Early Look

Monday, July 29, 2024

U.S. futures are looking higher, rising ahead of that is likely to be the busiest week of the summer with tons of big technology (AAPL, MSFT, AMZN, META, AMD) companies reporting earnings this week, several central bank decisions including the FOMC and Bank of Japan on Wednesday and ending with the nonfarm payroll jobs number on Friday (along with ADP, JOLTs and jobless claims this week). For last week, the S&P 500 fell 0.83%, the Nasdaq declined 2.08%, and the Dow climbed 0.75%; the Russell 2000 rose 3.46% in a big week for Smallcaps. Since the 12 trading days that have passed since the July 11th CPI inflation print, the Russell has outperformed the Nasdaq by 20%, and the Russell is much closer to parity with the Nasdaq on YTD performance, with both now up close to (+11.5% YTD vs. 15.6%).  After “AI” related stocks dominated trading the early part of 2024, several names have come back to earth ahead of earnings this quarter, with drawdown for MU – 33%; DELL -38%; NVDA – 25%; AMD – 40%; AVGO – 20%; TSM -20%. Still, the S&P 500 is only down 5% and QQQs down a little over 9% from peak to trough into the Fed meeting this week. Bond yields decline as a big week for the fixed-income market kicks off with the U.S. Treasury announcing its estimates of what it’ll need to finance the government this quarter (quarterly refunding announcement at 3:00 PM today). In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index surged 801 points to 38,468, the Shanghai Index edged slightly higher to 2,891, and the Hang Seng Index jumped 217 points to 17,238. In Europe, the German DAX is up 80 points to 18,499, while the FTSE 100 rises 76 points to 8,361. Bitcoin prices surged, up over 3% to $69,500, approaching its all-time highs around $73,500.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 654.27 points, or 1.64%, to 40,589.34.
• The Nasdaq Composite gained 176.16 points, or 1.03%, to 17,357.88.
• The Russell 2000 Index advanced 37.09 points, or 1.67% to 2,260.07.

• Earnings After the Close: AMKR BRX BYON CDP CHK CNO CR CSR CVI CVRX CWK EKSO EQR ESI FFIC FFIV FLS HLIT HOLX HSII INN KFRC LSCC LTC MBIN NEO NTST PCH PLOW RNGR SAFE SANM SBAC SFM ST SYM TRNS TTOO VRNS WELL WWD XYL

• Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY) agreed to sell Delaware Basis assets in Texas and New Mexico to Permian Resources Corp. for about $818M and said it has separately completed other asset sales totaling about $152M.
• Permian Resources (PR) announces strategic bolt-on acquisition of core Delaware basin assets; acquires Delaware basin assets for $817.5M.

• Nasdaq (NDAQ) announces launch of secondary offering of 41,604,207 shares, with Goldman Sachs acting as sole book-running manager for offering as shareholder Thoma Bravo to offer 41.6M shares.
• New York Mortgage Trust Inc (NYMT) files for mixed shelf of up to $300M.

• Inspire Medical (INSP) guides prelim Q2 revs $195.9M tops consensus $186.4M; raises FY revenue forecast to $788M-$798M, vs. prior forecast $783M to $793M.
• Integra Lifesciences (IART) reported Q2 adj EPS $0.63 vs. et. $0.62; Q2 revs $418.2M vs. est. $413.15M; cuts FY24 adj EPS view to $2.41-$3.57 from $3.01-$3.11 (est. $3.04) and lowers FY24 revenue view to $1.609 to $1.629 from $1.672B-$1.687B (est. $1.62B).
• NuVasive Inc. (NUVA) won a partial victory in an inventor’s lawsuit over spinal-implant technologies, even as a federal judge in Delaware left a central question for a jury to decide.
• Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT) demanded a prominent patient advocacy organization censor a video that contained pointed criticism of the company’s recently approved gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, STAT has learned.
• Sarepta (SRPT) upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital with unchanged tgt of $182.

• Ali Baba (BABA) shares moving higher earlier after Jefferies said they see more catalysts ahead for the stock despite macro uncertainties; New measures to charge 0.6% service fees on both Taobao and Tmall merchants starting in September is positive for revenue.