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Macro Focus
The price of US WTI crude oil closed Tuesday above the $50 per barrel mark for the first time since July. The commodity
continued to trade higher early Wednesday and was trading above the $51 per barrel handle. The last time WTI crude futures traded
near the $51 per barrel level was back July 21, 2015, when it hit a high of $50.92.
Accordingly, oil is now trading at an 11-month high, which is boosting oil-related
products. The VelocityShares 3X Long Crude ETN linked to the S&P GSCI Crude Oil Index Excess Return (NYSE:
UWTI) is trading higher by nearly 4 percent this morning.
Meanwhile, the United States Oil Fund LP (ETF) (NYSE: USO) is now higher by more than 11 percent since the start of 2016.
The price of oil continues to rise on supply disruptions from countries such as Nigeria, while U.S. crude oil inventories are
decreasing.
BZ News Desk Focus
Some of last night's and this morning's notable earnings:
lululemon (NASDAQ: LULU) Q1 EPS $0.30 vs
$0.31 est, Revenue $495.5M vs $487.7M est
Verifone (NYSE: PAY) Reports Q2 EPS $0.47 vs.
Est. $0.52, Rev. $532M vs. Est. $530M
Dave & Buster's (NASDAQ: PLAY) Reports Q1
EPS $0.72 vs. Est. $0.59, Rev. $262M vs. Est. $251M
Verint (NASDAQ: VRNT) Reports Q1 EPS $0.46
Vs Est $0.41, Sales $249M Vs Est $250.71M
Brown-Forman (NYSE: BFB) Reports Q4 EPS $2.60
vs $0.66 in Same Qtr. Last Year, Sales $933M vs $899M Est.
Sell-Side Themes
Nearly every major analyst downgraded Verifone following its earnings report. The stock was down 27 percent on a guidance
cut.
Sell-Side's Most Noteworthy Calls
Morgan Stanley downgraded AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) to Equal-Weight.
Jefferies downgraded Sunoco (NYSE: SUN) to
Underperform.
Bank of America upgraded Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL) to Neutral.
Keefe Bruyette & Woods upgraded LendingClub (NYSE: LC) to Market Perform.
Drexel initiated Anadarko (NYSE: APC) at
Buy.
Deal Talk
Could Anadarko's debt be
the reason no M&A rumors have come to fruition?
Williams Companies (NYSE: WMB) remains
committed to closing its deal with Energy Transfer Equity (NYSE: ETE) as soon as possible.
Sanofi (NYSE: SNY) said if
Medivation (NASDAQ: MDVN) were to engage
and provide additional information, it would be in a position to increase its buyout offer.
In The News
After winning New Mexico and California, Hillary Clinton claimed her place in history as America's first female presumptive
presidential nominee, although Bernie Sanders is refusing to drop his bid despite overwhelming odds.
Active investment managers may need to shrink assets by as much as 30 percent if they want to beat industry benchmarks,
according to Peter Kraus, chief executive officer of AllianceBernstein. The $30 trillion industry has grown too large with the
proliferation of asset-management firms and the growth of individual funds, which forced managers to maintain too many positions
and undermined returns, Kraus said Tuesday on Bloomberg TV.
Amazon's (NASDAQ: AMZN) founder and CEO,
Jeff Bezos, said the company will invest an extra $3 billion in India on top of the $2 billion it announced two years ago.
Blogosphere
Do you think it's possible to earn $19 million in under two hours? Here's how one
person did it.
Trending
LULU PAY HMNY ALK PACD NBL SPY FLXN OIL PLAY USO MTN AUY JNUG GOGO
#ThankYouBernie has been making the rounds, as the grassroots candidate's run is coming to an end.
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