Early Look

Thursday, April 8, 2021

Futures	Up/Down	%	Last
Dow	10.00	0.03%	33,338
S&P 500	14.25	0.36%	4,084
Nasdaq	127.50	0.94%	13,732

 

 

U.S. futures are on track for another higher open, looking at another new all-time high for the S&P 500 (posted its 18th record close of 2021 yesterday) while Nasdaq futures outperform, looking higher by around 1% as the rally in large cap tech continues a day after Facebook (FB), Microsoft (MSFT) and Alphabet (GOOGL) all set new record highs. Minutes from the last Fed meeting showed FOMC members with brighter outlook for the economy, yet still being accommodative, agreeing to provide continued support via near-zero interest rates and large monthly bond purchases. The Fed also noted Wednesday that the economy was “a long way” from its goals of maximum employment and inflation of 2%. Note Fed Chair Jay Powell is set to speak at an IMF event later today and could provide more upbeat market sentiment. Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields ticked slightly lower early Thursday to 1.649%. Economic data fairly light today, with weekly jobless claims out around 8:30 (est. 680K after 719K last week). In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index fell -21 points to 29,708, the Shanghai Index rose 2 points to 3,482 and the Hang Seng Index jumped 333 points to 29,008. In Europe, the German DAX is down slightly at 15,170, while the FTSE 100 rose 25 points to 6,910.

Market Closing Prices Yesterday

·     The S&P 500 Index gained 6.01 points, or 0.15%, to 4,079.95

·     The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 16.02 points, or 0.05%, to 33,446.26

·     The Nasdaq Composite dipped -9.54 points, or 0.07%, to 13,688.84

·     The Russell 2000 Index declined -36.10 points, or 1.60% to 2,223.05

 

Events Calendar for Today

·     8:30 AM ET         Weekly Jobless Claims

·     8:30 AM EST      Continuing Claims

·     10:30 AM ET      Weekly EIA Natural Gas Inventory Data

 

Earnings Calendar:

·     Earnings Before the Open: APOG, CAG, STZ

·     Earnings After the Close: AFYA, LEVI, PSMT, WDFC

 

 

Macro	Up/Down	Last
Nymex	-0.42	59.35
Brent	-0.32	62.84
Gold	9.35	1,747.05
EUR/USD	-0.0008	1.1862
JPY/USD	-0.31	19.53
10-Year Note	-0.007	1.647%

 

 

World News

·     The Biden administration has put together a new proposal, calling for the world’s biggest businesses to pay levies to national governments based on their sales in each country as part of a deal on a global minimum tax.

·     Senator McConnell said yesterday he sees possible path for targeted infrastructure that does not revisit 2017 tax cuts; open to infrastructure legislation that targets traditional projects but needs to be credibly paid for and not through revising 2017 tax reform act

 

Sector News Breakdown

Consumer

·     Costco (COST) reported net sales of $18.21 bln for retail month of March, five weeks ended April 4, 2021, up 17.6% from $15.49 bln last year; March total same-store sales rose 16% vs. est. 12.3%; March E-Commerce sales rose 57.7%

·     Farmland Partners (FPI) files to sell 1.25M shares of common stock

·     Resource Connections (RGP) 3Q adj EPS $0.14 vs. est. (0.04) on revs $156.6Mm vs. est. $151.5Mm

·     Tesla (TSLA), Nio (NIO) General Motors (GM), Fisker (FSR), Blink (BLNK) – watch electric vehicles after the Biden administration’s $174 bln proposal to boost EVs calls for $100 bln in new consumer rebates and $15 bln to build 500,000 new charging stations – Reuters

·     Apogee Enterprises (APOG) Q4 adj EPS 63c vs. est. 56c; Q4 revenue $309M vs. est. $310.22M; sees FY22 EPS $2.10-$2.35 vs. est. $2.59

 

Energy, Industrials and Materials

·     Astrotech (ASTC) 21.64M share Spot Secondary priced at $1.50

·     Air Lease (AL) delivered a new Boeing 737-8 aircraft on long-term lease to Belavia-Belarusian Airlines; its the first of five new Boeing 737-8s confirmed to deliver to Belavia from ALC’s Boeing order book.

·     ArcelorMittal (MT) and Infosys (INFY) announce strategic collaboration for digital transformation

·     Landec (LNDC) reported Q3 adj EPS loss (9c) vs. est. loss (2c); Q3 revenue $137.8M vs. est. $139.7M; Q3 adj Ebitda was $7.61M; reiterates FY21 LifeCore Biomedical guidance; cuts FY21 revenue view to $523M-$532M from $530M-$550M; sees FY21 adjusted EBITDA $27M-$29M

 

Financials

·     Netstreit (NTST) 9.49M share Secondary priced at $18.65

·     Pzena Investment Management (PZN) reported its preliminary assets under management as of March 31st at $49.2B vs. $46.4B at the end of prior month

 

Healthcare

·     Addex Therapeutics (ADXN) files $150M share offering

·     Gilead (GILD) said the FDA granted regular approval to Sacituzumab govitecan for patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer

·     Strongbridge Biopharma (SBBP) rises after peer-reviewed publication of its results from Phase 3 SONICS study of Recorlev (levoketoconazole) in patients with Cushing’s syndrome

·     Amyris (AMRS) announces $250M offering of common stock

·     Crinetics (CRNX) 4.56M share Spot Secondary priced at $16.44

·     Maravai Lifesciences (MRVI) 18M share Secondary priced at $31.25

·     Phreesia (PHR) prices public offering of 4.5M Shares at $50.00

·     Otonomy (OTIC) 6.29M share Spot Secondary priced at $2.25

·     PRA Health Sciences (PRAH) said that Merck KGaA has selected the company’s remote patient monitoring platform to work in combination with its human growth hormone treatment system.

 

Technology, Media & Telecom

·     Production of some Apple (AAPL) MacBook’s and iPads has been postponed because of the global chip shortage, Nikkei reported. Chip shortages have caused delays in a key step in MacBook production – the mounting of components on printed circuit boards before final assembly, sources told Nikkei Asia.

·     F5 Networks (FFIV) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse

·     Identiv (INVE) 3.29M share Spot Secondary priced at $10.65

·     Twitter (TWTR) has recently held discussions to acquire Clubhouse, the audio-driven social network, Bloomberg reported, saying the two parties reportedly discussed a potential valuation of approximately $4B https://bloom.bg/31TyScz 

·     Progress Software (PRGS) initiates an offering of $300M principal amount of convertible senior notes due 2026