Early Look

Tuesday, September 10, 2024

U.S. futures are slightly lower/flat after U.S. stocks finished higher on Monday and the dollar strengthened as markets awaited key data and actions from central banks. All three major U.S. stock indexes surged more than 1%, with the S&P 500 and the Dow ending a four-session losing streak, bouncing back from their biggest weekly percentage losses since March 2022. Investors bought dips on Monday, sending the S&P 500 up 1.2% after one of the worst starts to September ever and ahead of several key stock market catalysts in coming days. Treasury 10-year yields are little changed, with the 10-year yield at about 3.70%. Oracle (ORCL) shares jump over 8% overnight following earnings and guidance that topped consensus. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index fell -56 points to 36,159, the Shanghai Index rose 7 points to 2,744, and the Hang Seng Index rose 37 points to 17,234. In Europe, the German DAX is down -15 points to 18,427, while the FTSE 100 is down -37 points to 8,233.

The first Presidential debate is tonight (9/10 at 9:00 PM) between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris in Philadelphia as “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir and ABC News Live “Prime” anchor Linsey Davis will moderate the debate. Pennsylvania is one of seven battleground states that could help determine the outcome of the election. The last debate between Mr. Biden and Trump also took place in a battleground state, Georgia. Other upcoming market catalysts include August consumer prices (CPI) on Wednesday 9/11 and then Producer Prices (PPI) on Thursday and the European Central Bank (ECB) rate policy decision is Thursday morning (25bps rate cut expected). Markets await the FOMC meeting next week where a 25 or 50 bps cut is on the table and could go either way after this week’s inflation data.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 484.18 points, or 1.20%, to 40,829.59.
• The Nasdaq Composite gained 193.77 points, or 1.16%, to 16,884.60.
• The Russell 2000 Index advanced 6.37 points, or 0.30% to 2,097.78.

• 7:45 AM ET ICSC Weekly Retail Sales
• 8:55 AM ET                  Johnson/Redbook Weekly Sales
• 1:00 PM ET US Treasury to sell $58B in 3-year notes
• 4:30 PM ET API Weekly Inventory Data
• 9:00 PM ET                   Presidential election begins at 9:00 PM ET between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris

• Earnings After the Close: CTLP EPM GME GROW INNV MAMA PLAY WOOF

• Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Technology Conference, 9/9-9/12, in San Francisco, CA
• Oracle (ORCL) Cloud World 2024, 9/9-9/12, in Las Vegas, NV
• Roth MKM 11th Annual Solar & Storage Symposium at SPI, 9/9-9/12, in Anaheim, CA

• China’s outbound shipments grew 8.7% year-on-year in value last month, the quickest since March 2023, customs data showed on Tuesday, beating a forecast 6.5% increase and a 7% rise in July. But imports increased by just 0.5%, missing expectations for a 2% boost and down from the 7.2% growth a month prior.

• Calavo Growers (CVGW) Q3 adj EPS $0.57 vs est. $0.43, adj EBITDA $13.5Mm vs est. $14.55Mm on revs $179.6Mm vs est. $178.55Mm; Q3 operating income $9.36M, +12% y/y; board increases cash dividend to $0.20 per share.
• Limoneira (LMNR) Q3 adj EPS $0.42 vs est. $0.34 on revs $63.305Mm vs est. $63.57Mm; guides FY avocado volumes 14.5-15.5Mm pounds vs prior 9-10Mm, sees fresh lemon volumes 4.5-5.0Mm cartons vs prior 5.0-5.5Mm due to lower fresh utilization from late season rains.
• Mission Produce (AVO) Q3 adj EPS $0.23 vs est. $0.03, adj EBITDA $31.5Mm vs est. $13.9Mm on revs $324Mm vs est. $230.95Mm; sees Q4 flat to slightly lower industry volumes, pricing decrease sequentially but approx 15% higher yr/yr.
• Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 19, which represents the airline’s Flight Simulator Technicians, have reached a Tentative Agreement for a new collective bargaining agreement.
• Viking Holdings (VIK) files to sell 30M ordinary shares for holders.
• The European Union will lower proposed final tariffs on Tesla (TSLA), and slightly trim rates for other electric vehicles from China after considering submissions by the companies, Reuters reported. Tesla’s proposed tariff rate will drop to 7.8%, from 9%, while for BYD (BYDDF), there was no change to its 17% tariff. For Geely, the new rate would be 18.8% from the previous 19.3%.

• Matrix Service (MTRX) Q4 adj EPS loss (-$0.14) vs. est. loss (-$0.21); Q4 revs $189.5M vs. est. $202.8M; Q4 total backlog was $1.4B in Q4, up 31% y/y; Total project awards in the quarter of $175.9M, resulting in a book-to-bill ratio of 0.9x; sees FY25 revenue $900M-$950M, vs. consensus $889.9M.
• Serica Energy said it expects full-year average production to be at the bottom end of the previous range of 41,000-46,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) due to an unplanned shutdown at its North Sea Triton hub.

• NerdWallet (NRDS) announces $50M share buyback.
• Robinhood (HOOD) reported select monthly operating data for August 2024 as funded Customers at the end of August were 24.3M (up approximately 60 thousand from July 2024, up over one million y/y); Assets Under Custody (AUC) at the end of August were $143.6B (down -1% from July 2024, up 60% y/y); net deposits were $3.3B in August, translating to a 27% annualized growth rate relative to July 2024 AUC. Equity Notional Trading Volumes were $96.2 billion (down 8% from July 2024, up 61% y/y) and options Contracts Traded were 146.9 million (down 8% from July 2024, up 37% y/y).

• Hims & Hers Health Inc. (HIMS) files for mixed shelf; size not disclosed.
• Ionis Pharmaceuticals (IONS) announces pricing of a public offering of 11.5 mln shares at $43.50 per share.
• Terns Pharmaceuticals Inc (TERN) announces $125M public offering.

• Apple (AAPL) lost a long-running court battle with the European Union on Tuesday, resulting in the company being forced to pay 13 billion euros ($14.4 billion) in back taxes to Ireland, as part of a wider crackdown. In 2016, the European Commission’s competition chief Margrethe Vestager accused Ireland of having granted Apple illegal tax benefits, unfairly diverting investment away from other countries.
• Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Google lost its fight against a 2.42B euro ($2.7B fine levied by EU antitrust regulators seven years ago, one of several fines meted out to the company for various anti-competitive practices. The European Commission fined the company in 2017 for using its own price comparison shopping service to gain an unfair advantage.
• Rubrik Inc. (RBRK) Q2 adj EPS ($0.40) vs est. ($0.49) on revs $205Mm vs est. $196.21Mm; sees Q3 revs $216.5-218.5Mm vs est. $215.15Mm and adj EPS loss ($0.41) – ($0.39) vs est. ($0.43); guides FY revs $830-838Mm vs est. $818.45Mm and adj EPS ($2.12)-($2.06) vs est. ($2.28).
• Skillsoft (SKIL) Q2 adj EPS ($2.40) vs est. ($2.88) on revs $132Mm vs est. $131.41Mm; sees FY revs $510-525Mm vs est. $517.54Mm and adj EBITDA $105-110Mm vs est. $105.88Mm.
• Semiconductor maker IQE (IQEPY) said it sees it annual profit to be at lower end of analysts’ estimates as some of its markets were slower to recover from a supply glut; its chip wafers are used in iPhone’s facial recognition sensors, expects full-year adj core profit to be at lower end of est. range of 11.1M pounds to 16.6M pounds ($14.53 mln-$21.74 mln).
• ChipMOS (IMOS) reports 15.4% YoY growth in August 2024 revenue, up 2.5% MoM.