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minutes@benzinga.com.
Macro Focus
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 154 points to 19,874.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose
18.25 points to 2,254.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 42 points to 4,906.00.
Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures gained 2.24 percent to trade at $58.09 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures
also rose 2.25 percent to trade at $54.93 a barrel.
Oil prices moved sharply higher on Tuesday on hopes OPEC’s
deal to cut production that set in on Sunday will help stabilize the market in 2017.
- The Markit manufacturing PMI for December will be released at 9:45 a.m. ET.
- The ISM manufacturing index for December is schedule for release at 10:00 a.m. ET.
- Data on construction spending for November will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.
- The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.
- The Treasury will also auction 4-and 52-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.
- The Gallup's Economic Confidence Index for December is schedule for release at 2:00 p.m. ET.
BZ News Desk Focus
The new earnings reporting season doesn't really kick off until mid-month, but a few
quarterly results of note will highlight this otherwise quiet week. Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ), Monsanto (NYSE: MON) and Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ: WBA) are on deck to share their latest numbers.
The analysts' consensus forecast calls for the leading beer, wine and spirits purveyor to show year-over-year growth on the
bottom line for the period when it said it was considering expanding into marijuana. The agricultural products giant may have swung
to a tiny profit as its merger with Bayer proceeds. And a merger is on the minds of the leading drug store operator as well, as it
has been looking to divest stores to make its tie-up with Rite Aid happen. Marginal growth will be seen in its report, if it lives
up to expectations.
Sell-Side Themes
After a stellar 2016, some of the top-performing stocks that Wall Street loves seem poised to deliver huge returns again in
2017. However, it’s important to remember that there’s always two sides to each trade. Here's a bearish contrarian
take on some of the hottest stocks on Wall Street.
Sell-Side's Most Noteworthy Calls
- Mizuho downgraded McKesson (NYSE: MCK)
and Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH) to Neutral.
- Jefferies downgraded DSW (NYSE: DSW) and
Steve Madden (NASDAQ: SHOO) to Hold.
- RBC Capital upgraded Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN) to Sector Perform.
- Credit Suisse upgraded Xerox (NYSE: XRX)
to Outperform.
Deal Talk
Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) has filed a
formal bid to buy a minority stake in the commercial unit of K Raheja Corp, one of India's top three owners of tenanted offices,
vying with Singapore's Temasek Holding and rival private equity investor Warburg Pincus, people directly familiar with the matter
told Times Of India.
KKR & Co. L.P. (NYSE: KKR) is said to still
be interested in acquiring Depomed (NASDAQ: DEPO) and would combine it with Arbor Pharmaceuticals, according to sources as
reported by the New York Post on Friday. Depomed has set Wednesday as the deadline for final bids, the sources said. Mizuho
Securities stated in a note in November that Depomed would be sold for $25 per share.
In The News
Apart from the well-known Consumer Electronics Show, January will see some of the market’s most notable events in the
technology, finance and healthcare domains. Here is a brief
overview of various influential events set to unfold in January.
See why European dividend stocks are among the best income bets for the year ahead, according to the latest Barron's cover story. U.S. dividend
stocks and electric utilities also look attractive, but there are certain sectors that should be avoided in 2017.
Blogosphere
"Outside Sweden, Daniel Ek isn't
a household name. That will probably change this year when the 33-year-old seeks to turn Spotify, the music streaming business he
founded a decade ago in Stockholm, into a publicly traded company that could be worth $8 billion."
"Investing in biotech is meant to be a romantic journey from years of cash-burning R&D to the launch of a drug and perhaps a
takeover at a generous price by a big pharma company. But what if a takeover of
Swiss pharma group Actelion gave investors a chance to repeat the painful first stage of the odyssey all over again?"
Trending
GM DIS DGAZ UGAZ ITEK JDST OPK UVXY LABD JNUG ATHN DUST STZ RDHL SPY CLVS XRX IWM WTW LABU
Back at it again, Donald Trump called out General Motors (NYSE: GM): "General Motors is sending Mexican made model of Chevy Cruze to U.S. car
dealers-tax free across border. Make in U.S.A.or pay big border tax!"
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