Macro Focus
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1 point to 19,133.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures dropped 2
points to 2,196.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index declined 7 points to 4,809.00.
Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 1.16 percent to trade at $52.44 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also
climbed 0.85 percent to trade at $49.86 a barrel.
Initial Jobless Claims for Nov 25 268.0K vs 253.0K estimate. Continuing Claims for Nov 18 2.08M vs 2.04M estimate.
- Data on motor vehicle sales for November will be released today.
- The manufacturing PMI for November is schedule for release at 9:45 a.m. ET.
- The ISM manufacturing index for November will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.
- Data on construction spending for October will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.
- The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.
- Data on money supply for the recent week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.
BZ News Desk Focus
-
Express (NYSE: EXPR) Q3 EPS $0.15 vs
$0.13 Est, Revenue $506.1M vs $497.1M Est
-
Lands' End (NASDAQ: LE) Q3 EPS $(0.14) vs
$(0.05) Est, Revenue $311.5M vs $303.6M Est
-
Dollar General (NYSE: DG) Q3 EPS $0.84 vs
$0.93, Revenue $5.32B vs $5.37B Est
-
PVH Corp (NYSE: PVH) Reports Q3 EPS $2.60
vs. Prior Year Quarter $2.66, Rev. $2.24B vs. Est. $2.23B
-
Box (NYSE: BOX) Reports Q3 EPS $(0.14) vs.
Est. $(0.19), Rev. $102.8M vs. Est. $100M
Sell-Side Themes
Macquarie downgraded Honda (NYSE: HMC) to
Neutral, initiated Ford (NYSE: F) at Neutral and
General Motors (NYSE: GM) at Outperform.
Sell-Side's Most Noteworthy Calls
- Guggenheim downgraded McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) and Wendy's (NYSE: WEN) to Neutral.
- CLSA downgraded Cummins (NYSE: CMI) to
Outperform.
- Credit Suisse upgraded BP (NYSE: BP) to
Outperform.
- Morgan Stanley upgraded Randgold Resources (NASDAQ: GOLD).
- Roth started Inotek Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ITEK) at Buy.
Deal Talk
Rockwell Collins (NYSE: COL) is said to be
under pressure from investor Starboard Value LP to reconsider its acquisition of B/E Aerospace (NASDAQ: BEAV), according to sources as reportred by Bloomberg. The fund led
by Jeff Smith would like Rockwell Collins to explore a potential sale, as well as other options.
GNC Holding’s (NYSE: GNC) talks on a
potential sale have stalled following disagreements over the structure of a deal for the U.S. vitamin and supplement brand, people
with knowledge of the matter told
Bloomberg. The Pittsburgh-based retailer had held discussions with several Chinese suitors about a sale of the entire company.
The Chinese firms expressed interest only in buying GNC’s Asian business and didn’t want to take over its network of more than
6,700 retail outlets in the U.S., according to the people.
In The News
Donald Trump’s nominee for Treasury secretary, who worked for Goldman Sachs and billionaire investor George Soros, made millions
buying failed IndyMac. His résumé appears at
odds with the president-elect’s campaign rhetoric, which targeted Wall Street bankers.
Exactly how did Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac end up owned by the government? The two entities were right in the eye of the
mortgage crisis storm back in 2008. Here’s
a summary of the role Fannie and Freddie are supposed to play in the mortgage market.
Blogosphere
The Reformed Broker likes Trump's Cabinet picks: "They’re
both highly accomplished and capable people who’ve held senior roles within businesses, even if they don’t have government
experience. To my knowledge, neither is looking to eject homosexuals, Jews or brown people from the country, so that’s a step in
the right direction. I don’t believe that either has an agenda against women or takes money directly from Russian banks or posts
frog memes on Twitter. Neither pick is a sitcom star from the 1980’s or one of the President-Elect’s children."
Trending
BAC UNG WLL BLUE DRYS TLYS EXPR DG SCO GASL KR EPE FIVE S
Beauty and the Beats By Dre, Left Swipe Story and My Fair Self-identifies as a Lady... Check out some other #MillennialMusicals
- This stock was up 45 percent Wednesday after comments made by a new Trump appointee.
- This currently stock trades on the OTC market.
- Also up in sympathy was Fannie Mae.
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