Early Look

Friday, May 15, 2020

Futures	Up/Down	%	Last
DJ Industrials	-77.00	0.33%	23,457
S&P 500	-9.50	0.32%	2,838
Nasdaq	-11.50	0.12%	9,068

 

 

After big gains on Thursday, U.S. futures are looking at a slightly lower open, losing steam overnight despite encouraging economic data in China as Chinese factory output surged 3.9% in April as the country’s industrial sector returned to work following weeks of shutdown. Wall Street surged on Thursday as investors weighed the prospect of economic recovery despite another downbeat jobs report that saw another 3M Americans filing for benefits, bringing the total number to more than 36M since the coronavirus crisis began. While all three major U.S. stock indexes ended Thursday solidly higher, they see-sawed for much of the day, with reopening state economies and the possibility of additional stimulus doing battle with revived trade war fears and bleak economic data. IN a somewhat positive piece of news, a White House spokeswoman said yesterday the President is open to another possible stimulus bill, but will not sign the bill put forward by House of Representatives Democrats. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index rose 122 points to 20,037, the Shanghai Index was little changed at 2,868 to the end the week while the Hang Seng Index slipped -32 points to 23,797. In Europe, the German DAX is up over 200-points to 10,540, while the FTSE 100 is up around 75 points to 5,820. Semiconductors are on track for another strong session after better results from AMAT overnight as well as confirmed reports that TSM will open a factory in Arizona. On the calendar for today is retail sales data for April, expected to have collapsed 12% last month, marking the second biggest decline since the government started tracking the series in 1992.

Market Closing Prices Yesterday

·     The S&P 500 Index climbed 32.50 points, or 1.15%, to 2,852.50

·     The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 377.37 points, or 1.62%, to 23,625.34

·     The Nasdaq Composite jumped 80.56 points, or 0.91%, to 8,943.72

·     The Russell 2000 Index advanced 4.30 points, or 0.35% to 1,237.56

 

Economic Calendar for Today

·     8:30 AM EST      Retail Sales MoM for April…est. (-12.0%)

·     8:30 AM EST      Retail Sales Ex: Autos for April…est. (-7.6%)

·     8:30 AM EST      Empire Manufacturing for May…est. (-60.0)

·     9:15 AM EST      Industrial Production MoM for April…est. (-12.0%)

·     9:15 AM EST      Capacity Utilization for April…est. 63.8%

·     10:00 AM EST    Business Inventories for March…est. (-0.2%)

·     10:00 AM EST    JOLTS Job Openings for March…est. 5800

·     10:00 AM EST    University of Michigan Sentiment, May-P…est.68.0

·     1:00 PM EST       Baker Hughes Weekly Rig Count

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

 

 

Macro	Up/Down	Last
WTI Crude	0.47	28.03
Brent	0.55	31.68
Gold	1.10	1,742.10
EUR/USD	0.0009	1.0814
JPY/USD	-0.21	107.04
10-Year Note	-0.012	0.608%

 

 

World News

·     The German economy shrank by 2.2% in the first quarter compared with the previous three-month period; the decline in the January-March period was the biggest since 2009. It followed a 0.3% gain in last year’s third quarter and a 0.1% contraction in the fourth quarter

·     Factory output in China rose 3.9% in April from a year earlier, an improvement over the previous month’s 1.1% contraction. Manufacturers have been hurt by weak demand for exports in the United States, Europe and other major markets that have closed to fight the virus.

·     Chinese consumer spending shrank 7.5% from a year earlier, depressed by widespread job losses. That was an improvement on March’s 15.8% contraction but still dragged on overall growth.

·     The global case tally for the coronavirus climbed to 4.44 million on Friday, according to data by Johns Hopkins University. The death toll rose to 302,493. More than 1.6 million people have recovered. The U.S. has the highest case toll at 1.42 million and the highest death toll at 85,906.

 

Sector News Breakdown

Consumer

·     Choice Hotels (CHH) files mixed securities shelf

·     Denny’s (DENN) Q1 adj EPS 17c on revs $96.7M (down -36% YoY) vs. est. 10c and $96.94M; 1Q company restaurant comparable sales -9.4% vs. +1.50% YoY and systemwide comp sales down (-6.3%)

·     Dillard’s (DDS) Q1 EPS loss ($6.94) on sales $786.7M vs. est. loss ($1.94)/$900.67M; 45 stores that opened on May 5th have produced sales of about 56% of last year’s performance; currently plans to re-open 116 Dillard’s stores and 5 clearance centers next week

·     Farfetch (FTCH) Q1 EPS loss (24c)/$331.4M vs. est. loss (33c)/$313.95M; Q adjusted Ebitda loss $22.3 million, -26% YoY; said remain focused on our path to profitability and continue to target Adjusted EBITDA profitability for full year 2021; Q1 2020 Gross Merchandise Value up 46% year-over-year; Digital Platform GMV up 19% year-over-year (20% on constant currency basis)

·     Nike Inc. (NKE) says 100% -owned stores in China, South Korea are open

·     Office Depot’s (ODP) restructuring plan includes “closing and/or consolidating distribution facilities and retail stores and the reduction of approximately 13,100 employee positions by the end of 2023

·     Purple Innovation (PRPL) 10.79M share Secondary priced at $10.50

·     Planet Fitness (PLNT) CEO said the COVID-19 pandemic will change the competitive landscape of the gym industry and create a huge advantage for the company

·     Restaurant Brands (QSR) and Yum! Brands (YUM) upgraded to Buy at Stifel to reflect increased appetite” in fast food names offering a durable business model and improving consolidated operating performance potential.

 

Energy, Industrials & Materials

·     Covanta (CVA) cut its quarterly dividend to 8c from 25c

·     PBF Energy (PBF) Q1 EPS loss ($1.19) on rev $5.28B vs. est. loss ($1.04) and $5.55B

·     SpaceX (is set to launch NASA astronauts in its Crew Dragon spacecraft on May 27, while Boeing’s (BA) Starliner is about a year behind in development due to significant software issues.

 

Healthcare

·     Aurora Cannabis (ACB) reports Q3 cannabis net revenue C$69.64M vs. C$52.7M in Q2; Q3 total net revenue C$75.52M vs. C$56.03M in Q2; Q3 kilograms sold 12,729 vs. 9,501 in Q2; cash use in Q3 2020 decreased by over $118 mln from prior quarter

·     Halozyme Therapeutics Inc. (HALO) said it will receive a $15 million milestone payment from Janssen Biotech Inc. under a license agreement between the two companies

·     TG Therapeutics (TGTX) files to sell 6M shares of common stock

·     Abbott (ABT): the FDA is alerting the public to early data that suggest potential inaccurate results from using the Abbott ID NOW point-of-care test to diagnose COVID-19. Specifically, the test may return false negative results

 

Technology, Media & Telecom

·     Applied Materials (AMAT) adj EPS $0.89 vs. est. $0.91 on net sales $3.96B vs. est. $4.03B; says supply chain is recovering and underlying demand for semi equip and svcs remains robust; said that semiconductor systems revenue in Q3 “may” be up high single digits quarter-over-quarter, and higher again quarter over-quarter in Q4

·     Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) confirmed plans to build a $12B chip factory in Arizona as the U.S. tries to wrestle global supply chains back from China; the plant would create over 1,600 jobs

·     Foxconn Technology Group, Apple Inc.’s biggest supplier, posted a 90% year-over-year decline in the Q1 after it shut down plants in China for weeks during that period due to the coronavirus; said Q1 net profit was 2.08 billion New Taiwan dollars (US$69.6 million), sharply lower from NT$19.83 billion a year ago and below analyst estimates. Revenue fell 12% to NT$929.13 billion

·     Globant (GLOB) Q1 EPS 64c/$191.6M vs. est. 62c/$188.79M; sees Q2 EPS 47c on revs $179M vs. est. 49c/$173.8M

·     New Relic (NEWR) 4Q adj EPS $0.14 vs. est. $0.03 on revs $160Mm vs. est. $154.3Mm; guides 1Q revs $158-160Mm vs. est. $159.9Mm, sees 1Q adj EPS ($0.01)-$0.04 vs. est. $0.07

·     Norton LifeLock (NLOK) Q adj EPS $0.26 vs. est. $0.19 on revs $614Mm vs. est. $601.5Mm; guides 1Q revs $590-605Mm vs. est. $609.3Mm, sees 1Q adj EPS $0.18-0.22 vs. est. $0.20