Early Look

Friday, April 9, 2021

U.S. stock futures are mixed, with modest losses for Nasdaq futures after outperformance again on Thursday and S&P futures pulling back from overnight highs after topping the 4,100 for the first time following another record close on Thursday. Treasury yields are edging higher, as the 10-year tops 1.67% for its highest levels of the week while oil prices are flat. The recent run in FAANG stocks (AAPL, AMZN, FB, NFLX, GOOGL) is having an impact on the growth/value dynamic, surging this week after underperformance in Q1. The Fed remains a soothing factor for global stock markets as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell again calmed investor fears about higher inflation leading to central-bank tightening yesterday in comments. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index rose 59 points to 29,768, the Shanghai Index fell -31 points to 3,450, and the Hang Seng Index dropped -309 points to28,698. In Europe, the German DAX is up around 15 points to 15,215. while the FTSE 100is down a few points at 6,930. Data from China overnight showed producer prices rising at the fastest pace in more than four years, while consumer prices moved higher as fuel costs jumped. On the inflation front this morning in the U.S., producer-price data will be released at 8:30 AM EST. Volume has been the lowest of any point all year this week, quiet ahead of the start of earnings season next week.

Market Closing Prices Yesterday

·     The S&P 500 Index jumped 17.22 points, or 0.42%, to 4,097.17

·     The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 57.31 points, or 0.17%, to 33,503.57

·     The Nasdaq Composite surged 140.47 points, or 1.03%, to 13,829.31

·     The Russell 2000 Index advanced 19.54 points, or 0.88% to 2,242.60

Events Calendar for Today

·     8:30 AM EST      Producer Price Index (PPI) MoM for March

·     8:30 AM EST      PPI Final YoY for March

·     8:30 AM EST      Producer Price Index (PPI) core prices MoM for March

·     8:30 AM EST      PPI Core (ex food & energy) YoY for March

·     10:00 AM EST    Wholesale Inventories MoM for Feb

·     1:00 PM EST       Baker Hughes Weekly rig count data

Sector News Breakdown

Consumer

·     fuboTV Inc. (FUBO) said it has acquired the exclusive live streaming rights to the Qatar World Cup 2022 Qualifying matches of South American Football Confederation.

·     Good Times Restaurants (GTIM) said year-over-year same store sales for its good times brand increased 22.9% for q2; year-over-year same store sales at its bad daddy’s brand increased 9.1% during q2

·     Levi Strauss (LEVI) 1Q adj EPS $0.34 vs. est. $0.25 on net revs $1.3B vs. est. $1.25B, qtrly global digital net revs about +41%; total inventory, net of reserves, at end of qtr -2% yr/yr; says currently over 40% of full store footprint in Europe is closed, with others on reduced hours; expects biz will continue to be significantly adversely impacted at least thru 2Q21 due to covid; raises 1H21 net revs outlook to 24-25% growth

·     WD-40 Co (WDFC) Q2 EPS $1.24 vs. est. $1.32; Q2 revenue $111.9M vs. est. $114.33M; sees FY sales $445M-$475M, up from prior view of $435M-$470M

·     Philip Morris (PM) upgraded to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan and raise tgt to $105 from $81 and downgraded British Tobacco (BTI) to Neutral from overweight

·     China’s retail sales of passenger cars rose 69% Y/Y to 5.09M vehicles in Q1, strongest quarterly growth in recent decades, returning to pre-pandemic levels, the WSJ reported. Last year, Q1 sales contracted 42% Y/Y due to COVID-19

Energy, Industrials and Materials

·     CleanSpark (CLSK) said in 8K on April 2, 2021 and April 6, 2021, it entered into agreements with a premier cryptocurrency mining equipment supplier, pursuant to which the company purchased an aggregate of 700 mining servers. as compensation for the equipment, the company paid the supplier an aggregate of $7,160,000

·     Sunworks (SUNW) to acquire privately held residential solar company Solcius valued at $51.8M

·     Rio Tinto (RIO) and Turquoise Hill Resources (TRQ) said they have entered into a binding Heads of Agreement to provide an updated funding plan for the completion of the Oyu Tolgoi underground project in Mongolia

Financials

·     The9 Ltd. (NCTY) said it was issuing shares to buy 2,000 units of AvalonMiners bitcoin mining machines, with a total has rate of about 100PH/S. The company said it will issue 8.13 million ordinary shares, which is the equivalent of 270,913 American depositary shares, to the mining machine sellers at a price of $24.81

·     Terreno Realty Corp (TRNO) 96.1% quarter-end occupancy compared to prior quarter of 97.8% and prior year of 97.8%; 97.4% quarter-end same-store occupancy compared to prior quarter of 97.8% and prior year of 97.0%

Healthcare

·     Affimed (AFMD) announces positive initial clinical data from an investigator-sponsored study evaluating cord blood-derived natural killer (cbNK) cells pre-complexed with Affimed’s innate cell engager AFM13 (CD16A/CD30)

·     Amyris (AMRS) 19.05M share Spot Secondary priced at $15.75

·     Reneo Pharmaceuticals (RPHM) 6.25M share IPO priced at $15.00

·     Vectivbio (VECT) 7.5M share IPO priced at $17.00

·     KemPharm (KMPH) announces amendment to licensing agreement with Gurnet Point Capital affiliate following FDA approval of Azstarys; under amended license agreement, co now eligible to receive total of up to $590M in future regulatory, sales milestone payments

·     Provention Bio (PRVB) provides regulatory update on biologics license application for teplizumab for the delay or prevention of clinical type 1 diabetes in at-risk individuals. FDA intends to continue review of clinical data submitted in BLA and to conduct advisory committee meeting, scheduled on May 27, 2021

·     Syndax (SNDX) announces orphan drug designation granted to axatilimab for treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Technology, Media & Telecom

·     Charter (CHTR) and Altice USA (ATUS) downgraded to Neutral at Citigroup and maintain Buy ratings on Comcast (CMCSA) and Liberty Broadband (LBRDA) saying three recent developments give us pause regarding future broadband growth for cable firms: faster annual fiber upgrades, wireless home broadband ambitions, and risks from government policy direction.

·     ChipMOS (IMOS) reports Q1 Revenue of $227M (+15.7% Y/Y)

·     RumbleON (RMBL) 1.05M share Spot Secondary priced at $38.00

·     Upstart (UPST) 2M share Secondary priced at $120.00

·     Taiwan Semi (TSM) March revenue up 13.7% y/y to NT$129.13B; said Jan-March revs rose 17% on year to NT$362.41B

·     Ultra Clean (UCTT) 3.18M share Secondary priced at $55.00

·     Aehr Test Systems (AEHR) 3Q adj EPS ($0.02) vs. est. $0.02 on revs $5.3Mm vs. est. $6.6Mm; guides 4Q revs at least $7Mm vs. est. $11.5Mm

·     SemiLEDs (LEDS) 2Q EPS ($0.06) on revs $1.2Mm, says unable to forecast revs for 3Q at this time