Breaking News: 

Covid-19 Update With Latest Data

Cases reported 43,140 from  36,679

Tests 674,792 from 634,461

Positivity Rate 6.39% from 5.78%

Deaths 1,249 from 1,147

Hospitalizations 38,411 from 38,762

Mortality Rate at 2.96% no change

source COVID tracking project

Capital Raises

IPOs Priced: Xpeng (XPEV) price IPO at $15 a share up from $11 to $13.

Secondaries Priced: AEYE of note.

Notes Priced of note:  FBIO LRN of note.

Common Stock filings:  ODT  AEYE of note.

Mixed Shelf Offerings: FBMS of note.

Convertible Offering Files:  None of note.

Senior Notes Filed: None of note.

Courtesy of IPO Financial

Hourly Action – 8/26 Close – Do not be a seller in the last hour!

Earnings After The Close:

Beats:

WSM +0.81, NTAP +0.32, ESTC +0.24, BILI +0.15, BOX +0.13, LCI +0.04, SMTC +0.01, SPLK +0.01 of note.

Misses:

None of note.

Flat: GEF

News After The Close:

Carnival (CCL) announces that Princess Cruises extend pause in cruise operations in Australia and New Zealand through 12/12.

White House working on a $500 billion stimulus bill, likely to be dead on arrival.

Milwaukee Bucks protest NBA playoff game against Orlando Magic by not taking the court, two other games cancelled as well. Protest over shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, WI home of the Bucks.

AMC to reopen 170 additional theaters today.

Raises Guidance: ESTC 

Lowers Guidance: FLWS

Mixed Guidance: 

Raises Dividend: KRC

Suspends Dividend: RAVN

Stock Split Announcement: 

Stock Buyback: BCO

10Q Delays: 

What’s Happening This Morning: Futures value reflects the change with fair value. We will still indicate the fair value direction.

S&P 500 -2 Dow Jones Industrial Average -14  NASDAQ -8 Russell 2000 +4.31. Fair values are lower. Asia mixed and Europe lower. VIX October futures are at 26.01 from 25.75 this morning. Current VIX is at 23.27 from 22.37.

Gold, silver and copper lower. WTI Crude Oil and Brent Oil Futures lower. Natural Gas is higher. $ is higher vs Euro, lower vs Pound and higher vs Yen. US 10 year Treasury price is at $139.41 from $139.09 with yields at 0.677% from 0.696%.

Positive Sectors On Wednesday:  Communication Services, Technology, Consumer Cyclical and Materials of note.

Negative Sectors On Wednesday: Energy, Utilities and Real Estate of note.

One Month Winners: Industrials, Consumer Cyclical and Consumer Defensive of note.

Three Month Winners: Consumer Cyclical, Technology and Industrials of note.

Six Month Winners: Consumer Cyclical, Technology, Materials and Healthcare of note.

Twelve Month Winners: Technology, Consumer Cyclical and Communication Services of note.

Year to Date: Technology, Consumer Cyclical, Healthcare and Communication Services of note.

Upcoming Earnings Of (sorted by market cap, highest to lowest)

Today After The Close: VMW WDAY DELL OKTA HPQ MRVL PAGS ULTA BILL OLLI GPS SWBI MBUU of note.

Friday Morning:  BIG JKS HIBB of note.

Gap Up: CLVS +20%, TITN +13%, NTAP +10%, BOX +9%, BMCH +9%, ABT +7%, GPRE +4%

Gap Down: RAVN -8%, LI -7%, BILI -6%, SMTC -5%, DKNG -5%, GEF -5%, ODT -4%, WSM -4%, LCI -4%, COTY -4%

Earnings This Morning Of Note

Beat:

ANF +1.06, SAFM +0.69, DG +0.65, CM +0.53, BURL +0.50, LANC +0.38, TITN +0.31, DLTR +0.17, TIF +0.09, FLWS +0.04, FRO +0.02, PLAB +0.02, TD +0.02  of note.

Missed:

HHR (5.24), COTY (0.37) of note.

Erlanger Research Advance/Decline Line Chart – Stocks struggled yesterday. Close 8/26.

Courtesy of Phil Erlanger Research Inc.

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

5 Things to Know Before The Market Opens Today. (CNBC)

Stocks Making The Biggest Moves. (CNBC)

Coronavirus Update: WHO warns Europe as summer turns to fall. (CNBC)

China proposed that the U.S. be allowed to audit Chinese companies to avoid delistings. (Bloomberg)

Hurricane Laura has made landfall and the damage is severe. (Weather Channel)

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will announce new monetary approach today. (Reuters)

Vice President Pence accepted the nomination and spoke on military, law enforcement and public safety. (WSJ)

Bank of New York (BNY) to keep employees working remotely through 2020. (Bloomberg)

Abbott Labs (ABT) get Emergency Use Authorization for 15 minute Covid-19 Antigen test. (Reuters)

Xenia Hotels (XHR) reports 35 out of 39 hotels are now open. (PR Newswire)

TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer to leave, indicating deal near at hand. (CNBC)

Stock Index Trading

Current through 8/26 close. The Russell 2000 and S&P 400 see some weakness and are not breaking out like other indexes.

Bold means a change from prior day.

Algo/HFT Trading Levels:

The Erlanger Value Lines track the intraday range of resistance, pivot and support used by Algo/HFT Traders. Each day we show where we closed within the range. Updated through 8/20 close. EVL Ranges are again starting to get back to normal with the recent action, pay attention The Erlanger Value Line are available in Bloomberg for your review. Simply visit the Bloomberg App store at APP(GO) then find Erlanger Research and setup a trial.

Economic

Weekly Jobless Claims are due out at 8:30 a.m. EDT.

Q2 GDP (2nd Estimate) is due out at 8:30 a.m. EDT and is expected to remain at -32.9%.

July Pending Home Sales are due out at 10:00 a.m. EDT and are expected to fall to 5.6% from 16.6%.

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

Geopolitical & Related

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will speak at 9:10 A.M. EDT from Jackson Hole, Wyoming at the Federal Reserve Kansas City Symposium.

President Trump will be attending the Republican Convention this week and speaking every night along with his progeny.  Today the president will participate in a roundtable with supporters at 12:00 p.m. EDT at Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. At 10:30 p.m. EDT, the president will give his acceptance speech. 

Federal Reserve Dallas President Rob Kaplan speaks at 1:00 p.m. EDT.

$47 billion 7 Year Treasury Auction at 1:00 p.m. EDT.

Investor Events & Conference Calls

RAVN RHHBY (Investor Day)

Sellside Conferences: BMO Capital Markets Virtual Technology Summit 2020. (8/24-8/28)  Credit Suisse Private Company Conference (8/26-8/27). Three Part Advisors Midwest IDEAS Virtual Conference (8/26-8/27)

Industry Conferences: World Orphan Drug Congress 2020 (8/24-8/27) Data Center World Conference and Expo (8/24-8/27)

M&A

Builders Firstsource (BLDR) and BMC Stock Holdings (BMCH) to merge.

Fastly (FSLY) to buy Signal Sciences for $775 million in cash and stock.

Upgrades & Downgrades For Thursday 8/25 – Mizuho goes crazy on payment stocks.