Market Tone:  Can we hold above 3700 on the S&P 500 and move to 3800 by year end?

Covid-19 Statistics: 

Total Cases 16,762,527 from 16,529,187

Deaths 298,823 from 295,322

New Tests 1,791,968 from 1,742,813

New Cases 232,258 from 189,783 with positivity rate of 12.9% (up 2.1)

Daily Deaths 3,448

Current Hospitalizations 113,090 from 112,816

Capital Raises:

IPOs Priced: 

Secondaries Priced: PHAT  of note.

Notes Priced of note: None of note.

Common Stock filings: IIIV DMYT of note.

Selling Shareholders of note: ESGC of note.

Mixed Shelf Offerings:  HAFC  LQDA of note.

Convertible Offering Files:  None of note.

Senior Notes Filed: None of note.

Earnings Out After The Close:

Beats: LEN +0.76, MLHR +0.32

Flat:  none

Misses: ABM (0.01)

News After The Close (sorted by time starting at the close):

IBM names CEO Arvind Krishna as its Chairman.

Roku (ROKU) adds HBO Max which is owned by AT&T (T) to its platform.

RR Donnelley (RRD) denies it may sell it printing and packaging business in the Asia Pacific.

Schneider (SNDR) to raise driver pay at start of 2021.

Apparently, more state attorney generals will file anticompetitive behavior charges against Alphabet ‘s Google (GOOGL) per Reuters.

Dividend Increase:  NRZ AMGN KRG CHCO

Raises Guidance: 

Lowers Guidance: BE 

Stock Buyback New Or Increase: SWBI 

Hourly Action: Forget about owning stocks from 1:00 p.m. EST onward.

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 +93   NASDAQ +59    Russell 2000 +15.48  . Fair values are mixed to lower. Asia higher and Europe mixed. VIX is at from 24.39 this morning in futures. VIX closed at 22.50 from 21.91 and the three month futures at 25.47 from 24.73.

Gold, silver and copper higher. WTI Crude Oil and Brent Oil Futures higher. Natural Gas is lower. $ is lower vs Euro, higher vs Pound and higher vs Yen. US 10 year Treasury price is at $137.88 from $137.69 with the yield at .905%  from 0.931%.

Positive Sectors On Wednesday: Consumer Cyclical, Technology and Consumer Defensive of note.

Negative Sectors On Wednesday: Utilities, Industrials and Energy 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: FDX, BB, SCS, AIR, SCHL of note.

Friday Before the Open: DRI, WGO, APOG of note.

Earnings This Morning Of Note:

Beats: SAFM +1.03, RAD +0.45, GIS +0.13, ACN +0.12, CAMP +0.05

Flat: WOR

Misses: NAV (2.05)

Still to Report: JBL

Erlanger Research Advance/Decline Chart –  Updated 12/16 Close.

Gap Ups & Down In Early Pre-Market:

Gap Up:

MGNX +17%, MTCR +16%, BLBD +11%, EOLS +8%, ROKU +6%, ATEC +5%, ADMA +4%, NRZ +4%, NVAX +4%, LEN +4%

Gap Down:

LQDA -8%, RRD -8%, GMDA -7%, TRIT -5%, PRPH -5%, ZYNE -4%, ABM -4%

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

Stocks Making The Biggest Moves – ACN GIS RAD ROKU LEN. (CNBC)

5 things to know before the market opens. (CNBC)

Biggest analyst calls of the day AAPL GOOGL NKE PLAY. (CNBC Pro)

Bank of England (BOE) leaves rates unchanged. (Reuters)

Stimulus Bill update, no deal yet but close. (NYT)

Federal Reserve will continue to buy bonds. (Reuters)

Dr. Fauci says stay at home for Christmas and do not let others in. (The Washington Post)

French President Emmanuel Macron test positive for Covid-19. (CNBC)

White House has been holding daily meetings on cyber attacks linked to Russia. (Reuters)

U.S. warns that cyber attacks are continuing. (FT)

Bitcoin rockets above $23,000. (CNBC)

Pfizer (PFE) vaccine can hold more doses than thought. (Politico)

FDA will recommend emergency approval of Moderna (MRNA) today. (WSJ)

Shoppers cut spending in November  fell -1.1%. (WSJ)

Germany may allow Huawei in 5g mobile networks. (WSJ)

Stock Index Trading:

Current through 12/16 close. Overall confidence remains at 100%.

Bold means a change from prior day.

Economic:

Weekly Jobless Claims are due out at 8:30 a.m. EST. Came in at 885,000 versus estimates of 808,000.

November Housing Starts are due out at 8:30 a.m. EST and is expected to remain at 1,530,000.

December Philadelphia Fed Index is due out at 8:30 a.m. EST and is expected to fall to 19 from 26.30.

Weekly Natural Gas Inventories are due out at 10:30 a.m. EST.

Geopolitical & Related:

President Trump 

The President and The First Lady participate in a signing ceremony for H.R. 473, Authorizing a Women’s Suffrage Monument in the Nation’s Capital 10:00 a.m. EST Oval Office

Investor Meetings & Conferences of Note:

ITI OXFD CDE   (Investor Day)  ENZ UCTT TMBR  JAGX MGTX (Conference Call)  NSRPF STNG (Update) ROOT PNM (webcast)  (R&D Day) 

Sellside Conferences:  Bank of America Hydrogen Conference (12/16-12/17)

Industry Conferences: NASH Summit Digital Conference (12/15-12/18)

M&A:

Nexstart (NXST) to buy BestReviews for $160 million from Tribune Publishing.

SPS Commerce (SPSC) to buy Data Masons for $100 million in cash.

Upgrades & Downgrades: