Early Look

Monday, August 23, 2021

Futures	Up/Down	%	Last
Dow	157.00	0.45%	35,215
S&P 500	15.25	0.34%	4,452
Nasdaq	40.50	0.27%	15,127

 

 

Stock futures are looking higher, trying to rebound after last week’s modest losses, boosted by hopes that the U.S. FDA is aiming to give full approval to Pfizer’s (PFE) COVID-19 vaccine today (as per a NYTimes article Friday) and as investors looked to the Jackson Hole symposium later in the week for hints on future Federal Reserve policy. Oil prices rebound, rising around 3%, looking to snap its 7-day losing streak as prices fell over 9% last week. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index jumped 480 points (1.78%) to 27,494, the Shanghai Index gains 49 points (or 1.45%) to 3,477 and the Hang Seng Index rises 259 points to 25,109. In Europe, the German DAX is higher by 40-points to 15,850, while the FTSE 100 gains 30 points to 7,120. Stocks slumped last week as the S&P 500 drops 0.59%, Dow down 1.12%, Nasdaq loses 0.73%, but YTD performance remains impressive with the S&P +18.25%, the Dow +14.74%, the Nasdaq +14.17% and the Russell 2000 +13.14% (gold -5.91%, Bitcoin +57.52% and oil +30.87%). The S&P and Dow were weighed down by steep losses among shares of economically-sensitive companies like banks, materials companies and energy producers this week as the Fed signaled that it will scale back some of its easy money policies. Other factors playing a role in volatility last week included an uptick in Covid-19 infections and a slowdown in China’s growth that could impede the economic recovery. Bitcoin prices topped $50K over the weekend, the first time since mid-May (15^th) in a continuation of last week’s advance

 

Market Closing Prices Yesterday

·     The S&P 500 Index gained 35.87 points, or 0.81%, to 4,441.67

·     The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 225.98 points, or 0.65%, to 35,120.08

·     The Nasdaq Composite surged 172.86 points, or 1.19%, to 14,714.66

·     The Russell 2000 Index advanced 35.18 points, or 1.65% to 2,167.60

 

Events Calendar for Today

·     9:45 AM ET         Markit Manufacturing PMI-F…est. 62.5

·     9:45 AM ET         Market Composite Flash-PMI…est.58.3

·     9:45 AM ET         Markit Services PMI-Flash…est.59.5

·     10:00 AM ET      Existing Home Sales MoM for Aug…est. 5.83M

 

Earnings Calendar:

·     Earnings Before the Open: JD, MSGE

·     Earnings After the Close: FLXS, MARK, PANW

 

Other Key Events:

·     American Association of Neurological Surgeons, 8/21-8/25, in Orlando, FL

·     UBS China Telco, Media, Internet Virtual Conference 2021, 8/23-8/27

·     Truist Texas Bank Virtual Summit, 8/23-8/24

 

 

Macro	Up/Down	Last
Nymex	1.90	64.04
Brent	2.06	67.24
Gold	7.40	1,788.50
EUR/USD	0.0019	1.1717
JPY/USD	0.29	110.07
10-Year Note	+0.018	1.278%

 

 

World News

·     France Aug Mfg PMI: 57.3 in line; Services 65.4 vs 57.0 consensus

·     Germany Aug Mfg PMI: 62.7 vs 65.0 consensus; Services 61.5 vs 61.0 consensus

·     Eurozone Aug Mfg PMI: 61.5 vs 62.0 consensus; Services 59.7 vs 59.8 consensus

·     UK Aug Mfg PMI: 60.1 vs 59.5 consensus; Services 55.5 vs 59.0 consensus

 

Sector News Breakdown

Consumer

·     General Motors Co (GM) to take a $1B charge to expand the recall of its Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles due to the risk of fires from the high-voltage battery pack; this comes on top of $800M in costs from previous Bolt recalls – Reuters

·     Uber (UBER), Lyft (LYFT) and DoorDash (DASH) fall after a California state judge strikes down a ballot measure that declared drivers for the companies were independent contractors

 

Energy, Industrials and Materials

·     The U.S. Defense Department ordered U.S. airlines to provide 18 planes to transport evacuees, saying the extra capacity will help military aircraft focus on operations in and out of Kabul

·     Stem (STEM) a positive mention in Barron’s saying the company that installs batteries for utilities and sells software to manage them, is an attractive renewable energy bet. Business inquiries have picked up since the company received a $475 million cash injection through a SPAC merger in April, the CEO said. Revenue is expected to more than double in 2022

·     Maxar Technologies (MAXR) won a 5-year, $60M contract from the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) to continue development and operations of a classified big data analytics program

·     SPI Energy (SPI) said its wholly owned Phoenix Motorcars subsidiary expands R&D and production capabilities; Phoenix Motorcars signed a long-term lease agreement for the facility located in Anaheim, California

·     Ardmore Shipping (ASC) files to sell $50M of common stock

 

Financials

·     Jefferies (JEF) mentioned positively in Barron’s calling it a “rising star” on Wall Street and it will benefit from European banks’ pullback from the U.S. capital markets. CEO Rich Handler told Barron’s the investment bank is “long-term oriented” in its approach and is in no hurry to sell its merchant-banking business.

·     PayPal (PYPL) will allow customers in the UK to buy, sell and hold bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies starting this week – Reuters

 

Healthcare

·     The FDA is targeting full approval of Pfizer (PFE)-BioNTech’s (BNTX) two-dose Covid-19 vaccine on Monday, August 23, further expediting an earlier timeline for licensing the shot, The New York Times reported

·     Axsome Therapeutics Inc (AXSM) rises over 30%; said the FDA was unable to complete its review of the company’s drug to treat major depressive disorder by the target action date of Aug. 22; said the FDA did not request additional information, adding that the review of the application was ongoing.

·     Orphazyme (ORPH) rises more than 20% after the Danish biotech company posted results from the trial of its key drug candidate for a genetic disorder Niemann-Pick disease type C, two months after it was rejected in the U.S.

 

Technology, Media & Telecom

·     JD.com (JD) Q2 Non-GAAP EPS of $0.45 beats by $0.11; GAAP EPS of $0.08 misses by $0.13; Q2 revs $39.3B beats by $1.12B; annual active customer accounts increased by 27.4% Y/Y to 531.9 million in the twelve months ended June 30, 2021.

·     Intel (INTC) wins us government project to develop leading-edge foundry ecosystem; Intel Foundry Services will lead the first phase of the U.S. department of defense’s ramp-c program to establish a domestic commercial foundry infrastructure.

·     Nokia (NOK) announced that it has been selected by A1 Telekom Austria Group (A1) to extend its 5G footprint outside of Austria into Bulgaria, Serbia, and Slovenia.

·     Barron’s said investors should have more confidence in Spotify (SPOT), noting while its audience growth is losing steam, Spotify is poised to post a profit in 2022, making it a promising bet as a market- leading subscription service in a growing sector

·     Nexstar Media Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NXST), announced on Friday it acquired The Hill for $130 million (plus working capital adjustments), in a transaction that is expected to be immediately accretive to Nexstar’s operating results. The Hill is the nation’s leading, independent, political digital media platform.