CAPIS Morning Note – 12/20/21: An Ugly Start To A Shortened Week. Fears Over Omicron Spread.

Overnight Summary:  Stocks are getting hit on fears of Omicron and lockdowns as well as Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) effectively killing Build Back Better for now. In China, the PBOC cut rates for the first time in 20 months. Europe is lower on lockdown measures with Crude Oil back to $68. The S&P 500 futures…

Overnight Summary:  Stocks are getting hit on fears of Omicron and lockdowns as well as Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) effectively killing Build Back Better for now. In China, the PBOC cut rates for the first time in 20 months. Europe is lower on lockdown measures with Crude Oil back to $68. The S&P 500 futures bottomed at 4525 and are now 4565 up 40 points of the low at 7:20 a.m. EST.

Breaking News: Dr. Scott Gottleib reviews decoupling of new Covid cases and ICU admissions and deaths. (CNBC)

Earnings Out After The Close:

  • Beats: None.
  • Flat: None.
  • Misses: None.

Capital Raises:

  • IPOs Priced or News: None of note.
  • New SPACs launched: None of note.
  • Secondaries Priced: None of note.
  • Notes Priced of note: None of note.
  • Common Stock filings/Notes:
    • ALXO: Filed FOrm 424B5.. Up to $150,000,000 Common Stock.
    • CRXT: Filed Form S-1.. Up to 6,048,388 Shares of Common Stock.
    • Centrus (LEU) Announces Redemption of All Outstanding Series B Senior Preferred Stock.
    • RCRT: Filed Form S-1.. 1,707,892 Shares of Common Stock 2,961,688 Common Stock underlying Warrants to Purchase Common Stock.
    • The Oncology Institute (TOI) files for 8,927,543 share common stock offering.
  • Pricing of Over-Allotment: None of note.
  • Direct Offering: 
    • Pulmatrix (PULM) Announces Closing of $6.75 million Registered Direct Offering.
    • TELL: Filed Form 8K– Distribution agreement up to $200 million.
  • Selling Shareholders of note:
    • The Oncology Institute (TOI) filed for 8,927,543 share common stock offering.  Also filed for 86 million share common stock offering by selling shareholders.
    • Wejo (WEJO) files for 11.5 million share common stock offering.  Also files for 63 million share common stock offering by selling shareholders.
    • WTTR: Filed Form S-1… 1,211,375 Shares of Class A common stock by selling shareholders.
    • SANW: Filed Form S-3.. 1,847,343 Shares of common stock by selling shareholders.
    • ANIP: Filed Form S-3.. 3,069,555 Shares Common Stock by selling shareholders.
    • QMCO: Filed Form S-3.. 361,010 shares of Common Stock by selling shareholders.
  • Private Placement of Public Entity (PIPE): None of note.
  • Mixed Shelf Offerings:
    • SLG: Filed Form S-3ASR Mixed Shelf Offering.
  • Convertible Offering & Notes Filed
    • Newmont Corporation (NEM) Announces Early Results of the Tender Offers for Any and All of its 3.700% Notes due 2023 and Goldcorp’s 3.700% Notes due 2023 and Related Consent Solicitations.
    • WBA: Filed Form S-3ASR.. Debt Securities Shelf.
  • 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 and Over the Week:

  • Weekly Wrap Up: Best and Worst performing large cap stocks:
    • Trading Up: ARNA 83%, TRHC 47%, NVAX 28%, CCMP 26%, BHVN 23%, PBYI 23%, CERN 22%, OPK 20%, QDEL 20%, ICPT 19%, EGRX 19%, ANAB 17%, IRTC 17%, KURA 16%, FATE 16%, ACAD 15%, EPZM 14%, VAPO 14%, BLUE 14%, ALLK 14%
    • Trading Down: QURE -27%, CPS -27%, MESO -23%, BEAT -23%, ENDP -21%, LOVE -21%, RUN -20%, FANH -20%, LC -19%, CVNA -18%, HOLI -18%, REVG -18%, SWN -18%, MOGU -18%, BKE -18%, NINE -17%, TAL -17%, CPG -17%
  • News Items Over the Weekend:
    • White House lights up Manchin after he crushes Biden’s megabill (Politico)
    • Moderna (MRNA) COVID-19 shot likelier to cause heart inflammation, a very rare side effect, than Pfizer’s (PFE): study (Reuters)
    • Health officials say omicron variant likely to cause record-high coronavirus cases, hospitalizations in U.S. (The Washington Post)
    • Governors in Maryland, Colorado and New Jersey reject lockdowns and other restrictions. (New York Times)
    • Royal Caribbean (RCL) ship docks at Miami port with 48 cases of COVID.
    • Disney (DIS) and Google’s (GOOGL)  Youtube  reach deal.
    • Amgen (AMGN) FDA approves Tezspire for add on maintenance treatment of severe asthma.
    • Box Office: ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Debuts to Jaw-Dropping $253 Million (Variety)
    • Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin says he won’t vote for the Build Back Better Act, hurting Biden’s chances to pass his sweeping economic agenda. (CNN)
    • Barron’s:
      • Positive View: FTAI, PFE, NVS, RHHBY, GSK, FOUR, ORCL
      • Negative View: UAL, AAL, DAL, LUV, MAR
      • Mixed View: None of note.
  • Exchange/Listing/Company Reorg and Personnel News: 
    • First Hawaiian, Inc. (FHB) CFO Ravi Mallela to Leave the Company on January 7, 2022.
    • Natus Medical (NTUS) names Thomas J. Sullivan as CEO on December 27.
    • Scorpio Tankers Inc. (STNG) Announces Purchase of Call Options by the President of the Company.
    • SOPA – Addition to the Russell 2000® Index.
    • Talaris Therapeutics (TALS) Announces Addition to the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index.
  • Buyback Announcements:
    • DaVita (DVA) increases share repurchase authorization by $2 billion.
    • Dingdong (DDL) Announces US$30.0 Million Share Repurchase Program.
    • Seacoast Banking (SBCF) renews share repurchase program to buy back up to $100 million of its common stock.
    • Lamb Weston Holdings (LW) Approves Additional $250 million for Share Repurchase Program.
    • Shoe Carnival (SCVL) Announces New $50 Million Share Repurchase Program and Declares Quarterly Cash Dividend.
  • Stock Splits: None of note.
  • Dividends Announcements: 
    • Albany Intl (AIN) increases quarterly cash dividend +0.01 to $0.21 per share.
    • Franklin BSP Realty Trust  (FBRT) declares 4th quarter dividend of $0.355 per share.
    • Lamb Weston Holdings (LW) increases Quarterly Dividend to $0.245 a share.
    • Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (GLPI) Declares Special Earnings and Profits Cash Dividend of $0.24 Per Share

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

S&P 500 -58 Dow Jones Industrial Average -409 NASDAQ -226 Russell 2000 -41 . Asia lower and Europe lower. VIX is at 24.10 from 21.30 Friday morning. Gold, Silver and Copper lower. WTI Crude Oil and Brent Oil Futures lower. Natural Gas is higher. $ is lower vs Euro, higher vs Pound and lower vs Yen. US 10 year Treasury price is at $131.41 from $131.28  with yields at 1.383% from 1.3875% Friday morning. Bitcoin at $47,060.51 from $48,575 Friday morning and down -2.17%. As of 8:10 a.m. EST.

Friday’s Action – 12/17 Close:  

  • Daily Positive Sectors: none of note.
  • Daily Negative Sectors: Energy, Financial, Industrials, Consumer Defensive, Utilities, Basic Materials of note.
  • One Month Winners: Utilities, Consumer Defensive, Real Estate of note.
  • Three Month Winners: Energy, Basic Materials, Technology of note.
  • Six Month Winners: Technology, Real Estate, Utilities of note.
  • Twelve Month Winners: Energy, Real Estate, and Technology of note.
  • Year to Date Winners: Energy, Technology, and Real Estate  of note.

Some pretty wide swings intraday, but expected for quadruple witching.  Tech settled in almost flat, but Dow and SPX down over 1%.  Updated 12/17 close.

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

  • Monday After the Close: NKE, MU, CVGW of note.
  • Tuesday Before the Open: GIS, FDS, NEOG, EPAC, APOG, RAD of note.

Earnings of Note This Morning:

  • Beats: none
  • Flat: none
  • Misses: none
  • Still to Report: none

Erlanger Research Advance/Decline Chart: Updated through 12/17 close.

Gap Ups & Down In Early Pre-Market:

    • Gap Up: VRS +31%, CIT +10%, FCNCA +9%, ARGX +8%, VXX +8%, MRNA +4%
    • Gap Down: TOI -6%

Insider ActionTZOO sees Insider buying with dumb short selling and MDT, AVGO 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)
  • Five Things To Know This Morning (CNBC)
  • Senator Joes Manchin (D-WV) gives the thumbs down to Build Back Better. (Politico)
  • Dr. Fauci notes that their will be record cases and hospitalizations but does not expect shutdowns. President Biden to address nation Tuesday night. (The Washington Post)
  • Dr. Fauci notes being vaccinated with booster and wearing a mask allows for travel without worry. (NBC News)
  • NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins notes that cases could hit 1 million a day. Encouraging signs from South Africa with low hospitalization. (CBS News)
  • World Economic Forum in Davos has been cancelled.
  • Moderna (MRNA) says Covid-19 Booster Dose works against omicron variant in lab tests – (WSJ)
  • Goldman Sachs (GS) cuts U.S. GDP forecast after Manchin retreats on Biden’s bill. Hatzius lowered U.S. GDP forecast for Q1 2022 to 2% from 3%, not factoring in that Build Back Better would become a law, cut Q2 outlook to 3% from 3.5%, and Q3 forecast to 2.75% from 3%.
  • Spider-Man: No Way Home ticket sales hit $253 million beating expectations, a positive for AMC Entertainment (AMC). Sets records for single day attendance records on Thursday, Friday and Saturday (Variety)
  • Tesla (TSLA) releases new Full Self-Driving Beta update (10.7) with improved phantom braking and efficiency. (Electrek)
  • Krispy Kreme (DNUT) raises FY 21 outlook.

Moving Average Update:

  • Score pulls all the way back to 26% from 53%. Updated 12/17 close.

Geopolitical: 

  • President’s Public Schedule:
    • The President departs Wilmington, Delaware en route the White House, 8:20 a.m. EST
    • The President arrives at the White House, 9:15 a.m. EST
    • The President receives the President’s Daily Brief, 10:10 a.m. EST
    • The President has lunch with The Vice President, 12:45 p.m. EST
    • Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jen Psaki, 1:00 p.m. EST
    • The President meets with members of the White House COVID-19 Response Team on the latest developments related to the Omicron variant, 1:30 p.m. EST

Economic

  • November Leading Indicators is due out at 10:00 a.m. EST and expected to rise to 1.0% from 0.9%.

Federal Reserve Speakers:

  • None of note.

M&A Activity

  • Bank of Montreal (BMO) agreed to buy BNP Paribas SA’s Bank of the West unit for US$16.3 billion.
  • Verso (VRS) to be acquired for $27.00 per share.
  • Gold Royalty (GROY) Announces Intention to Acquire Elemental Royalties Corp.
  • MasTec (MTZ) to acquire Henkels & McCoy
  • Platinum Equity and Ball Corporation (BLL) to Sell Ball Metalpack to Sonoco for $1.35 billion.
  • Reliance Steel (RS) acquires Rotax Metals.

Meeting & Conferences of Note:

  • Sellside Conferences:  None of note. 
    • Previously Posted and Ongoing Conferences:
      • None
  • Company Meetings: TCOM, XRTX
  • Fireside Chat: None of note.
  • Investor/Analyst Day/Calls: NVO, CCL, WBA
  • Update: None of note.
  • R&D Day: None of note.
  • Company Event: None of note.
  • Industry Meetings: None of note.
      • 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:

Friday’s Upgrades and Downgrades: