Early Look

Thursday, September 30, 2021

Futures	Up/Down	%	Last
Dow	160.00	0.47%	34,425
S&P 500	20.25	0.46%	4,369
Nasdaq	70.50	0.48%	14,810

 

 

U.S. futures are looking at a bounce after stocks ended mixed on Wednesday as the technology sector struggled again as the 10-year Treasury yield was volatile, rising to highs around 1.55%, the highest levels since the summer. Helping market sentiment comes news out of D.C. as Senate Democrats say they have a bill they believe can avoid a Friday government shutdown while finding support across party lines. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will hold a vote this morning, paving the way to President Joe Biden’s desk prior to the midnight deadline. The fate of the looming debt ceiling, which could prevent any further government borrowing beyond October 1, and the passage of both a $1 trillion infrastructure bill and a broader $3.5 trillion budget plan, remain unknown as House Democrats continue to bicker over the size, scope and timing of the twin pieces of legislation. China markets edged higher overnight after mixed data as PMI manufacturing showed a contraction, but services PMI beat consensus. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index fell -91 points to 29,452, the Shanghai Index rose 31 points to 3,568 and the Hang Seng Index declined -87 points to 24,575. In Europe, the German DAX is down over -40 points to 15,320, while the FTSE 100 edges higher a few points to 7,120. European natural gas and power markets hit fresh record highs as supply constraints persist. U.S. markets come into the final trading day of the month with losses, the worst month this year as the Dow is down -2.75%, the S&P 500 -3.6%, the Nasdaq Composite down -4.9% and the Russell 2000 down -2.1%. Later today, markets get final Q2 GDP, weekly jobless claims, and PCE inflation data.

 

Events Calendar for Today

·     8:30 AM ET         Weekly Jobless Claims…est. 335K

·     8:30 AM EST      Continuing Claims…est. 2.80M

·     8:30 AM ET         Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for Q2-Final…est. 6.6%

·     8:30 AM ET         GDP Personal Consumption for Q2-F…est.

·     8:30 AM ET         GDP Deflator for Q2-F…est. 6.1%

·     8:30 AM ET         PCE Prices Final for Q2-F

·     8:30 AM ET         Core PCE Deflator Q2-F…est. 6.1%

·     9:45 AM ET         Chicago PMI for Sept…est. 65.0

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

 

Earnings Calendar:

·     Earnings Before the Open: ANGO, BBBY, KMX, MKC, PAYX

·     Earnings After the Close: JEF

 

Other Key Events:

·     Cantor Global Healthcare Conference (virtual), 9/27-9/30

·     North American Spine Society Annual Meeting, in Boston 9/29-10/2

·     Wolfe Utilities & Midstream Conference 2021, 9/28-9/31

 

Market Closing Prices Yesterday

·     The S&P 500 Index gained 6.83 points, or 0.16%, to 4,359.46

·     The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 90.73 points, or 0.26%, to 34,390.72

·     The Nasdaq Composite slipped -34.24 points, or 0.24%, to 14,512.44

·     The Russell 2000 Index declined -4.47 points, or 0.20% to 2,225.31

 

 

Macro	Up/Down	Last
Nymex	-0.11	74.72
Brent	-0.22	78.42
Gold	-1.75	1,724.60
EUR/USD	-0.0025	1.1573
JPY/USD	0.01	111.97
10-Year Note	-0.015	1.524%

 

 

World News

·     China Manufacturing PMI for Sept reported at 49.6, below the 50.0 estimate and prior 50.1 reading, the first contraction since Feb. 2020. China Non-Manufacturing PMI for Sept at 53.2, above est. 49.8 and prior reading of 47.5 in Aug

·     Senate Democrats said they have a bill they think can avoid a Friday government shutdown while finding support across party lines. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will hold a vote this morning, paving the way to President Joe Biden’s desk prior to the midnight deadline.

 

Sector News Breakdown

Consumer

·     Herman Miller (MLHR) 1Q adj EPS $0.49 vs est. $0.50 on sales $789.7Mm vs est. $648.2Mm; guides 2Q adj EPS $0.55-0.61 vs est. $0.57, sees 2Q sales $1.025-1.065B vs est. $748.3Mm

·     Churchill Downs (CHDN) board approved a $500M share buyback program

·     McCormick (MKC) Q3 EPS $0.80 vs. est. $0.72; Q3 sales rose 8% to $1.55B vs. est. $1.54B; sees adjusted eps $2.97 to $3.02 down from prior $3.00-$3.05 (est. $3.01), while boosts the lower end of sales range for year to +12% to +13%, from prior +11% to +13% and sees operating income +2% to +4%, down from prior +6% to +8%

·     Uber Technologies (UBER) has launched the first official Holiday Shop on the Uber Eats platform in partnership with Proper Companies’ holiday division

·     Starbucks (SBUX) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Atlantic Equities

·     Kaival Brands (KAVL) 4.7M share Spot Secondary priced at $1.70

·     Olaplex Holdings (OLPX) 73.7M share IPO priced at $21.00

 

Energy, Industrials, & Materials

·     Virgin Galactic (SPCE) shares rise 10%; is cleared to fly by the FAA following an investigation after the Unity 22 flight went slightly off-course in July. The FAA approved corrective actions that include updated calculations to expand the airspace for future flights and ensuring real-time mission notifications are sent to air traffic control.

·     Landec Corp. (LNDC) Q1 adj EPS loss (-$0.23) vs. est. loss (-$0.12); Q1 revs $128.8M vs. est. $129.2M; reiterates FY22 guidance with estimates loss of (-$0.03) and revs $547.2M

·     Orion (ORN) announced two contract awards for its Marine segment totaling ~$200M.

·     Solar Integrated Roofing (SIRC) said its subsidiary USA Solar Networks has entered into a nationwide partnership with Sunnova Energy International (NOVA) to provide financing services across its National Dealer and Contractor Network.

 

Financials

·     FactSet (FDS) upgraded to Neutral from Sell at UBS and raise tgt to $415 from $303

 

Healthcare

·     Perrigo (PRGO) shares rose 11%; said it agreed to settle with tax authorities over a 2018 demand by the Irish Office of the Revenue Commissioners that the company pay 1.64B euros ($1.90B) in taxes. Ireland said in 2018 that intellectual property sales by Perrigo were taxed as tradable income at 12.5%, when it should have been treated as a chargeable gain at a rate of 33%

·     Regeneron’s (REGN), as published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), COVID-19 antibody cocktail REGEN-COV (Casirivimab and Imdevimab) led to a 70% reduction in the risk of hospitalization or death in high-risk infected individuals.

·     AIM ImmunoTech (AIM) announces clinical trial agreement for a phase 2a human challenge trial of Ampligen as a potential intranasal prophylaxis against respiratory viruses

·     Lilly (LLY) and Incyte (INCY) said Olumiant significantly improved hair regrowth to at least 80% scalp coverage as early as 24 weeks across first completed phase 3 studies for alopecia areata

·     Lilly (LLY) said Tirzepatide led to greater improvements in liver fat content and abdominal adipose tissue compared to titrated insulin degludec in adults with type 2 diabetes in an MRI sub-study phase 3 SURPASS-3 clinical trial. The results were presented today at the 57th European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) Annual Meeting in an EASD-sponsored symposium.

 

Technology, Media & Telecom

·     Nintendo (NTDOY) issued a press release insisting that Bloomberg’s seeming revelation that Nintendo was pushing developers to build 4K-resolution games for an upcoming but potentially canceled “Switch Pro” handheld was entirely incorrect. Separately, it says that it has no plans for any new Nintendo Switch other than the slightly refined OLED model that’ll be out next week.

·     Snowflake (SNOW) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BTIG with $353 tgt