Early Look

Monday, September 13, 2021

Futures	Up/Down	%	Last
Dow	233.00	0.68%	34,724
S&P 500	27.25	0.61%	4,476
Nasdaq	80.50	0.52%	15,514

 

 

Stock futures are looking sharply higher, with the S&P trying to snap its longest losing streak since February (5-days currently) ahead of key economic data this week (CPI and retail sales). Stocks are recovering despite a handful of negative headlines this weekend including a WSJ article that House Dems are considering a 26.5% corporate tax rate from 21.5% with a 3% surtax on individual incomes over $3m, & increasing higher rate capital gains tax to 28.8% from 23.8%. Also this weekend, Sen. Joe Manchin said this weekend he would not vote for the $3.5 trillion budget bill, adding that there’s “no way” to meet the September 27 deadline. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index gained 65 points to 30,447, the Shanghai Index rose 12 points to 3,715 and the Hang Seng Index dropped -392 points (1.5%) to settle at 25,813. In Europe, the German DAX is surging over 175 points (1.1%) to 15,785, while the FTSE 100 is up over 50 points to 7,075. Stocks slipped all last week as the S&P fell 1.7%, the Dow lost 2.15%, the Nasdaq shed 1.61% as the S&P 500 extended its losing streak to 5-days, the longest since the middle of February. The S&P 500 has rallied over 38% without a 5%+ pullback over the last 309 calendar days. With the European Central Bank offering only a partial tapering of its bond purchases last week, while boosting growth forecasts, investors are now looking at an autumn glide path for stocks based on a similar move by the Federal Reserve later this month. Markets will closely watch the CPI inflation reading after another rise in producer prices (PPI) late last week.

 

Market Closing Prices Yesterday

·     The S&P 500 Index dropped -34.70 points, or 0.77%, to 4,458.58

·     The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell -271.66 points, or 0.78%, to 34,607.72

·     The Nasdaq Composite dropped -132.76 points, or 0.87%, to 15,115.49

·     The Russell 2000 Index declined -21.58 points, or 0.96% to 2,227.55

 

Events Calendar for Today

·     2:00 PM ET         Federal Budget for August

 

Earnings Calendar:

·     Earnings Before the Open: NSSC, SEAC

·     Earnings After the Close: AVO, CSBR, EPM, ICMB, MTRX, ORCL, RFIL, VOLT

 

Other Key Events:

·     Barclay’s Financial Services Conference (virtual) 2021, 9/13-9/15

·     BMO Capital 2021 Real Estate Conference (virtual), 9/13-9/14

·     Citigroup 2021 Global Technology Conference (virtual), 9/13-9/15

·     Cowen 2nd Annual Health, Wellness & Beauty Summit (virtual), 9/13-9/14

·     Credit Suisse 34th Annual Basic Materials Conference (virtual), 9/13-9/14

·     Deutsche Bank 11th Annual Aircraft, Finance & Leasing Conference, 9/13-9/14, in NY

·     JPMorgan Gaming, Lodging, Restaurant & Leisure Management Forum, 9/13-9/14

·     Piper Global Technology Conference (virtual), 9/13-9/14

·     Piper 2021 D.C. Bank Field Trip, 9/13-9/15

·     Wells Fargo 10th Annual Lease REIT Forum (virtual), 9/13

 

 

Macro	Up/Down	Last
Nymex	0.96	70.68
Brent	0.86	73.78
Gold	+0.90	1,788.50
EUR/USD	-0.0033	1.1781
JPY/USD	0.18	110.12
10-Year Note	-0.005	1.336%

 

 

World News

·     House Democrats expect to propose raising the corporate tax rate to 26.5% from 21% and imposing a 3-percentage-point surtax on individual income above $5 million, according to two House Democratic aides familiar with the plans, the WSJ reported. The tax increases would be part of the House Ways and Means Committee’s plans to pay for the party’s priorities in a fast-moving budget bill. Those items include an expanded child tax credit, a national paid-leave program and renewable-energy tax breaks.

·     Sen. Joe Manchin said this weekend he would not vote for the $3.5 trillion budget bill, adding that there’s “no way” to meet the September 27 deadline set by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Manchin’s comments come as lawmakers work to approve the measure which would invest in climate policy and expand social programs

·     North Korea carried out successful tests of a new long-range cruise missile over the weekend, state media said on Monday

 

Sector News Breakdown

Consumer

·     Homebuilders D.R. Horton (DHI) and Meritage (MTH) still look like relative bargains according to Barron’s saying when it comes to builders, book value may no longer be the only metric to look at. DHI, MDC and MTH look historically cheap based on current price/earnings, noting Wall Street analysts see double-digit gains ahead

·     Boston Beer (SAM) shares tumbled this week after warning of decelerating had seltzer category, with Barron’s saying with the stock now worth less than half what it was at its peak, it might be time to take a look at shares. The stock now looks to have support near $500, around its June 2020 lows. If that level holds, buying the stock in the low $500s could turn out to be a smart bet

·     Toyota Motor Corp (TM) and Honda Motor Co (HMC) on Saturday sharply criticized a proposal by Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives to give union-made electric vehicles in the United States an additional $4,500 tax incentive.

·     Leslie’s (LESL) files to sell 13M shares of common stock for holders

·     MGM Resorts (MGM) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Bernstein

·     Nike (NKE) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BTIG

·     Stanley Black & Decker (SWK) announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Excel Industries for $375 million in cash.

 

Energy, Industrials and Materials

·     Virgin Galactic (SPCE) said this weekend that the flight window for Unity 23 will be pushed back to mid-October at the earliest after a third-party supplier flagged a potential manufacturing defect in a component of the flight control actuation system. It is not yet known if the defect is present in any of Virgin’s vehicles or any repair work will be needed.

·     Kansas City Southern (KSU) said on Sunday it planned to accept Canadian Pacific Railway’s (CP) $27.2 billion cash-and-stock acquisition offer as superior to its $29.6 billion deal to sell itself to Canadian National Railway (CNI), according to Reuters. Canadian National now has until the end of Friday to submit a better offer or lose its deal with Kansas City Southern.

·     Rocket Lab USA (RKLB) mentioned cautiously in Barron’s saying after a strong run for shares, it’s time to think about taking some profits. Recent positive news has sent shares skyrocketing, leaving even the most bullish investors wondering that to do next

·     Atlas Air Worldwide (AAWW) subsidiary, Atlas Air completes five-year joint collective bargaining agreement for its Atlas Air and Southern Air pilots.

·     Trane Technologies (TT) signed an agreement to acquire Farrar Scientific, a leader in ultra-low temperature control for biopharmaceutical and other life science applications for $250M

·     US Well Services (USWS) said it received written notice from the Nasdaq on Sept 7 indicating it had failed to comply with the minimum closing bid price requirement rule and will therefore be de-listed

·     Louisiana declared a state of emergency ahead of Tropical Storm Nicholas

 

Financials

·     Beijing wants to break up Alipay, the hugely popular payments app owned by Jack Ma’s Ant Group, and create a separate app for the company’s highly profitable loans business, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. The plan will also see Ant turn over the user data that underpins its lending decisions to a new credit scoring joint-venture, which will be partly state-owned, the newspaper reported

·     TransUnion (TRU) said it has agreed to buy information-services company Neustar Inc. for $3.1 billion in cash, a move that sets the consumer-credit reporting giant to diversify beyond its core business and put data to new uses. The Chicago-based company Monday said it is buying Neustar from a private investment group led by Golden Gate Capital https://on.mktw.net/3tBRVou

·     SVB Financial Group (SIVB) mentioned positively in Barron’s saying the bank stands out in the stodgy world of banking because of its unusual role as a leading lender to innovative tech start-ups. While some banks have struggled to grow their loan book over the past year, SVB had 8% QoQ growth in loan balances, reflecting strong activity in the tech and healthcare sectors

·     KeyCorp (KEY) sold its $3.2B indirect retail auto loan portfolio to a vehicle managed by a subsidiary of Waterfall Asset Management, and will use capital generated by the sale to buy back some of its stock.

 

Healthcare

·     Dynavax (DVAX) shares slide -16%; as the British government ends a COVID-19 vaccine supply deal with French vaccine maker Valneva SE, alleging a breach of obligations that Valneva denies. Valneva is developing its COVID-19 vaccine, VLA2001, combined with DVAX’s adjuvant or vaccine booster, CpG 1018

·     AbbVie (ABBV) and REGENXBIO (RGNX) form a strategic partnership combining eye care and gene therapy expertise- Companies will develop and commercialize RGX-314, an investigational gene therapy for wet age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and other chronic retinal diseases- REGENXBIO to receive $370 million upfront payment

·     Leap Therapeutics (LPTX) said it will be presenting initial data from the first-line cohort of the DisTinGuish study, a Phase 2a clinical trial evaluating Leap’s anti-Dickkopf-1, or DKK1, antibody, DKN-01, in combination with tislelizumab, BeiGene’s anti-PD-1 antibody, and chemotherapy, in patients with gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer, at the European Society for Medical Oncology, or ESMO, Congress, being held virtually on September 16-21

·     MiMedx Group (MDXG) shares fall -19% as reports Top-line Data from Two Late-Stage Musculoskeletal Trials. Top-line results from an interim analysis of the Phase 2B trial for KOA did not meet primary endpoints. Top-line results from Phase 3 Plantar Fasciitis trial did not meet its primary endpoints.

·     Israel is considering a fourth round of coronavirus vaccines, Bloomberg News reported, citing an interview a health ministry official. mostly uses the vaccine made by Pfizer (PFE) and BioNTech (BNTX), but also uses Moderna (MRNA)

·     Hepion Pharmaceuticals (HEPH) schedules conference call to review data from phase 2a ‘AMBITION’ clinical trial of CRV431 in NASH; it expects to release additional data from its Phase 2a ‘AMBITION’ NASH clinical trial before the market opens on Monday, September 13, 2021.

 

Technology, Media & Telecom

·     Cisco (CSCO mentioned in Barron’s noting the company is meeting with analysts on Wednesday for the first time in four year and the session could make or break the shares. The networking giant’s sales suffered last year as companies cut information technology spending early in the pandemic. But the trend has reversed in Cisco’s favor

·     ViacomCBS Inc (VIAC) is revamping the operations of its Paramount Pictures movie and television production unit under a broader management shake-up, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter. The realignment will see Paramount Television expected to focus primarily on making content for its sister cable and streaming networks

·     Canon (CAJ) announced that it has reached an agreement with Redlen Technologies to conclude a share transfer agreement, making Redlen a wholly owned subsidiary of Canon