Early Look

Monday, February 12, 2024

Futures	Up/Down	%	Last
Dow	-33.00	0.09%	38,715
S&P 500	0.25	0.01%	5,044
Nasdaq	8.50	0.04%	18,047

 

 

S&P futures (Spuz) flattish at 5045, looking to make it a 5^th straight day of gains on continued upside market momentum. Last Friday, the S&P 500 gained 1.37%, the Nasdaq rose 2.31%, and the Dow edged up 0.04%. It markets the 5^th straight week of gains for major averages and the 14^th winning week in last 15. The S&P 500 (SPX) closed above the 5,000 level for the first time ever on Friday, breaking above on the open and never looked back after a relief rally following a government report showed U.S. inflation was about the same at the end of last year after incorporating annual revisions. The S&P is up 22% during the 15-week stretch in pure all-out upside momentum feeding the tail end of this rally. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index, the Shanghai Index, and the Hang Seng Index were all closed as Luner Year holiday takes place. In Europe, the German DAX is up about 75 points to 17,000, while the FTSE 100 slips 10 points to 7,560. This week brings more earnings, as we are more than 65% through the quarter at this point with returns strong thus far. Fed Speakers today include Fed Governor Bowman at 9:20 AM, Fed President Barkin at noon and Fed Kashkari at 1:00 PM. Financial news flow very slow to kick off the new week in an apparent Super Bowl hangover on Monday morning.

 

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell -54.64 points, or 0.14%, to 38,671.69.
• The Nasdaq Composite jumped 196.95 points, or 1.25%, to 15,990.66.
• The Russell 2000 Index advanced 30.50 points, or 1.53% to 2,009.99.

• 12:00 PM ET                Fed’s Barkin Speaks at Atlanta Economics Club Event
• 1:00 PM ET                   Fed’s Kashkari Moderates Economic Club of Minnesota Discussion
• 2:00 PM ET                   Federal Budget for January

• Earnings After the Close: ANET ARKR ASPN BHF BLKB BRX CAR CDNS DLA EQC FRT GT HPP LSCC MEDP OTTR PFG SAFE SCI TDC TSE TWOU VNO WM WTZ ZI

• American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS) Annual Meeting, 2/12-2/16, in San Francisco, CA

 

 

Macro	Up/Down	Last
Nymex	-0.72	76.12
Brent	-0.83	81.36
Gold	-2.4	2,036.30
EUR/USD	-0.00015	1.0767
JPY/USD	-0.28	149.01
10-Year Note	-0.027	4.16%

 

• Short interest on the Nasdaq rose 0.1% in the second half of January, the exchange said on Friday. As of Jan. 31, short interest rose to about 12.544 billion shares, compared with 12.53 billion shares as of Jan. 12.
• President Biden urged Netanyahu to have a credible and executable plan to for an Israeli military operation in the southern city of Rafah. Netanyahu said that Israel will have a plan, including directing civilians northward in the Gaza Strip to get them out of harm’s way – Bloomberg.
• US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was admitted into care late Sunday with an apparent bladder issue, after being hospitalized for the second time in a month.

• Pepsi (PEP) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup and raise tgt to $195 after earnings noting PEP has been a heavily debated stock over the last six months after providing initial 2024 guidance at the high-end of LT targets at Q3 (instead of Q4 historically), which the market expected to be cut.
• Tesla (TSLA) temporarily cut prices of some of its Model Y cars in the U.S. until Feb. 29, less than a month after the carmaker cut Model Y prices in Germany. Tesla reduced prices for its Model Y rear-wheel drive and Model Y Long Range by $1,000 to $42,990 and $47,990 respectively, representing a discount of 2.3% and 2% from previous prices.
• Unilever (UL) CEO Hein Schumacher said billionaire activist and board member Nelson Peltz is "fully behind" a recently devised strategy to re-invigorate the company, even as some other investors remain skeptical after years of industry underperformance – Reuters.

• Duke Energy (DUK) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Bank America.
• FMC Corporation (FMC) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Loop Capital.
• Joby Aviation (JOBY) said it signed an agreement with Dubai’s Road and Transport Authority (RTA) to launch air taxi services in the Emirate by early 2026; Joby to own exclusive right to operate air taxis in Dubai for six years.
• Sigma Lithium (SGML) said Monday that it has received preliminary financing approval for its project in Brazil from the Development Bank of Brazil to expand production by nearly double.

• Lazard, Inc. (LAZ) reported preliminary assets under management as of January 31, 2024, totaling approximately $243.8 billion. The month’s AUM included a foreign exchange depreciation of $2.3 billion, net outflows of $2.1 billion and market appreciation of $1.6 billion.
• Willis Towers Watson (WTW) upgraded to Buy at Citigroup and downgraded Everest Group (EG) to Neutral.
• The Federal Reserve sent three notices to Citigroup (C) last year, directing the bank to address how it measures risk of default by counterparties in derivative transactions, Reuters reports. Separately, the report adds Citi’s internal audit unit said more work was needed in at least one instance to address problems previously raised by regulators.

• Nuvalent, Inc. (NUVL) announced the initiation of the Phase 2 portion of ALKOVE-1, its Phase 1/2 clinical trial of NVL-655 for patients with ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and other solid tumors, following alignment with the US FDA on a recommended Phase 2 dose (RP2D) of 150 mg once daily.

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Market commentary provided by Hammerstone Markets, Inc, a firm separate from and not affiliated with Regal Securities. Regal Securities has not participated in the creation of the content, and does not explicitly or implicitly endorse the content.