Early Look

Monday, November 11, 2024

Another day, another record as U.S. stock momentum continues to surge heading into the end of year, looking to build on last week’s massive gains where the S&P 500 climbed 4.7%, the Dow climbed 4.6% and the Nasdaq climbed 5.7% behind another Fed rate cut and after Donald Trump was named 47^th President of the United States. Futures tracking the small-cap Russell 2000 are up over 1% this morning, their highest since last November, expected to be a key beneficiary of President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed tax cuts and expectations of an easier regulatory environment. Momentum just continues to push major averages to new records as The Dow Jones Industrial Average touched 44,000 points for the first time on Friday and had its best week in more than a year, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite also finished at record highs. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index gained 32 points to 39,533, the Shanghai Index rose 17 points to 3,470, and the Hang Seng Index dropped -301 points to 20,426. In Europe, the German DAX is up 231 points to 19,447, while the FTSE 100 gains 57 points to 8,130. Bitcoin prices are up +7.25% since 4:00 PM Friday trading above $82,100, extending a rally fueled by crypto optimism following Donald Trump’s election. Oil extended its biggest drop in almost two weeks as a soft outlook in top importer China continued to plague the market. Earnings season has finally turned the corner, slowing the last 2 months while the focus this week will be on consumer price inflation data, due Wednesday, as well as a raft of other key data this week.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 259.65 points, or 0.59%, to 43,988.99.
• The Nasdaq Composite gained 17.32 points, or 0.09%, to 19,286.78.
• The Russell 2000 Index advanced 16.95 points, or 0.71% to 2,399.64.

• Earnings After the Close: ANGI ASRT AVD CCAP EGY GATO IAC IVAC LAZR LYV NVRO RMR STXS TALO TISI ZETA

• Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari said a strong economy and higher productivity growth may drive the US central bank to cut interest rates less than previously expected
• China’s consumer prices rose at the slowest pace in four months in October while producer price deflation deepened, data showed. The consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.3% from a year earlier last month, slowing from September’s 0.4% rise and marking the lowest since June, Core inflation, excluding volatile food and fuel prices, rose 0.2% in October, accelerating from 0.1% in September.

• Aramark (ARMK) Q4 adjusted EPS $0.54 vs. est. $0.53; Q4 revs $4.42B vs. est. $4.46B; Board has approved a new $500 million share repurchase program; raises quarterly dividend 11% to 10.5c per share; guides FY25 adj EPS growth 23%-28% and organic rev growth 7.5% to 9.5%.
• Bloomin’ Brands (BLMN) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James.
• Booking Holdings (BKNG) announced its intention to implement certain organizational changes, including modernizing processes and systems, and an expected workforce reduction.
• Tesla (TSLA) shares rise over 7% pre mkt trading, adding to last week gains where the stock rose 29%, benefiting from Donald Trump’s reelection as U.S. President and reached $1 trillion market capitalization for the first time since 2022 in prior session.

• NOV Inc. (NOV) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup and cut tgt to $18 from $21 saying the global drilling slowdown has intensified over the past few months.
• NuScale Power Corp (SMR) files for offering of up to $200 million shares of class a common stock.
• Russian officials and business executives have held talks about merging the country’s biggest oil companies into a single producer, the Wall Street Journal reported. Russia is working on a plan to merge state-backed Rosneft Oil with Gazprom Neft and Lukoil, creating the world’s second-biggest crude oil producer.

• FTX filed a lawsuit against Anthony Scaramucci and his hedge fund SkyBridge Capital as part of a broader effort to claw back money for creditors of the bankrupt company. The lawsuit against Scaramucci is one of 23 filed in the bankruptcy court of Delaware on Friday.

• Inspire Medical Systems (INSP) announces $75Mm accelerated shr repurchase program.
• Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TEVA) argued Friday that the Federal Circuit should reverse a district judge’s too-narrow interpretation of the statutory definition for “drug” adopted when striking five of its inhaler patents from the US Food and Drug Administration’s approved drug patent registry

• Sapiens (SPNS) cuts FY24 revenue view to $541M-$546M from $550M-$555M saying revenue fell short of their targets in the third quarter, and the challenges we encountered are expected to impact revenue in the fourth quarter. However, they expect our non-GAAP operating margin to be within our guidance range at 18.2%.
• Sony Group (SONY) reported a 69% jump in Q2 net profit to Y338.50 billion, equivalent to $2.22 billion, for the three months ended Sept. 30 topping ests of Y254.0 billion; operating profit for its game business more than doubled to Y138.85 billion; sold 3.8M PlayStation 5s in Q2, down from the 4.9M units sold y/y.
• Pinterest (PINS) upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Wedbush.