Early Look

Tuesday, October 19, 2021

Futures	Up/Down	%	Last
Dow	125.00	0.34%	35,254
S&P 500	2o.25	0.45%	4,497
Nasdaq	52.50	0.34%	15,343

 

 

U.S. stock markets are looking to open higher, extending the winning streak for the S&P 500 to 5-days ahead of a busy morning of quarterly earnings, including vaccine maker and Dow component Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Procter & Gamble (PG). A modest pullback in 10-year Treasury note yields, which traded at 1.584% overnight, and a weaker U.S. dollar are also providing early support Tuesday. Oil prices look to extend gains, with WTI crude and Brent pushing higher. In Asian markets overnight, The Nikkei Index jumped 190 points to 29,215, the Shanghai Index rose 25 points to 3,593, and the Hang Seng Index climbed 377 points (1.49%) to 25, 787. In Europe, the German DAX is up a few points to trade just under 15,500, while the FTSE 100 also edges higher above the 7,200 level. U.S. stocks finished higher on Monday as investors prepare for strong earnings this week with 72 of the S&P 500 expected to report this week while overlooking worries over inflation, supply-chain issues and energy supply as oil prices closed higher again. Data Sunday night showed growth in China slowed to 4.9% for 3Q, hurt by a crackdown on tech, and real estate as well as power-shortage and supply-chain problems. Heavy weight tech stocks helped paced gains again on Monday ahead of key earnings from Netflix tonight and Tesla, Intel later this week. Small cap stocks, banks and energy were among underperformers as the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished Monday lower.

Market Closing Prices Yesterday

·     The S&P 500 Index gained 15.09 points, or 0.34%, to 4,486.46

·     The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell -36.15 points, or 0.10%, to 35,258.61

·     The Nasdaq Composite spiked 124.47 points, or 0.84%, to 15,021.81

·     The Russell 2000 Index advanced 2.19 points, or 0.10% to 2,267.84

 

Events Calendar for Today

·     7:45 AM ET         ICSC Weekly Retail Sales

·     8:30 AM ET         Housing Starts MoM for September

·     8:30 AM ET         Building Permits MoM for September

·     8:55 AM ET         Johnson/Redbook Weekly Sales

·     4:30 PM ET         API Weekly Inventory Data

 

Earnings Calendar:

·     Earnings Before the Open: BK, CBSH, DOV, FITB, FMBI, HAL, IRDM, JNJ, KSU, MAN, MRTN, ONB, PG, PM, SBNY, SI, SNV, SYF, TRV

·     Earnings After the Close: EQBK, FULT, IBKR, ISRG, LRN, NFLX, OMC, PZN, SMBK, UAL, UCBI, WDFC, WTFC

 

Other Key Events:

·     Google (GOOGL) announced a virtual event for October 19th at 1PM ET / 10AM PT, officially introducing the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

·     The European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ESGCT) Congress 2021 is taking place virtually this year from October 19-22

·     Needham Virtual Global Access Inaugural Needham Biotech Private Company Virtual 1×1 Forum, 10/19-10/20

 

 

Macro	Up/Down	Last
Nymex	0.99	83.43
Brent	0.53	84.86
Gold	14.10	1,781.70
EUR/USD	0.0055	1.1663
JPY/USD	-0.21	114.09
10-Year Note	+0.008	1.592%

 

 

World News

·     Senate Democrats on Tuesday will unveil a scaled-back version of a Biden administration proposal to crack down on wealthy tax cheats after conservative groups and the bank industry raised major privacy concerns, three people with knowledge of the coming announcement said, the Washington Post reported. Initially, the Department of Treasury and Senate Democrats had proposed requiring financial institutions to provide the Internal Revenue Service with additional information on bank accounts with more than $600 in annual deposits or withdrawals

·     RBA Minutes of Oct Meeting: Reiterates they won’t hike rates until CPI is stably in 2-3% target band, central estimate is that economy will return to growth in Dec Qtr of this year & to pre Delta path in H2 2022, Delta interrupted Australian economic recovery, less accommodative policy would all else equal , see lower housing prices/credit growth but would also result in fewer jobs & lower wages

 

Sector News Breakdown

Consumer

·     Tupperware Brands Corporation (TUP) announces the entry into a definitive agreement for the sale of its House of Fuller beauty business in Mexico

 

Energy, Industrials and Materials

·     Halliburton (HAL) Q3 adj EPS $0.28 vs. est. $0.28 on revs $3.86B vs. est. $3.9B

·     Hexcel Corp. (HXL) Q3 adj EPS $0.13 vs. est. $0.08; Q3 sales rise 16% YoY to $333.8M vs. est. $348.7M; commercial aerospace sales rise 30% YoY to $167.2M, space & defense sales up 1.5% YoY to $110.4M and industrial sales rise 14% YoY to $56.2M

·     Steel Dynamics (STLD) Q3 adj EPS $4.96 vs. est. $4.57; Q3 revs $5.1B vs. est. $4.98B; believe shipments could be in range of 2.0 mln tons to 2.2 mln tons in 2022; Record steel and steel fabrication operating income of $1.4 billion and $89 million, respectively; record cash flow from operations of $631 million and record adjusted EBITDA of $1.4 billion

·     TechnipFMC (FTI) and Talos Energy (TALO) announced that they have entered into a long-term strategic alliance to develop and deliver technical and commercial solutions to Carbon Capture and Storage projects along the United States Gulf Coast

·     AgEagle Aerial Systems (UAVS) entered into a definitive agreement to buy Sensefly from Parrot at a valuation of $23M in cash and stock

 

Financials

·     Crypto stocks (COIN, MARA, RIOT, MSTR) in the spotlight as Bitcoin continued its climb toward all-time highs (last above $62K), bolstered by optimism over the launch of the first Bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund in the U.S. on Tuesday

·     Silvergate Capital (SI) Q3 EPS $0.88 vs. est. $0.71; did not record a provision for loan losses for the Q3, Q2 or Q3 of FY20 as a result of management’s assessment of the level of the allowance for loan losses, and the amount and mix of the loan portfolio, among other factors; book value per common share was $33.10, compared to $32.84 at June 30, and $15.18 at September 30, 2020

·     Bank of New York (BK) Q3 EPS $1.04 vs. est. $0.99; Q3 revs $4.0B vs. est. $3.95B; qtrly total noninterest expense of $2.9 billion, increased 9%; at qtr end, aum of $2.3 trillion, increased 13%; qtrly total fee and other revenue of $3.39 bln vs $3.14 bln; qtrly asset servicing fees $1.22 bln vs $1.17 bln

·     Commerce Bancshares (CBSH) q3 eps $1.05 vs. Est. $0.99, q3 revenue $351.54m vs. Est. $349.85m

·     Fifth Third (FITB) Q3 EPS $0.97 vs. est. $0.91; raises dividend by 11%; Q3 NII $1.19B vs. $1.17B

·     Synovus (SNV) Q3 adj EPS $1.20 vs. est. $1.08; Q3 net charge-off ratio declined 6 bps from prior quarter to 0.22%; the non-performing loan and asset ratios each fell 1 bp to 0.41% and 0.45%, respectively; and criticized and classified loans declined 22%

·     Credit Suisse (CS) is in discussions with the U.S. government to settle a criminal investigation regarding the bank’s role in a $42B Mozambique bond scandal – Bloomberg

·     Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (BHLB) has entered into a partnership with Upstart (UPST), a leading artificial intelligence (AI) lending platform designed to improve access to affordable credit while reducing the risk and costs of lending.

·     Equity LifeStyle Property (ELS) 3Q adj FFO/share $0.65 vs. est. $0.62 on revs $332.9Mm vs est. $171.1Mm

·     EverQuote (EVER) guides 3Q revs $106.5-107.5Mm vs est. $110.2Mm; sees 3Q net loss $6.0-5.5Mm vs est. net loss $4.7Mm; plans to implement approx 10% structure reduction in non-marketing op exp

·     FB Financial (FBK) 3Q adj EPS $0.89 vs est. $0.81, NII on tax-equivalent basis $89.2Mm vs est. $88.5Mm

·     PacWest Bancorp (PACW) 3Q EPS $1.17 vs est. $1.03; NII $279.8Mm vs est. $278.4Mm

·     ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (SFBS) Q3 EPS $0.96, in-line with estimates; Total loans grew $163.1 million, or 8% annualized, during the quarter, while loans, excluding the impact of Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) loan forgiveness, grew $370.4 million, or 18% annualized; Book value per share increased to $20.56, a 17% increase year-over-year

·     Zions Bancorp (ZION) Q3 EPS $1.45 vs. est. $1.33; loan growth excluding PPP loans, was 5.6% on an annualized basis; reported continued strong deposit growth at an annualized pace of 9.3%; announced $46 million reversal of loss reserves into income (compared to positive +$55 mln); qtrly net interest income remained stable at $555 million

 

Healthcare

·     Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) Q3 adj EPS $2.60 vs. est. $2.35; Q3 revs $23.34B vs. est. $23.72B; maintained its 2021 sales forecast for its COVID-19 vaccine at $2.5 billion and reported $502 million in sales of the single-dose shot in Q3; raises FY21 adjusted EPS view to $9.65-$9.70 from $9.50-$9.60 and boosts FY21 revenue view to $94.1B-$94.6B from $93.8B-$94.6B (est. $94.3B)

·     Sage Therapeutics (SAGE) and Biogen (BIIB) announce plans to submit a new drug application (NDA) for Zuranolone to the U.S. FDA in the second half of 2022 with rolling submission expected to start in early 2022

·     Following the pre-NDA meeting, the companies confirmed the current efficacy and safety databases are expected to be adequate for filing with confirmed pathways for MDD and PPD. The planned initial submission package will be for the treatment of MDD with an anticipated PPD filing thereafter

·     The FDA intends to allow Americans to get a different COVID-19 vaccine as a booster from the one that originally had, The New York Times’ reported, which could reduce the appeal of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) vaccine and provide flexibility to doctors and other vaccinators

·     The U.S. FDA has approved Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories’ (RDY) generic version of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s (BMY) multiple myeloma treatment Revlimid (lenalidomide) capsules.

·     Calithera Biosciences (CALA) is acquiring two clinical-stage compounds from Takeda Pharmaceutical (TAK) to bolster its precision oncology pipeline in a cash and stock deal; Calithera will pay $10M upfront cash and $35M in Calithera Series A preferred stock.

·     Entasis Therapeutics (ETTX) announces positive topline results for sulbactam-durlobactam (SUL-DUR) from Phase 3 ATTACK trial; SUL-DUR first to achieve statistical non-inferiority in 28-day all-cause mortality in carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter (CRAB) patients; Statistically significant difference in clinical cure at Test of Cure vs. colistin; targeting NDA submission in mid-2022

·     Paratek Pharmaceuticals (PRTK) announces enrollment of first patient in phase 2b study evaluating Nuzyra® (omadacycline) for nontuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease caused by mycobacterium abscesses complex

 

Technology, Media & Telecom

·     Micron (MU): Commodity DRAM prices likely to fall 15-20% in 1Q22. Following peak shipments in the second and third quarters, the memory sector has entered a period of correction in the fourth quarter of 2021 that may last for 1-2 quarters, and commodity DRAM prices, in particular, will face higher downward pressure – Digitimes.com https://bit.ly/3G2l5D5