Macro Focus
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 2 points to 19,860.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose
0.75 points to 2,268.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 3 points to 4,940.50.
Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures dropped 1.27 percent to trade at $55.01 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures
also fell 1.35 percent to trade at $53.21 a barrel.
USA PPI (MoM) for Nov 0.40% vs 0.10% consensus estimate. The prior reading was 0.00%.
USA Retail Sales (MoM) for Nov 0.10% vs 0.30% consensus estimate. The prior reading was 0.80%.
- Data on industrial production for November will be released at 9:15 a.m. ET.
- Data on business inventories for October will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.
- The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.
- The Federal Open Market Committee will announce its policy decision at 2:00 p.m. ET.
- The Fed Chair Janet Yellen will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET.
BZ News Desk Focus
-
ABM Industries (NYSE: ABM) Reports Q4 EPS
$0.51 vs. Est. $0.50, Rev. $1.32B vs. Est. $1.33B
-
Joy Global (NYSE: JOY) Q4 EPS $0.17 vs
$0.17 Est, Revenue $656.6M vs $666.9M Est
-
Nordson (NASDAQ: NDSN) Reports Q4 GAAP
EPS $1.31, Including $0.08/Share Charge Related to One-Time Items, Sales $509M vs $482M Est.
-
LendingTree (NASDAQ: TREE) Sees FY16
Sales $370M-$375M vs $379.9M Est., Adj. EBITDA $64M-$66M
A 13D filing that Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square submitted with the SEC showed a marked
reduction in the firm’s exposure to Valeant (NYSE: VRX).
Pershing, which was the largest institutional shareholder of record in the company as of the end of the third quarter of 2016,
disclosed after Tuesday's close that Pershing Square and Pershing Square II had respectively sold 3,359,178 shares and 117,512
shares of high-cost-basis Common Stock, seeking to “generate a tax loss in 2016 for their investors.”
Sell-Side Themes
Nomura initiated coverage on a few lodging names, notably putting Buy ratings on Xenia Hotels (NYSE: XHR) and RLJ Lodging (NYSE: RLJ).
Sell-Side's Most Noteworthy Calls
- JPMorgan downgraded Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) to Neutral.
- Argus downgraded Marathon Oil (NYSE: MRO) to Hold.
- Piper Jaffray upgraded Kroger (NYSE: KR)
to Neutral.
- Evercore upgraded NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) to Buy.
Deal Talk
Shares of Hertz Global (NYSE: HTZ) rose
sharply on unconfirmed market chatter that shareholder Carl Icahn is seeking to acquire all shares of the car rental company. Ichan
is said to have discussed a bid for Hertz with other parties. After Tuesday's close, Hertz reported in an 8K filing that Kathryn
Marinello would become CEO effective January 3, 2017. Icahn told Reuters that Marinello was "the right person to lead Hertz
forward.
French drug giant Sanofi (NYSE: SNY) is in
talks for a deal with Actelion Pharmaceuticals, people familiar with the matter told Wall Street Journal. Actelion confirmed
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) has withdrawn
from discussions and is engaged in discussions with another party regarding a possible strategic transaction.
In The News
The Federal Reserve is likely to raise rates—the only increase this year and just the second since June 2006—and it also will
release economic projections for the first time since the U.S. election. Given the likelihood of steadily-rising interest rates,
investors are now shifting their attention which investments are best-positioned for the imminent tightening. Here are three ETFs to
consider.
Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) traded down after
the company failed to deal
with alleged “deficiencies” in its plan to manage its bankruptcy without recurring to a taxpayer bailout – a plan known as “living
will.” Regulators have imposed penalties on the company, including the prohibition to establish international bank units. The bank
will also be barred from purchasing any non-bank subsidiaries.
President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to eliminate regulations on U.S. businesses will likely take
years to fulfill given the complex steps involved in reversing them and political and legal challenges from Democratic
lawmakers and state attorneys general. Trump has said his administration will take aim at regulations across industries, and he
will be backed by congressional Republicans eager to undo some of the more controversial Obama administration initiatives. Big
targets include power-plant regulations and...
Blogosphere
Beware: "In
fact, the ONLY 3 PERIODS of extended unified Republican governments going back to 1900 ALL DIRECTLY led to banking crises…Arguably
the 3 worst in US History."
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