Morning Preview: January 17, 2025

Early Look

Friday, January 17, 2025

Futures

Up/Down

%

Last

Dow

165.00

0.38%

43,537

S&P 500

22.25

0.38%

5,998

Nasdaq

97.50

0.46%

21,347

 

 

U.S. stock index futures edged up on Friday after falling Thursday, with the S&P 500 and the Dow looking set to log their biggest weekly advances since November, while investors awaited a wave of policy changes under the incoming Trump administration. Following the best daily performances since November 2024 for the S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq on Wednesday, stocks pulled back on Thursday, ending near the lows amid selling pressure in technology (XLK) and consumer discretionary (XLY) names (AAPL, NVDA, TSLA, GOOGL) while defensive/interest rate sensitive sectors such as utilities (XLU) and REITs (XLRE) finished at the highs (each up over 2.2%) amid a further pullback in Treasury yields on economic data. The S&P 500 banking index and regional banks have outperformed the main indexes this week, logging advances of about 5.8% and 6.4%, respectively following stellar earnings from Citi, GS, JPM, WFC, BK and MS. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index fell -121 points to 38,451, the Shanghai Index rose 5 points to 3,241, and the Hang Seng Index gained 61 points to 19,584. In Europe, the German DAX is higher by 210 points to 20,866, while the FTSE 100 is up 98 points to 8,490. West Texas Intermediate crude oil headed for a fourth straight weekly gain as the latest U.S. sanctions on Russian energy trade heightened expectations for oil supply disruptions to a global supply in a market already tightened by cold weather. All eyes are now on Trump’s inauguration next Monday and for any announcements on US tariffs. Market concerns remain that Trump’s plans on tariffs and immigration could spark a trade war and fresh price pressures at a time when the economy is already strong, which could force the Fed to stave off further monetary policy easing.

 

Market Closing Prices Yesterday

  • The S&P 500 Index dipped -12.57 points, or 0.21%, to 5,937.34.
  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell -68.42 points, or 0.16%, to 43,153.13.
  • The Nasdaq Composite dropped -172.94 points, or 0.89%, to 19,338.29.
  • The Russell 2000 Index advanced 3.50 points, or 0.15% to 2,266.79.

Economic Calendar for Today

  • 8:30 AM ET                  Housing Starts M/M for December…est. 1.32M
  • 8:30 AM ET                  Building Permits M/M for December…est. 1.46M
  • 9:15 AM ET                  Industrial Production M/M for December…est. +0.3%
  • 9:15 AM ET                  Capacity utilization for December…est. 77.0%
  • 1:00 PM ET                   Baker Hughes Weekly rig count data
  • 4:00 PM ET                   Net Long-term TIC Flows for November

Earnings Calendar:

  • Earnings Before the Open: CFG FAST HBAN RF SLB STT TFC WBS

 

 

Macro

Up/Down

Last

Nymex

0.38

79.06

Brent

0.17

81.46

Gold

-17.40

2,733.50

EUR/USD

0.0005

1.0306

JPY/USD

0.51

155.67

10-Year Note

-0.016

4.59%

 

World News

  • China reported that its economy grew at a 5% annual pace last year, hitting the government’s target but slowing from the year before.
  • British retail sales fell unexpectedly in December, down by 0.3% month-on-month in December after a downwardly revised 0.1% expansion in November, the Office for National Statistics said.

Sector News Breakdown

Consumer

  • Crocs (CROX) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Williams Trading on weakening trends.
  • Rivian (RIVN) and U.S. Department Of Energy (DOE) finalize loan agreement to support future Georgia manufacturing site; closes $6.6B loan agreement with U.S. DOE.
  • The U.S. auto safety regulator closed its probe into 6,971 Fisker Ocean SUVs on Friday over inadvertent activation of the automatic emergency braking system, as it does not expect to get further information from the bankrupt EV maker. Fisker filed for bankruptcy protection in June

Energy, Industrials and Materials

  • JB Hunt (JBHT) Q4 EPS $1.53 vs est. $1.61 on revs fell -5% y/y to $3.15B vs est. $3.147B; decrease was primarily driven by a 3% and 2% decline in revenue per load excluding fuel surcharge revenue in Intermodal and Truckload respectively, a 4% decline in average trucks in Dedicated Contract Services, and a 22% decline in load volume in Integrated Capacity Solutions; Q4 Intermodal segment revenue down 2%.
  • DuPont (DD) and Axalta Coating (AXTA) upgraded to Outperform from Peer Perform at Wolfe Research in the chemicals sector.
  • Otis Worldwide (OTIS) authorizes $2B for share repurchase.
  • Shield AI, a maker of drones and software whose customers include the Ukrainian and U.S. governments, is in talks to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from investors including Palantir (PLTR) and Lockheed Martin (LMT), three people familiar with the matter said according to a report in theinformation. https://tinyurl.com/y53ucbsj

Financials

  • Bank OZK (OZK) Q4 EPS $1.56 vs est. $1.44 on NII $379-398Mm vs est. $376.89Mm, credit loss provision $37.174Mm; Book value per common share was $47.30 at December 31 an 11.5% increase from $42.42 at December 31, 2023
  • Citizens Financial (CFG) Q4 EPS $0.85 vs. est. $0.83; Q4 revenue $1.99B vs. est. $1.96B; reports Q4 net interest margin 2.87% vs. 2.91% last year; Q4 provisions for credit losses $162M.
  • Independent Bank (INDB) Q4 adj EPS $1.21 vs. est. $1.16; Q4 net interest margin 3.33%; Q3 pre-tax profit $62.93M vs. est. $63.5M.
  • Ready Capital (RC) announces $150M share buyback.
  • Regions Financial (RF) Q4 EPS $0.56 vs. est. $0.55; and Q4 revs $1.845B vs. est. $1.855B; says guides Q1 NII to decline modestly vs. 4Q; Q4 net interest margin 3.55% and provision for credit losses $120M.
  • TeraWulf Inc (WULF) files for mixed shelf; size not disclosed.
  • Truist Financial (TFC) Q4 EPS $0.91 vs. est. $0.88; Q4 revs $5.11B vs. est. $5.06B; Q4 tangible book value per share $30.01; Q4 CET1 capital ratio 11.5%; Q4 Provision for credit losses $471M and net charge-offs $453M; sees Q1 adj rev down about 2% Q/Q and sees FY adj rev up 3% to 3.5%.

Healthcare

  • National Vision (EYE) guides prelim Q4 revenue about $437M vs. est. $432.8M, prelim Q4 comparable store sales growth of approximately 2.6%; guides prelim FY24 revenue $1.823B vs. est. $1.83B, FY24 comparable store sales growth of approximately 1.9% and adj comparable store sales growth of approximately 1.3%.

Technology, Media & Telecom

  • Cloudflare (NET) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup and raised tgt to $145 from $95 saying they have higher conviction on Cloudflare’s ability to sustainably deliver 27%-30% annual revenue growth. Citigroup also opened a positive 90-day watchlist on Okta (OKTA) and negative 90-day on CrowdStrike (CRWD).
  • Western Digital (WDC) said expects Q2 revenue at mid-point of $4.20B-$4.40B range, as mid-point below the consensus $4.24B and said expects Q2 non-GAAP EPS at lower end of $1.75-$2.05 range (vs. est. $1.82); announces Wissam Jabre to step down as CFO of Western Digital HDD business.
  • Salesforce (CRM) upgraded to Buy from Hold at TD Cowen.
  • Regarding TikTok, Trump’s incoming national security adviser said the new Republican administration will keep the social media app used by 170 million Americans alive in the U.S. if there is a viable deal and top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer urged President Joe Biden to extend by 90 days a deadline to shut it down on Sunday.

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Market commentary provided by Hammerstone Markets, Inc, a firm separate from and not affiliated with Regal Securities. Regal Securities has not participated in the creation of the content, and does not explicitly or implicitly endorse the content.