Early Look

Wednesday, June 16, 2021

Futures	Up/Down	%	Last
Dow	-14.00	0.04%	34,163
S&P 500	1.25	0.04%	4,238
Nasdaq	20.50	0.14%	14,042

 

 

U.S. stock futures are looking flat as the most highly anticipated Federal Reserve policy meeting is upon us, with the FOMC meeting statement at 2:00 PM ET followed by a press conference by Chairman Jerome Powell. While the central bank is widely expected to keep key interest rates near zero, its statement and subsequent Q&A session from Powell is sure to be parsed for clues regarding the timing of taper talks, as well as any indications if rising inflation prices are a concern, or just temporary as the Fed has pleaded over the last three months. Treasury yields remain depressed despite recent higher inflation readings (CPI, PPI) as the benchmark 10-year yield holds under 1.50%. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index fell -150 points to 29,291, the Shanghai Index fell -38 points to 3,518 (3^rd straight day of losses) to 28,436, and the Hang Seng Index fell -201 points to 28,436. In Europe, the German DAX is up about 20 points to 15,750, while the FTSE 100 rises about 10 points to 7,185. Wall Street took a rest on Tuesday, as major indexes closed lower and the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq backed down from the previous session’s record closing highs. Big tech pulled back on Tuesday after leading the day prior while Dow Transports finished green. While U.S. stock indexes have been range-bound since the beginning of the month, any changes in nuance from the Fed today, and Friday’s quadruple witching options expiration, could trigger some volatility.

Market Closing Prices Yesterday

·     The S&P 500 Index slipped -8.56 points, or 0.20%, to 4,246.59

·     The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell -94.42 points, or 0.27%, to 34,299.33

·     The Nasdaq Composite slumped -101.29 points, or 0.71%, to 14,072.86

·     The Russell 2000 Index declined -6.07 points, or 0.26% to 2,320.07

 

Events Calendar for Today

·     7:00 AM ET         MBA Mortgage Applications Data

·     8:30 AM EST      Housing Starts MoM for May…est. 1.63M

·     8:30 AM EST      Building Permits MoM for May…est. 1.73M

·     8:30 AM EST      Import Prices MoM for May…est. 0.8%

·     10:30 AM ET      Weekly DOE Inventory Data

·     2:00 PM EST       FOMC June Meeting

 

Earnings Calendar:

·     Earnings Before the Open: None

·     Earnings After the Close: LEN

 

Other Key Events:

·     Citigroup European Healthcare Conference (virtual), 6/14-6/16

·     Cowen Annual Future Health Conference (virtual), 6/16-6/17

·     Deutsche Bank Global Auto Industry Conference (virtual), 6/16-6/17

·     European Hematology Association (EHA) Virtual Meeting, 6/9-6/17

·     Northland Customer Engagement SaaS Conference (virtual), 6/15-6/16

·     Oppenheimer 21st Annual Consumer Growth and E-Commerce Conference (virtual), 6/15-6/16

 

 

Macro	Up/Down	Last
Nymex	0.09	72.21
Brent	0.16	74.15
Gold	-0.85	1,858.20
EUR/USD	-0.0004	1.2122
JPY/USD	-0.14	109.94
10-Year Note	-0.014	1.485%

 

 

World News

·     U.S. TIC data report showed foreign accounts purchased $100.7 B in net long term securities in April, after the$262.4 B (was $262.4 B) surge in March. Accounts also bought a total of $101.2 B in assets on the month versus $146.7 B (was $146.4 B) previously

·     China May Retail Sales: y/y 12.4% vs 13.6% consensus; China May Ind Prod: y/y 8.8% vs 9.0% consensus

·     Japan April Core Machinery Orders: 0.6% vs 2.5% consensus; Japan May Trade Balance: -Y187b vs -Y77b consensus

 

Sector News Breakdown

Consumer

·     DAVIDsTEA (DTEA) Q1 EPS C$0.05 vs. (C$0.26) last year Q1; Q1 sales fell -27.9% to $23.2M from $32.2M YoY; said brick and mortar sales for the quarter declined when compared to the prior year quarter by $11.9 million or 78.3% to $3.3 million; sales from e-commerce and wholesale channels increased by $2.9 million or 17.2% to $19.9 million, from $17.0 million in the prior year quarter

·     La-Z-Boy (LZB) Q4 non-Gaap EPS $0.87 vs. est. $0.74; Q4 sales $519.5M vs. est. $498.5M; anticipates ongoing incremental increases in manufacturing capacity throughout fiscal 2022 that will enable higher delivered sales; incoming order rates and backlog will mitigate usual seasonal slowdown associated with Q1; Q4 written same-store sales up 100%

·     General Motors (GM) will increase its global spending on electric and autonomous cars to $35B, which is 30% higher than the company’s most recent forecast, Reuters reported

·     Blue Apron (APRN) announces stock offering

 

Energy, Industrials and Materials

·     The American Petroleum Institute (API) shows a draw of 8.54M barrels of oil for the week ended June 4, gasoline inventories show a build of 2.85M barrels, distillate inventories show a build of 1.96M barrels and Cushing inventories show a draw of 1.53M barrels

·     A U.S. District Court judge grants a preliminary injunction to Louisiana and 12 other states that sued the Biden administration over the halt on new oil and gas leasing on federal lands

·     Bespoke noted that WTI crude has now had a record 13 straight days with an intraday high higher than the last (WTI crude closed above the $723 per barrel level Tuesday for first time since October 2018)

·     Phoenix Motorcars, a wholly owned subsidiary of SPI Energy (SPI) has launched a full range of EV charging products for the U.S. market.

·     U.S. Steel (X) assumed with Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan

 

Financials

·     Capital One Financial (COF) selected as exclusive long-term issuing partner for new Williams Sonoma, Inc. (WSM) credit cards; new credit cards and loyalty enhancements are expected to launch before end of 2021

·     H&R Block (HRB) Q4 adj EPS $5.16 vs. est. $5.13; Q4 revs $2.33B vs. est. $2.35B; raises quarterly dividend 4% to $0.27; announced its fiscal year-end will change to June 30, effective immediately; says substantially exceeded its original FY revs and earnings outlook when including total tax season through extended deadline

·     PennyMac Mortgage (PMT) files automatic mixed securities shelf

·     W. R. Berkley Corporation (WRB) raised quarterly dividend by 8% to $0.52

 

Healthcare

·     The FDA cleared an additional batch of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) Covid-19 vaccine doses from a troubled production plant in Baltimore run by Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (EBS) as the agency cleared 15 million doses, bringing the total doses authorized for export to 25 million

·     Elanco (ELAN) will acquire all outstanding stock of Kindred Biosciences (KIN) at a price of $9.25 per share, or approximately $440 million, a premium of 52% based on the 30-day average

·     Molecular Partners (MOLN) 3M share IPO priced at $21.25

·     Rapt Therapeutics (RAPT) 3.79M share Secondary priced at $33.00

·     Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) said an antibody it developed has been shown to significantly cut the risk of death among certain hospitalized Covid-19 patients, raising hopes for a valuable new tool for tackling severe cases.

·     Inhibikase Therapeutics (IKT) 15M share Secondary priced at $3.00

·     Protagonist Therapeutics (PGTX) 3.05M share Spot Secondary priced at $37.75

·     Eton Pharmaceuticals (ETON) has acquired U.S. and Canadian rights to Crossject’s ZENEO hydrocortisone needleless autoinjector, which is under development as a rescue treatment for adrenal crisis

·     Spero Therapeutics (SPRO) announces the initiation of two early-stage trials of SPR206, an intravenously (IV)-administered next-generation polymyxin product candidate.

 

Technology, Media & Telecom

·     Oracle Corp. (ORCL) Q4 adj EPS $1.54 vs. est. $1.31; q1 revs $11.23B vs. est. $11.04B; qtrly cloud services and license support revenues were up 8% to $7.4B; qtrly cloud license and on-premise license revenues were up 9% to $2.1B; Q4 Cloud Application Revenue: Fusion ERP up 46%, Fusion HCM up 35%, NetSuite ERP up 26%; Q4 Short-term deferred revenues were up 10% from last year to $8.8 billion. Operating cash flow was up 21% to a record $15.9 billion during the trailing twelve months

·     Convey Holding (CNVY) 13.333M share IPO priced at $14.00

·     Roblox (RBLX) shares fell -8%; released May key metrics, which showed daily active users hit 43M, which was up 28% from the previous May, but down 1% from 43.3M in April; hours engaged increased, however, to 3.2B (up 9% year-over-year, and up 1% from April)

·     MiTek (MITK) announces $15 million share repurchase program

·     WalkMe (WKME) 9.25M share IPO priced at $31.00