Early Look

Thursday, August 15, 2024

U.S. futures are looking quiet, with small declines in a quiet night of overnight news. The S&P 500 turned positive for August on Thursday as recession fears eased and the SPX just put in its biggest 6-day rally since November 2022 (and has risen 8.3% from the panic low Monday Aug 5^th), while the Nasdaq Composite posted a 6-day win streak as well as mega cap tech as semis extend rally off August lows (SOX index +9.85% this week). The Dow Jones Industrial Average added about 555 points, or 1.4% on Thursday, ending near 40,563, the S&P 500 advanced about 88 points, or 1.6%, closing around 5,543, the Nasdaq Composite gained roughly 401 points, or 2.3%, finishing around 17,594 and the Russell 2000 index of small-caps gained about 2.3% as major averages ended near the highs for a 3^rd straight day. A super impressive 6-day run for U.S stocks as @SJD10304 tweeted last night, “$SPY goes 6 for 6, closes higher 6 days in a row and gains more than 6% in the process.  Only dates that match: 8/15/2024, 11/6/2023, 1/11/2019, 2/16/2018, 7/14/2010, 7/13/2010, 7/20/2009, and 3/19/2003.” Will today be more fireworks/an extension of the 6-day win streaks on this option expiration Friday? Or will we see some profit taking? Coming into the day, Technology (XLK) is +7.5% on the week, followed by Consumer Discretionary (XLY) +4.8% and 2.3% gains for Financials (XLF), Industrials (XLI) and Materials (XLB), though all eleven sectors are higher this week. In Asian markets overnight, The Nikkei Index surged 1,336 points or 3.64% to 38,062, the Shanghai Index inched higher 2 points to 2,879, and the Hang Seng Index rose 321 points to 17,430. In Europe, the German DAX is up 104 points to 18,288, while the FTSE 100 is down -35 points to 8,311. Oil prices are on their overnight lows with WTI crude -2.3% at $76.35 per barrel.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 554.67 points, or 1.39%, to 40,563.06.
• The Nasdaq Composite spiked 401.90 points, or 2.34%, to 17,594.50.
• The Russell 2000 Index advanced 51.15 points, or 2.45% to 2,135.47.

• 10:00 AM ET                University of Michigan 1-yr and 5-yr inflation expectations, Prelim-Aug
• 1:00 PM ET                   Baker Hughes Weekly rig count data
• 1:25 PM ET                   Fed’s Goolsbee Speaks in Fireside

• Estee Lauder (EL) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Bank of America.

• CACI (CACI) awarded $239M task order to provide intelligence analysis and operations to U.S. Army Europe and Africa.
• Planet Labs (PL) said to launch its first hyperspectral satellite, tanager-1, and 36 SuperDoves with SpaceX

• Sonida Senior Living (SNDA) says offering of 4.3M shares priced at $27 per share

• Autodesk (ADSK) continued controversial sales practice despite pledging to halt it, ignoring internal warnings about accounting risks, documents show; activist Investor Starboard Value pushes for leadership changes over handling of accounting probe.
• Coherent Corp. (COHR) Q4 adj EPS $0.61 vs. est. $0.60; Q4 revs $1.314B vs. est. $1.276B; Q4 adj operating income $223M vs. est. $208M; guides Q1 adj EPS $0.53-$0.69 vs. est. $0.64 and revs $1.27B-$1.35B vs. est. $1.3B.
• Flex Inc. (FLEX) files mixed securities shelf.
• Globant Inc. (GLOB) Q2 ADJ EPS $1.51 vs est. $1.50 on revs $587.5Mm vs est. $586.7Mm, adj gr mgn 38.1%; guides Q3 revs $611-617Mm, adj op mgn 15-16% and adj EPS $1.60-1.64 vs est. $1.61; sees FY revs $2.407-2.421B vs est. $2.427B, adj op mgn 15.0-15.5% and adj EPS $6.30-6.50 vs est. $6.36.
• Teradyne (TER) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Cantor.
• Texas Instruments (TXN) will receive as much as $1.6 billion in direct funding from the U.S. Commerce Department to support the construction of three new domestic facilities, the analog chipmaker said on