CAPIS Morning Note – 12/17/21: Quadruple Witching Today. Markets Continue to Struggle From Thursday.

Overnight Summary:  Markets are being hit over Omicron concerns. China and Japan dropped more than -1%. Europe is mixed as the FTSE is higher which is interesting as U.K. is more impacted by Omicron. S&P 500 traded down to 4635 and is now at is at 4644 at 7:20 a.m. EST. The high was 4668….

Overnight Summary:  Markets are being hit over Omicron concerns. China and Japan dropped more than -1%. Europe is mixed as the FTSE is higher which is interesting as U.K. is more impacted by Omicron. S&P 500 traded down to 4635 and is now at is at 4644 at 7:20 a.m. EST. The high was 4668.

Breaking News:  Federal Reserve New York President John Williams to be interviewed on CNBC around 8:30 a.m. EST. (CNBC)

Interesting Chart: SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) moved higher yesterday and moving higher today as well.

Earnings Out After The Close:

  • Beats: FDX +0.54, NX +0.09
  • Flat: None
  • Misses: RIVN (0.84), SCS (0.01)

Capital Raises:

  • IPOs Priced or News:
    • APCA AP Acquisition Corp Announces Pricing of $150 million Initial Public Offering.
  • New SPACs launched: None of note.
  • Secondaries Priced: None of note.
  • Notes Priced of note: Danimer Scientific (DNMR) prices $200 million of 3.25% convertible senior notes due in 2026.
  • Common Stock filings/Notes:
    • ABEO: Public Offering of Common Stock and Warrants.. Cantor Bookmanager.
    • NBY: Filed Form 424B3.. 37,500,000 Shares of Common Stock.
  • Pricing of Over-Allotment: None of note.
  • Direct Offering: None of note.
  • Selling Shareholders of note: None of note.
  • Private Placement of Public Entity (PIPE): None of note.
  • Mixed Shelf Offerings:
    • EOG: files mixed securities shelf offering.
  • Convertible Offering & Notes Filed
    • DNMR: prices offering of $200 mln of 3.250% convertible senior notes due 2026.
  • Note Offerings 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: UIHC +7%, FDX +6%, FOUR +5%, LYEL +4%
    • Trading Down: RIVN -11%, EXFY -6%, SCS -6%, X -3%
  • News Items After The Close:
    • Remarks by President Biden After Meeting with Members of the COVID-⁠19 Response Team. (White House release)
    • Federal Express (FDX) beats on revenues and earnings, guides 2022 earnings above consensus.
    • Boeing (BA) awarded $398 million contract for the Royal Saudi Air Force for AWACS modernization program.
    • Lockheed Martin (LMT) wins $286 million increase to previously awarded contract to the Saudis.
    • NATO calls on Russia to “immediately de-escalate” the situation at the Ukraine border.
    • President Biden: Omicron Is Here And Going To Start Spreading More Rapidly. Really?
    • Kellogg (K) Company Reaches New Tentative Agreement with Union of Cereal Workers. Thanks now I can get my Frosted Flakes in 2022! (Bloomberg)
    • CDC confirms preference for Pfizer/Biontech (PFE BNTX) and Moderna (MRNA) over Johnson & Johnson (JNJ).
  • Exchange/Listing/Company Reorg and Personnel News: 
    • General Motors (GM) down in  after hours following announcement of Dan Ammann, Cruise CEO, leaving the company immediately.
    • Kinnate Biopharma Inc. (KNTE) Announces Addition to NASDAQ Biotechnology Index.
    • Vroom (VRM) names Thomas Shortt as COO.
    • Darden Restaurants (DRI) Chairman & CEO Eugene Lee to retire May 29, 2022.
  • Buyback Announcements:
    • Bright Horizons (BFAM) authorized a new share repurchase program under which up to $400 million of the Company’s outstanding common stock may be repurchased.
    • Shift4 (FOUR) Announces Stock Repurchase Program, Up to $100 million.
    • FDX: New $5 Billion Share Repurchase Program Authorized, Including $1.5 Billion Accelerated Share Repurchase Program.
    • FUTU: Has repurchased more than $70 million of ADRs as of Dec 16. Will continue to buy back within the existing repurchase plan according to market conditions and consider setting up a new repurchase plan.
    • Granite Point Mortgage (GPMT) authorizes repurchase up to an additional 2 million shares.
  • Stock Splits: None of note.
  • Dividends Announcements: 
    • Andersons (ANDE) increases quarterly dividend to $0.18 from $0.175 per share.
    • City Office REIT (CIO) increases quarterly dividend by 33% to $0.20 per share.
    • Ensign Group (ENSG) increases quarterly dividend to $0.055 per share from  $0.525 per share.
    • FMC Corp (FMC) increases quarterly dividend by 10% to $0.53 per share.
    • TFI International (TFII) increases quarterly dividend to $0.27 from $0.23 per share.

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

S&P 500 -28 Dow Jones Industrial Average -135 NASDAQ -157 Russell 2000 -11 . Asia lower and Europe lower with FTSE bucking the downtrend. VIX is at 21.30 from 21.56  yesterday morning. Gold, Silver and Copper higher. WTI Crude Oil and Brent Oil Futures lower. Natural Gas is lower. $ is lower vs Euro, higher vs Pound and lower vs Yen. US 10 year Treasury price is at $131.28 from $130.55 with yields at 1.3875% from 1.474% yesterday morning. Bitcoin at $47,060.51 from $48,575 this morning and down -2.17%. As of 8:10 a.m. EST.

Thursday’s Action – 12/16 Close:  

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

Indexes digested the positive action from Wednesday.  NASDAQ pulled back 2.47%.  Silver and Gold were up 1.86% and 1.21% respectively.  Updated 12/16 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: WGO +1.17, DRI +0.04
  • Flat: none
  • Misses: none
  • Still to Report: none

Erlanger Research Advance/Decline Chart: Updated through 12/16 close.

Gap Ups & Down In Early Pre-Market:

    • Gap Up: UIHC +6%, REI +5%, FDX +5%, LYEL +4%
    • Gap Down: RIVN -9%, X -5%, EXFY -4%, GM -3%, BEKE -3%, SCS -3%

Insider Action: EVBG, BCOR sees Insider buying with dumb short selling and SYNL, AVGO, TPIC has smart short sellers with insider buys. 12/15 close

Rags & Mags: Highlighted Stories may be clicked through to the original story.  Repeated stories from prior days never listed, i.e. “rehashed news”.

  • Five Things To Know To Start Your Day. (Bloomberg)
  • Stocks Making The Biggest Moves: DRI, FDX, WGO, RIVN, AFRM, NVAX, X   (CNBC)
  • Covid cases move to 143,760 from 125,961 a week ago. Hospitalizations to 59,354 from 53,714.
  • Good news from South Africa this morning. Omicron hospitalization rate is 1.7% versus 19% for Delta.
  • President Biden makes obvious comments on Omicron.  (Bloomberg)
  • Comments from Dr. Fauci as well with nothing new except willing to get on an airplane. (CNBC)
  • Former FDA Commissioner calls CDC decision on JNJ “unfortunate” and still thinks that two doses of JNJ provide a good amount of protection. (CNBC)
  • President Biden acknowledged that Build Back Better is DOA in 2021. (Politico)
  • Oracle (ORCL) may bid for Cerner (CERN) with a $30 billion price tag. (WSJ)
  • Peleton (PTON) pulls ads amid Chris Noth rape charges. (WSJ)
  • Freshpet (FRPT) lowers guidance for Fiscal Year 2021.
  • Facebook (FB)  Sorry we are not calling Meta yet notes FTC looking into virtual reality. (The Information)
  • AMC Entertainment (AMC) notes that Spider-Man: No Way Home was broken AMC box office records.
  • Robinhood looks at the Great Cash Out as Springsteen sells his music library for $500 million. Toys R Us makes a comeback  with 400 stores inside Macy’s  (M).

Moving Average Update:

  • Score pulls back to 53% from 76%. Updated 12/16 close.

Geopolitical: 

  • President’s Public Schedule:
    • The President departs the White House en route Joint Base Andrews and West Columbia, South Carolina, 6:50 a.m. EST
    • The President arrives in West Columbia, South Carolina, 8:35 a.m. EST
    • The President delivers remarks at South Carolina State University’s 2021 Fall Commencement Ceremony, 10:00 a.m. EST
    • The President departs West Columbia, South Carolina en route Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and then Wilmington, Delaware, 1:30 p.m. EST
    • The President arrives in Wilmington, Delaware, 3:25 p.m. EST

Economic

  • Baker Hughes Rig Count 1:00 p.m. EST 

Federal Reserve Speakers:

  • Federal Reserve San Francisco President Mary Daly 1:00 p.m. EST
  • Federal Research Board of Governors Christopher Waller 1:00 p.m. EST

M&A Activity

  • Agilysys (AGYS) to acquire ResortSuite for approx. $25 million in cash.
  • Cenovus (CVE) announces sale of Tucker asset for $800 million.
  • Dover (DOV) Announces Two Acquisitions Focused On Clean Energy.
  • EVO Payments (EVOP) Acquires Majority Interest in National Bank of Greece Merchant Acquiring Business.
  • FCPT Announces Acquisition of a National Tire & Battery Property from Washington Prime Group for $1.6 Million.
  • FAT Brands Inc. (FAT) Completes Acquisition of Native Grill & Wings.
  • Coca-Cola FEMSA (KOF) to acquire CVI Refrigerantes in Brazil.
  • Bottomline Tech (EPAY) to be acquired by Thoma Bravo by $2.6 billion.

Meeting & Conferences of Note:

  • Sellside Conferences:
    • None of note. 
      • Previously Posted and Ongoing Conferences:
        • None
  • Company Meetings: APO, EVA, ISUN, NBY, RENN, THO
  • Fireside Chat: None of note.
  • Investor/Analyst Day/Calls: BABA, CELU, MDT, PFE, PRAX  
  • Update:  DOV
  • R&D Day: None of note.
  • Company Event: None of note.
  • Industry Meetings:
    • NASPGHAN Annual Meeting
      • Previously Posted and Ongoing Conferences:
        • None.

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: