Mid-Morning Look

Wednesday, September 17, 2025

U.S. stocks are mixed and trading in a narrow range after two days of chop, as FOMC day is finally here. The FOMC text headlines will be released at 2:00 pm et, followed by Fed Chairman Powell press conference/Q& at 2:30 pm. After hitting 4-year lows yesterday, the dollar index (DXY) firmed against the euro but weakened versus the yen ahead of the FOMC policy meeting later this afternoon where a 25-basis-point rate cut is widely expected. The spotlight will also be on whether policymakers considered a bigger 50 bps cut. The euro eased to $1.1855, after hitting a four-year high of $1.18785 on Tuesday. Ahead of the Fed later, the Bank of Canada (BCB) lowered the policy interest rate by 25 basis points, bringing it to 2.5%. Early decliners include some of the biggest winners in recent weeks (TSLA, NVDA, META, GOOGL) while market breadth favors advancers and Smallcaps (most levered to cut in rates) are seeing early outperformance. Few stocks are moving on news today (see details below), but today is all about the Fed and forward-looking outlook on rates. Stay tuned!

• In Towers: Keybanc lowered its AMT, CCI, and SBAC leasing/AFFO ests due to 1) churn from USM; 2) lower leasing expectations from DISH and NT churn from DISH; and 3) adjusting its individual Carrier leasing forecasts. The firm stills view AT&T’s acquisition of DISH’s spectrum as a LT positive, though with NT uncertainty; it is less optimistic SBAC can benefit, though believe AMT/CCI can.
• In REITs: RITM agreed to buy PGRE for $1.6B, with holders to receive $6.60 per share, below the prior day closing price of $7.39. In research, in the Residential REIT sector, Goldman Sachs said sees a challenging 2H25 setup as they downgraded CPT to Sell, and AMH to Neutral and lower price tgts on both. Apartment and homes-for-rent REITS have lagged as supply has remained more elevated for longer than they thought, and weaker job growth coupled with slowing migratory inflows into Sunbelt markets has weighed on occupancy levels and residential rent growth.

• LYFT +14%; said it is teaming up with GOOGL’s Waymo, as plan to launch Waymo’s autonomous ride-hailing service in Nashville, Tenn., starting next year using Lyft’s fleet-management services, including vehicle maintenance, infrastructure and depot operations (shares of UBER fell in reaction).
• NFE +38%; set to extend Tuesday’s record 45% rally, after billionaire Wes Edens’ firm finalized a seven-year deal worth $4 billion to supply liquefied natural gas to Puerto Rico.
• NFLX +1%; upgraded to Buy from Hold at Loop Capital and raised tgt to $1,350 from $1,150 based on exceptional 3Q engagement, a strong 4Q content slate, higher long-term margin assumptions as each dollar of content are generating more revenue, which leads to higher earnings and free cash flow.
• ORKA +11%; after the drug developer gave interim data from an early-stage trial of its experimental therapy for inflammatory diseases and announced a $180 million private placement.
• ROIV +12%; after the company and its partner Priovant Therapeutics said brepocitinib met its primary endpoint in a Phase 3 trial for dermatomyositis, a debilitating autoimmune disease.
• WDAY +9%; after activist investor Elliott Management builds more than $2 billion stake in co, while voicing support for WDAY’s leadership; the company also said plans $5B stock repurchase by FY27 after authorized $4B share repurchase on 9/16; shares were also upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Piper.
• ZG +3%; was upgraded to Outperform at Bernstein and raised its tgt to $105 from $70 saying they are getting more comfortable given: recent execution on mid-teens revenue growth; the emergence of Rentals and Showcase; improving earnings quality and possibility of rates coming down.

• GIS -1%; narrowly beat Q1 sales estimates, as price cuts on select products lifted demand with in-line adjusted EPS and essentially in-line organic sales for Q1 (Pet segment missed) while mgmt reiterated its fiscal year guidance and reaffirmed its organic net sales forecast for the full year.
• MANU -5%; following earnings and guidance results earlier.
• NVDA -2%; after the Financial Times reported China’s internet regulator has ordered top technology firms to halt purchases of Nvidia artificial intelligence chips and cancel existing orders as part of a broader push to cut reliance on U.S. technology https://tinyurl.com/3x5v3utn
• PGRE -11%; after RITM agrees to buy Paramount shares for $6.60 per share, below prior day $7.39 close.
• UBER -4%; shares under pressure following the LYFT/Waymo partnership headlines earlier.