Early Look

Thursday, April 15, 2021

Futures	Up/Down	%	Last
Dow	152.00	0.45%	33,776
S&P 500	18.25	0.45%	4,136
Nasdaq	80.50	0.59%	13,879

 

 

U.S. equity futures are at it again, pointing to a sharply higher open, with the S&P 500 back on track to open at new record highs ahead of important economic data in the form of retail sales and weekly jobless claims. The Fed’s Beige Book showed yesterday that the U.S. economy is accelerating to a moderate pace, while some of the sectors hit hardest by the pandemic are showing signs of recovery. A strong round of data this morning could provide a lift for shares of retailers and industrials. The S&P 500 slipped from record levels in volatile trading on Wednesday amid a sell-off in technology shares. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index rose 21 points to 29,642, the Shanghai Index fell -17 points to 3,398 and the Hang Seng Index dropped -107 points to 28,793. In Europe, the German DAX is up about 40 points to 15,250, while the FTSE 100 is up about 25 points to 6,965. Market momentum again pointing to a strong open as investors take any and every opportunity to add to positions heading into earnings season.

Market Closing Prices Yesterday

·     The S&P 500 Index slipped -16.93 points, or 0.41%, to 4,124.66

·     The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 53.62 points, or 0.16%, to 33,730.89

·     The Nasdaq Composite dropped -138.26 points, or 0.99%, to 13,857.84

·     The Russell 2000 Index advanced 18.79 points, or 0.84% to 2,247.72

 

Events Calendar for Today

·     8:30 AM ET         Weekly Jobless Claims…est. 700K

·     8:30 AM EST      Continuing Claims…est. 3.7M

·     8:30 AM EST      Philly Fed Survey for April…est. 42.0

·     8:30 AM EST      Retail Sales MoM for March…est. 5.9%

·     8:30 AM EST      Retail Sales Ex: Autos for March…est. 5.0%

·     9:15 AM EST      Industrial Production MoM for March…est. 2.8%

·     9:15 AM EST      Capacity Utilization for March…est. 75.7%

·     10:00 AM EST    Business Inventories for February…est. 0.5%

·     10:00 AM EST    NAHB Housing Market Index for April…est. 83

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

·     4:00 PM EST       Net Long-term Flows for February

 

Earnings Calendar:

·     Earnings Before the Open: BAC, BLK, C, DAL, HOMB, PEP, PGR, RAD, TFC, UNH, USB

·     Earnings After the Close: AA, JBHT, LAKE, MRTN, PPG, SGBX

 

Other Key Events:

·     American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting (virtual), 4/10-4/15

·     JPMorgan Retail Round-Up (virtual), 4/14-4/15

·     Needham Annual Healthcare Conference (virtual), 4/12-4/15

 

 

Macro	Up/Down	Last
Nymex	-0.41	62.74
Brent	-0.36	66.22
Gold	10.65	1,747.10
EUR/USD	-0.0007	1.1973
JPY/USD	-0.15	108.78
10-Year Note	-0.021	1.615%

 

 

World News

·     U.S. to sanction Russia, expel diplomats over alleged election interference, hacking – Using a new executive order, the measure will expand the existing prohibitions on U.S. banks trading in Russian government debt, two of the people said. Previous prohibitions targeting portions of Russian sovereign debt shook Russia’s markets and added to its economic woes.

 

Sector News Breakdown

Consumer

·     American Eagle Outfitters’ (AEO) said Q1 tracking over $1b compares to estimate of $904.1M; said business accelerates across American Eagle and Aerie brands; Q1 revenue on-track to mid-teens growth vs. pre-covid 2019; approximately $120 million in Q1 operating income expected, fueled by strong demand and margin expansion

·     PepsiCo (PEP) Q1 core EPS $1.21 vs. est. $1.12; Q1 revs $14.82B vs. est. $14.55B; said continues to expect a mid-single-digit increase in organic revenue; high-single-digit increase in core constant currency EPS; core annual effective tax rate of approximately 21%

·     Esports Technologies (EBET) 2.4M share IPO priced at $6.00

·     TuSimple (TSP) 33.784M share IPO priced at $40.00

·     Ethan Allen (ETH) said while last year results were impacted with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we had a record increase of 51.8% in written orders in our retail division, including ecommerce, compared to the prior year third quarter ending March 31, 2020. These strong written orders also reflected a 21.9% increase compared to the fiscal 2019 third quarter.

·     Steven Madden (SHOO) announced that it has completed the acquisition of the 49.9% share that it did not already own of its European joint venture, or JV

 

Energy, Industrials and Materials

·     Maxeon Solar (MAXN) announces $125M offering of ordinary shares

·     Karat Packaging (KRT) 3.95M share IPO priced at $16.00

 

Financials

·     Bank America (BAC) Q1 EPS 86c vs. est. 66c; Q1 revenue $22.8B vs. est. $22.13B; announces $25B share repurchase plan; reported a 12% fall in consumer banking revenue to $8.1 billion in the quarter ended March; net charge-offs are expected to decline in 2q21 given recent positive delinquency trends; 1q provision for credit losses was benefit of $1.9 billion

·     BlackRock (BLK) Q1 adj EPS $7.77 vs. est. $7.64; Q1 revenue $4.4B vs. est. $4.3B; qtrly rev rise reflects strong organic growth, higher performance fees, 12% growth in technology services revs

·     Kimco Realty Corp. (KIM) entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire Weingarten (WRI) where each Weingarten common share will be converted into 1.408 newly issued shares of Kimco common stock plus $2.89 in cash. Based on the closing stock price for Kimco on April 14, 2021, this represents a total consideration of approximately $30.32 per Weingarten share.

·     Truist Financial (TFC) Q1 adj EPS $1.18 vs. est. $1.11; Q1 revenue $5.48B vs. est. $5.47B; reports Q1 CET1 capital ratio 10.1% and Q1 net charge-offs .33%; Q1 provision for credit losses $48M

·     New Residential (NRZ) 45M share Secondary priced at $10.10

·     Coinbase (COIN) closes at $328.28, 14% below opening price of $381 after reference price of $250 yesterday

·     CoStar Group, Inc. (CSGP) said it reached a definitive agreement to acquire Homes.com, a division of Dominion Enterprises, for $156 million in cash.

·     Discover Financial Services (DFS) said credit card delinquency rate 1.21% at March end vs. 1.30% at February end and credit card charge-off rate 1.74% at March end vs. 1.79% at February end

·     Axis Capital (AXS) preliminary Q1 net loss estimate for catastrophes and other weather-related events in range of $95M-$105M after-tax

·     RenaissanceRe Holdings ltd (RNR) estimates that losses from winter storm URI will have net negative impact of about $180 mln on co’s Q1 2021 results

 

Healthcare

·     United Health (UNH) 1Q adj EPS $5.31 vs. est. $4.38 on revs $70.2B vs. est. $69.2B, qtrly Optum revs +10.8% to $36.4B; guides FY adj EPS $18.10-18.60 vs. est. $18.19

·     Agilon Health (AGL) 46.6M share IPO priced at $23.00

·     Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (TMO) is nearing a deal to buy pharmaceutical-testing company PPD Inc. (PPD) for more than $15 billion, according to people familiar with the matter, the WSJ reported late yesterday https://on.wsj.com/3gbLPqc  

·     Biogen (BIIB) to present trial design of aducanumab embark re-dosing study in poster session at 2021 virtual AAN annual meeting on April 17-22, 2021

·     Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) receives European Commission approval for Opdivo® (nivolumab) in combination with Cabometyx® (cabozantinib) as first-line treatment for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma

·     Regenxbio (RGNX) announces dosing of first patient in cohort 3 of phase i/ii trial of rgx-121 for the treatment of MPS II (hunter syndrome)

 

Technology, Media & Telecom

·     Dell (DELL) announces the planned spin-off of its 81% equity ownership interest in VMware (VMW). The transaction will result in two standalone companies positioned for growth in the data era. the transaction is expected to close during the fourth quarter of calendar 2021, subject to certain conditions, including receipt of a favorable IRS private letter ruling and an opinion that the transaction will qualify as generally tax-free for Dell shareholders for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

·     Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM) Q1 net profit rose 19% from a year earlier to 139.69 billion New Taiwan dollars (US$4.91 billion), topping the estimate of NT$135.76 billion

·     AppLovin (APP) 25M share IPO priced at $80.00