Early Look

Friday, September 27, 2024

U.S. futures are looking slightly lower after reaching another record high for both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrials on Thursday as the rally continued to gain steam heading into today’s month Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) data at 8:30 AM ET, the Fed’s favored inflation figure. The Dow ended 260 points higher, while the S&P 500 logs 42nd record close of 2024. The Nasdaq Composite added about 0.6%, ending around 18,192. US-listed Chinese stocks posted broad-based gains, extending a rally driven by Beijing’s latest stimulus measures. Traders are looking out for the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation indicator later Friday for clues on the trajectory of interest-rates. Japan’s yen rebounded, climbing 1% against the dollar as Shigeru Ishiba won the vote for leadership of the nation’s ruling party.

In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index jumped 903 points or 2.32% to settle at 39,829, the Shanghai Index gained 86 points to 2.88% to settle at 3,087, and the Hang Seng Index jumped 707 points or 3.55% to settle at 20,632. Chinese markets clocked their best week in almost 16 years as the mainland’s CSI 300 rallied 15.7% this week, buoyed by several economic stimulus measures by the central bank. The last time the index saw a bigger weekly gain was the week ending Nov. 14, 2008. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index recorded a weekly gain of 12.75%, making it the index’s best week since February 1998, according to FactSet data. The rally comes as the People’s Bank of China cut its 7-day reverse repurchase rate to 1.5% from 1.7%, as well as slashed the reserve requirement ratio of financial institutions by 0.5 percentage point.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 260.36 points, or 0.62%, to 42,175.11.
• The Nasdaq Composite gained 108.09 points, or 0.60%, to 18,190.29.
• The Russell 2000 Index advanced 12.42 points, or 0.57% to 2,209.87.

• 8:30 AM ET                  Personal Spending for August
• 8:30 AM ET PCE Prices Index M/M for August…est. +0.1%
• 8:30 AM ET PCE Prices Index Y/Y for August…est. +2.3%
• 8:30 AM ET                  Core-PCE Prices Index M/M for August…est. +0.2%
• 8:30 AM ET                  Core-PCE Prices Index Y/Y for August…est. +2.7%
• 8:30 AM ET                  Advance Goods Trade Balance for August
• 10:00 AM ET                University of Michigan Confidence, Sept-Final…est. 69.3
• 10:00 AM ET                University of Michigan 1-yr and 5-yr inflation expectations, Sept-final
• 1:00 PM ET                   Baker Hughes Weekly rig count data

• UK retail sales grow at fastest pace since May as the CBI said its monthly retail sales balance rose to +4 in September from -27 in August, while retailers’ expectations for the month ahead rose from -17 to +5, their strongest since April 2023.

• Mazda is recalling 77,670 sports vehicles in the U.S. over a software error that may cause the front airbags to deploy with excessive force in a crash, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Friday.
• Scholastic (SCHL) Q1 adj EBITDA (-$60.5Mm) vs est. (-$73.39Mm) on $237.2Mm revs vs est. $233.49Mm; affirms FY guidance.
• Toyota Motor Corp (TM) is recalling over 42,000 U.S. vehicles over loss of power brake assist that can extend the distance required to stop, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Friday.
• Vail Resorts (MTN) boosts buyback authorization by 1.1M to 1.7M shares; Q4 EPS ($4.67) vs est. ($4.24), op Inc ($181.862Mm) vs est. ($183.74Mm) on revs $265.386Mm vs est. $265.54Mm; guides FY25 EBITDA $827-889Mm vs est. $874.77Mm.
• Wynn Resorts (WYNN) upgraded to overweight from equal-weight at Morgan Stanley citing a combination of near-low valuation and an underappreciated opportunity in the UAE.

• IonQ (IONQ) announces largest 2024 U.S. quantum contract award of $54.5m with US Air Force Research Lab.

• Establishment Labs Holdings (ESTA) shares jump after saying it received U.S. FDA’s approval for its Motiva breast implants; said the FDA cleared the use of its Motiva SmoothSilk Ergonomix and SmoothSilk Round implants in primary and revision breast augmentation.
• Travere Therapeutics (TVTX) announces voluntary pause of enrollment in the phase 3 harmony study of pegtibatinase related to commercial manufacturing scale-up; said to address manufacturing scale-up process improvements; enrollment in phase 3 harmony study expected to restart in 2026.

• Blackberry (BB) Q2 adj EPS 0 vs. consensus loss (-$0.04); Q2 revs $145M vs. $132M last year; raises FY25 EPS view to (5c)-(2c) from (7c)-(3c) and vs. consensus loss (-$0.06) and narrows FY25 revenue to $591M-$616M from $586M-$616M