Morning Preview: March 11, 2024

Early Look

Monday, March 11, 2024

Futures

Up/Down

%

Last

Dow

-88.00

0.22%

39,105

S&P 500

-4.25

0.08%

5,188

Nasdaq

-2.50

0.02%

18,294

 

 

S&P futures are pulling back as the front month contract rolls to June, down -0.15% around 5,186 after major averages posted modest losses last week. The S&P 500 Index ended -0.7% lower on Friday and down -0.3% for the week at 5,123.69, while the Dow slipped -0.93% and the Nasdaq -1% on the week, while gold posted its highest daily and weekly close in history. Stocks futures are slipping ahead of a key inflation reading tomorrow morning with the February Consumer price index (CPI) to be released at 8:30 AM Tuesday, with investors hoping the “hotter” January print was just an aberration. Economists expect a 0.4% gain in consumer prices, or a 0.3% rise excluding food and energy. Last Friday, investors received mixed jobs data after stronger-than-forecast employment growth, rising unemployment, but weaker-than-expected wage data. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index tumbled -868 points or 2.19% to 38,820, the Shanghai Index rose 22 points to 3,068, and the Hang Seng Index gained 234 points to 16,587. In Europe, the German DAX is down -123 points to 17,690, while the FTSE 100 slips -23 points to 7,625. Bitcoin prices extend 2024 gains, up around 5% at $71,500 (overnight highs), a new record and now up 71% YTD and Ethereum +2.9% at $4,030.

 

Market Closing Prices Yesterday

  • The S&P 500 Index slumped -33.67 points, or 0.65%, to 5,123.69.
  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell -68.66 points, or 0.18%, to 38,722.69.
  • The Nasdaq Composite dropped -188.26 points, or 1.16%, to 16,085.11.
  • The Russell 2000 Index declined -2.03 points, or 0.10% to 2,082.71.

Economic Calendar for Today

  • 10:00 AM ET                Employment Trends for February
  • 1:00 PM ET                   US Treasury to sell $54B in 3-year notes.

Earnings Calendar:

  • Earnings Before the Open: GNE LEGN OSG
  • Earnings After the Close: ALTO ASAN AVO BODI CASY CVGW FTEK HRTG MRCC MTN NNBR OCUL ORCL SND

Other Key Events:

  • Deutsche Bank 32nd Annual Media, Internet & Telecom Conference, 3/11-3/13, in Palm Beach, FL
  • JP Morgan Industrials Conference, 3/11-3/14, in New York
  • Loop Capital Annual Investor Conference, 3/11-3/12, in New York

 

 

Macro

Up/Down

Last

Nymex

-0.23

77.79

Brent

0.06

82.14

Gold

-0.60

2,184.90

EUR/USD

0.0004

1.0941

JPY/USD

-0.44

146.64

10-Year Note

-0.009

4.079%

 

Sector News Breakdown

Consumer

  • Choice Hotels International (CHH) said on Monday it has terminated its hostile bid for rival Wyndham Hotels & Resorts (WH) after failing to gather enough support from the target’s shareholders. The company will also withdraw its nomination of independent director candidates for election at Wyndham’s 2024 annual meeting. Choice said its board had authorized an increase of 5 million shares to it repurchase program.
  • Contemporary Amperex Technology’s, or CATL shares surged after the EV battery supplier announced a collaboration with Chinese companies Xiaomi and BAIC Motor, as well as an upgrade by Morgan Stanley. CATL supplies batteries to carmakers like Tesla (TSLA).
  • MercadoLibre (MELI) mentioned positively in Barron’s saying investors looking for an alternative to the Magnificent Seven could do worse than MercadoLibre – and a recent earnings "disappointment" has created a buying opportunity in the stock of Latin America’s dominant online retailer.
  • Procter & Gamble (PG) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Truist.
  • Tesla Inc. (TSLA) German gigafactory near Berlin could be supplied with electricity again from Monday, the power firm in charge of fixing the outage, which began on March 5, said.

Energy, Industrials and Materials

  • Amplify Energy Corp. (AMPY): Government officials said Saturday they don’t believe the oily sheen found near Huntington Beach in California is related to a wastewater leak from Amplify’s Elly platform.
  • The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into the Boeing (BA) 737 MAX blowout on an Alaska Airlines (ALK) flight, the WSJ reported saying investigators have contacted some passengers and crew on the January 5th flight, after a fuselage panel ripped off midair.
  • Linde Plc (LIN) will replace Splunk Inc. (SPLK) in the Nasdaq-100 Index prior to market opening on March 18.
  • Petrobras (PBR) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley saying that a split decision about extraordinary dividends has prompted it to move to the sidelines.
  • In Solar: Chinese solar names JKS, CSIQ shares rose overnight after Bloomberg reported speculation the government will relax caps on renewable installation, improving the outlook for the sector https://tinyurl.com/5f66tnpy

Financials

  • Reddit Inc (RDDT) announced its initial public offering (IPO) of 22Mm shares filed in range of $31-$34 could raise $748Mm if priced at top end and said the deal expected to price early the week of March 18. Reddit is offering ~15.3 mln shares and its investors selling ~6.7 mln shares.

Technology, Media & Telecom

  • Samsung (SSNLF) eyes opportunity in AI chip manufacturing market amid TSMC dominance – Digitimes
  • The Biden administration is weighing sanctions on several Chinese tech companies, including memory chipmaker ChangXin Memory Technologies Inc., according to people familiar with the matter, in a fresh bid to restrain the Asian country’s development of advanced semiconductors – Bloomberg.

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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.