf.
  • RY: Filed Form F-3.. Mixed Shelf Offering.
  • SKT: Filed Form S-3ASR .. Mixed Shelf.
    SIG: Files mixed shelf securities offering.
  • VRAX: Filed Form F-3.. $30 Million Mixed Security Shelf.
• Debt/Credit Filing and Notes:
  • GBNH: Raises Us$2.5 Million In Debt Financing.
  • PFSI: Announces Proposed Private Offering of $650 Million of Senior Notes.
• Tender Offer: None of note.
• Convertible Offering & Notes Filed:
  • TREE: Repurchases portion of 2025 convertible 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: 
  • GBNH: +37% Raises $2.5 million in Debt Financing.
  • S: +21% Earnings
  • ACRS: +17% Patent License Agreement with Sun Pharma for Alopecia
  • PHR: +11% Earnings
  • TOL: +2.5% Earnings
  • YEXT: -11.5% Earnings
  • BOX: -11% Earnings
  • ASAN: -10% Earnings
  • FLNC: -9% Secondary Offering of Class A Common Stock by Existing Controlling Stockholders
  • MDB: -6% Earnings
  • CRDO: -5% launch of public offering
  • FIVN: -5% Responds to Market Rumor
  • PLAY: -3% Earnings
• News Items After the Close:
  • Stocks making the biggest moves after hours: BOX, MDB, ASAN, NBIX, PLAY, TOL (CNBC)
  • Box’s (BOX) stock drops 11% on tepid revenue forecast. (MarketWatch)
  • MongoDB (MDB) earnings clear Wall Street’s bar, but stock falls. (MarketWatch)
  • Asana’s (ASAN) stock is falling after another quarterly loss. (MarketWatch)
  • Signet Jewelers (SIG) CEO says ‘engagement trough’ has passed. (CNBC)
  • Elon Musk’s AI startup — X.AI — files to raise $1 billion in fresh capital. (CNBC)

• Exchange/Listing/Company Reorg and Personnel News:
  • Altisource Asset Management Corporation (AAMC) Announces Departure of COO and Interim CEO Danya Sawyer.
  • Aurora Mobile (JG) Announces Change to American Depositary Share Ratio.
  • AxoGen (AXGN) announces the appointment of Mr. Nir Naor as Chief Financial Officer.
  • GEO: Form 8K.. The GEO Group, Inc. (“GEO” or the “Company”) announced on November 30, 2023 that following discussions between GEO and its Chief Executive Officer, Jose Gordo, the parties agreed that Mr. Gordo will be departing as Chief Executive Officer and as a Board member on mutually agreeable terms and transitioning to the role of an advisor, effective December 31, 2023.
  • Lixiang Education (LXEH) Receives Nasdaq Extension to Regain $1 Bid Price Compliance.
  • MongoDB (MDB) Appoints Ann Lewnes to Board of Directors.
  • Powerbridge Technologies Co., Ltd. (PBTS) Announces Receipt of Nasdaq Notification Letter Regarding Minimum Bid Price Deficiency.
  • TIAN RUIXIANG Holdings Ltd (TIRX) Receives Nasdaq Notice of Deficiency Regarding Minimum Bid Price Requirement.
• Buyback Announcements or News:
  • Butterfield (NTB) Announces Share Repurchase Program of $90 million ordinary shares.
  • Exxon (XOM) Increasing Pace Of Share-repurchase Program To $20b per year.
  • First Financial (FFBC) authorizes purchase of up to 5.0 mln shares of its common stock, representing approximately 5% of its outstanding shares of common stock.
  • Mastercard (MA) Board of Directors Announces $11 Billion Share Repurchase Program. (see Dividends)
  • Midland States Bancorp, Inc. (MSBI) Announces Authorization of New $25 Million Stock Repurchase Program.
  • OLP: Increases Current Share Repurchase Authorization.
  • Radiant Logistics (RLGT) Announces Renewal Of Its Stock Repurchase Program.
  • Sterling (STRL) Announces Authorization of a $200 Million Stock Repurchase Program.
  • Trustmark (TRMK) authorizes new stock repurchase program up to $50 million.
• Stock Splits or News:
  • Cenntro Electric Group (CENN) Announces December 8, 2023 Effective Date for Reverse Stock Split to Regain Nasdaq Compliance.
  • Instil Bio (TIL) Announces Effective Date of 1-for-20 Reverse Stock Split.
• Dividends Announcements or News: 
  • Avis Budget Group (CAR) Announces Special Cash Dividend.
  • Balchem (BCPC) raises its annual dividend by 11% to $0.79 per share; annual yield of 0.6%.
  • Coca-Cola Consolidated (COKE) declares a special dividend of $16.00 per share.
  • Danaher (DHR) decreases quarterly cash dividend to $0.24 per share from $0.27 per share
  • Hooker Furnishings (HOFT) Declares Increased Quarterly Dividend.
  • Mastercard (MA) increases quarterly cash dividend to $0.66 per share from $0.57 per share.
  • Quanta Services (PWR) increases quarterly dividend 12.5% to $0.36 per share.
  • PNM Resources (PNM) increases quarterly cash dividend 5.4% to $0.3875 per share from $0.3675 per share.
  • Upbound Group (UPBD) increases quarterly cash dividend ~9% to $0.37 per share from $0.34 per share.
• 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 of note.
• Daily Negative Sectors:  Energy, Basic Materials, Industrials, Utilities, Real Estate, Consumer Defensive, Financial of note.
• One Month Winners: Real Estate, Technology, Consumer Cyclical of note.
• Three Month Winners: Technology, Financial, and Communication Services of note.
• Six Month Winners: Consumer Cyclical, Financial and Technology of note.
• Twelve Month Winners: Technology, Communication Services, and Consumer Cyclical of note.
• Year to Date Winners:  Technology, Communication Services, Consumer Cyclical, and Industrials of note.

The bond rally resumed Tuesday, driving yields on benchmark 10-year U.S. notes to their lowest level since summer and lifting technology shares on an otherwise downbeat day for stocks.  The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 0.3%. In the S&P 500, technology and consumer-discretionary shares failed to offset declines in utilities, energy, materials and real-estate stocks, and the broad index shed less than 0.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%, or about 80 points.  The yield on the 10-year Treasury notes ended at 4.171%, down from 4.286% on Monday and well off the 5% hit in late October. The yield, which falls as prices rise, hasn’t been so low since Aug. 31.   (WSJ – edited by QPI)

 

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

• Gap Up: S +18%, PHR +14%, ASPN +14%, SFIX +8%, EYPT +7%, CAR +4%, ATAT +4% of note.
• Gap Down: BOX -15%, YEXT -14%, ASAN -13%, FLNC -10%, OOMA -7%, BTI -7%, CRDO -5%, MDB -4% of note.

Insider Action: DINO, HHS, HTLD, SCVL sees Insider buying with dumb short selling.  PLSE 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 premarket: SHOP, TOST, PYPL SPHR, DFS, ASAN, COF, BLDR (CNBC)
• 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: Putin visits the Gulf in rare foreign trip. (Bloomberg)
• Bloomberg Second Most Shared Story: Biden says might not have run for reelection if Trump was not running. (Bloomberg)
• Stocks keep rate-cut faith as bond rally falters: Market Wrap. (Bloomberg)
• Russian President Putin visits the U.A.E. and Saudi Arabia in a rare visit. (CNBC)
• Mortgage refinance demand pops 14% in latest week as rates continue to drop. (CNBC)
• Robinhood (HOOD) CEO was interviewed this morning on CNBC. (CNBC)
• Bumper travel year in 2024. (CNBC)
• Bloomberg  The Big Take:  It’s not a good time to buy a home, anywhere. (Podcast)
• NPR Marketplace:  Meta’s pixel code tracks from kindergarten to college. (Podcast)
• NY Times Daily:   Will Supreme Court reject Opiod Settlement? (Podcast)
• BBC Global News Daily Podcast:  Fiercest day of fighting in Gaza. (Podcast)
• Wealthion: Former White house Economist reveals recession warning signs. (Podcast)

Moving Average Update:

• Down to 80% from 82%.

Geopolitical: 

M&A Activity and News: 

• R1 RCM (RCM) announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Acclara.

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: