Early Look

Friday, January 19, 2024

Another day, another rally for U.S. equities as futures are pointing back near all-time highs with the S&P (Spuz) trading at the highs of 4,835.50 as Nasdaq futures are pointing to another strong open. There was another massive rally for U.S. stocks on Thursday as the Nasdaq-100 touched a record in a tech-fueled rally on earnings optimism (QQQ closed at a new 52-week high $412.99, and an intraday high $413.57. Cautious comments from Fed speakers (Bostic) on rates as well as mixed economic data, and a rise in Treasury yields failed to dent the market rally that has been pushing higher since the end of October. Feds Bostic repeated that he expects first rate cut in Q3, and said care needed not to cut too soon; is open to cut before July if there is convincing evidence inflation slowing faster than anticipated. Reports that Congress passed a short-term spending bill midday yesterday, averting a govt shutdown as funding will run through 1 and 8 March also helped sentiment. The rally was again led by technology as Apple (AAPL) shares posted its best day in roughly 8-months while semiconductors behind AI optimism added to its recent gains rising over 3%.

In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index rose 497 points or 1.4% to settle at 35,963, the Shanghai Index fell -13 points to 2,832, and the Hang Seng Index fell -83 points to 15,308. In Europe, the German DAX is up 56 points to 16,623, while the FTSE 100 is up 32 points to 7,491. UK Retail sales fell more sharply than expected in the U.K. in December, as total trade volumes were 3.2% lower than a month earlier. Japan’s CPI slowed in line with expectations in December, with core CPI cooling for a second month. In Stocks news, the European Union’s antitrust watchdog is set to block Amazon’s planned acquisition of iRobot, which sent shares of the Roomba vacuum maker down 36% in premarket trading.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 201.94 points, or 0.54%, to 37,468.61.
• The Nasdaq Composite gained 200.03 points, or 1.35%, to 15,055.65.
• The Russell 2000 Index advanced 10.49 points, or 0.55% to 1,923.65.

• 10:00 AM ET                University of Michigan Confidence, Jan-P…est. 70.0
• 1:00 PM ET                   Baker Hughes Weekly rig count data
• 4:00 PM ET                   Net Long-term TIC Flows for November
• 4:15 PM ET                   Fed’s Daly Speaks in Fireside Chat

• Mesa Air (MESA) shares jumped after the regional air carrier struck several deals with partner United Airlines (UAL) to improve Mesa’s liquidity.
• Wendy’s (WEN) announces CEO succession as Kirk Tanner (comes over from PEP) to succeed Todd Penegor as President & CEO and the company reaffirms previously provided FY 2023 outlook.
• Beacon (BECN) announces offering of 5.22M shares of common stock for holders.

• JB Hunt (JBHT) Q4 EPS $1.47 vs est. $1.75 on revs fell -9% y/y to $3.3B amid soft volumes and a drop in revenue per load in its truckload unit, but still slightly above the est. $3.275B.
• Matson (MATX) said it sees Q4 diluted EPS $1.65-$1.78 above consensus $1.25; sees Q4 operating income for Ocean Transportation to be $61M-$66M and expects 4Q23 operating income for Logistics to be $8M-$9M.
• PPG Industries (PPG) Q4 adj EPS $1.53 vs est. $1.50 on revs $4.35B vs est. $4.269B; guides Q1 adj EPS $1.80-1.87 vs est. $1.98 and FY24 EPS $8.34-8.59 vs est. $8.46; forecasts Q1 organic sales growth in lower-single digits.
• Valero (VLO) raises the quarterly dividend from $1.02 to $1.07 per share.

• Bank OZK (OZK) Q4 EPS $1.50 vs est. $1.48 on NII $370.548Mm vs est. $368.81.
• Banner Corp. (BANR) Q4 EPS $1.24 vs est. $1.28 on NII $138.409Mm vs est. $139.45Mm, credit loss provision $2.522Mm.
• Huntington Bancshares (HBAN) Q4 adj EPS $0.27, in-line with consensus.
• Independent Bank (INDB) Q4 EPS $1.26 vs. est. $1.24; generated a return on average assets and a return on average common equity of 1.13% and 7.51%, respectively.
• Metropolitan Bank (MCB) Q4 EPS $1.28 vs est. $1.49 on NII $57Mm vs est. $54.93Mm, NIM 3.36%.
• OceanFirst Financial (OCFC) Q4 EPS $0.46 vs est. $0.43 on NII $87.8Mm vs est. $87.32Mm, NIM 2.82%.

• Ikena Oncology (IKNA) provided an organizational update outlining key objectives toward advancing the development of its lead targeted oncology assets, IK-930 and IK-595; cuts 35% of workforce.

• iRobot Corp. (IRBT) shares plummeted overnight after the Wall Street Journal reported that the European Union plans to block Amazon’s (AMZN) purchase of the Roomba maker. Amazon announced in 2022 that it planned to buy iRobot in a $1.7B deal. http://tinyurl.com/3dksty8x