The Daily Briefing For April 6th: Stocks Flat Into Last Trading Day Of The Week. Traders More Focused on The Masters Which Begins This Morning.

Overnight Summary: The S&P 500 closed Wednesday lower by -0.25% at 4090.38 from Tuesday lower by -0.58% at 4100.60. The overnight high of 4119.50 was hit at 7:15 a.m. EDT. The low was hit at 4105.25 at 1:05 a.m. EDT, a range of 14 points high to low which is below the recent range of 45. At 7:25 a.m. EDT the current price was 4119 which is 0.04% and 1.75 points.

Earnings Out After The Close: 

• Beats: SLP +0.02 of note.
• Flat: None of note.
• Misses: None of note.

Unusual Options Activity:

Daily Screen in Erlanger Chartroom that highlights unusual Call and Put Options activity in the S&P 500.  It looks for volume outliers relative to the Open interest in Calls or puts.  Usually, the stock price activity reflects the outlier situation (earnings/buyout/announcement), but once in a while, you can uncover stocks prior to a pop or drop.

Capital Raises:

• IPOs Priced or News: None of note.
• New SPACs launched/News:
  • Clearday Inc. and Viveon Health Acquisition Corp. (VHAQ) Announce Definitive Merger Agreement to Accelerate Innovative Longevity-Tech Platform to Market
  • dMY Technology Group, Inc. VI (DMYS) to liquidate after making a determination that it would not be in the best interests to proceed with combination with Rain Enhancement Technologies.
• Secondaries Priced: None of note.
• Notes Priced of note: None of note.
• Common Stock filings/Notes:
  • AMPX: Filed Form S-1.. 22,733,336 Shares of Common Stock.
  • CDIO: Filed Form S-1.. Up to 20,363,637 Shares of Common Stock.
  • SDIG: Filed Form S-3.. 62,004,276 Shares.
  • SGBX: Filed Form S-1.. 2,760,675 Shares of Common Stock.
• Direct Offering: None of note.
• Selling Shareholders of note:
  • TSHA: Filed Form S-3.. 8,496,560 Shares Common Stock Offered by the Selling Stockholders.
• Private Placement of Public Entity (PIPE):
  • AVTE: Enters into an ATM equity offering agreement with BofA Securities to sell shares of its common stock with an aggregate offering price up to $75 million.
  • NXPL: Announces $6.0 Million Private Offering of Common Stock Priced At Market.
• Mixed Shelf Offerings:
  • TGB: Filed Form F-10.. US$600,000,000 Mixed Shelf.
• Debt/Credit Filing and Notes:
  • ImmunoGen (IMGN) Announces Non-Dilutive Term Loan Financing for Up to $175 Million with Pharmakon Advisors.
  • ZIVO: Receives $1 Million Bridge Financing.
• Tender Offer: None of note.
• Convertible Offering & Notes Filed: None of note.

Capital Raise Summary From The TradeXchange, bringing traders and investors real time news and Squawk Box, and other sources.

News After The Close:

• After Hours: 
  • Trading Up: PL +5% of note.
  • Trading Down: LITE -10% of note.
• News After The Close:   
  • Disney (DIS) Names Joe Earley Head of Streaming, Michael Paull Is Out. (Variety)
  • Costco (COST) stock falls after first monthly same-store sales drop in nearly 3 years. (MarketWatch)
  • AMPL: Plans to Reduce Global Workforce by Approximately 13%.
  • Parsons (PSN) awarded Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) contract with $1.8 billion ceiling.

• Exchange/Listing/Company Reorg and Personnel News:
  • Acushnet (GOLF) names Sean Sullivan as CFO.
  • Arrow Financial Corporation (AROW) Announces Receipt of NASDAQ Noncompliance Notice.
  • Ault Alliance’s (AULT) Subsidiary, Circle 8, Expands Leadership Team With Appointment of Crane Industry Veteran Arnold Mabee as CEO.
  • Cano Health (CANO) discloses three directors have resigned.
  • Genius Group (GNS) Commences Trading on Upstream Under the Ticker Symbol GNS.
  • LCI Industries (LCII) Announces the Appointment of Lillian D. Etzkorn as Executive Vice President and CFO.
  • NIKE, Inc. (NKE) Names KeJuan Wilkins as Executive Vice President and Chief Communications Officer.
  • Pan Am Silver (PAAS) will transfer its common shares to the NYSE from the NASDAQ.
  • Rivian (RIVN) Hires Mike Johnson as Chief Information Security Officer.
  • Tattooed Chef (TTCF) Receives Non-Compliance Notice from The Nasdaq Stock Market.
  • W&T (WTI) Offshore Announces Management Change.
  • Woodward (WWD) appoints William Lacey as its new CFO.
• Buyback Announcements or News:
  • Lumentum (LITE) Announces Increased Share Repurchase Program.
• Stock Splits or News: None of note.
• Dividends Announcements or News: 
  • GFL Environmental Inc. (GFL) Announces 10% Increase to Quarterly Dividend.

What’s Happening This Morning: Futures value reflects the change with fair value.

S&P 500 +3, Dow Jones +43,  NASDAQ -12, and Russell 2000 +8. (as of 7:55 a.m. EDT).  Asia is lower and Europe higher. VIX Futures are at 21.86 from 20.80 yesterday.  Gold lower with Silver and Copper higher. WTI Crude Oil and Brent lower with Natural Gas higher. US 10-year Treasury sees yields at 3.285% from 3.35% yesterday. The U.S. Dollar is lower versus the Euro, lower versus the Pound and lower against the Yen. Bitcoin is at $27,935 from $28,534 yesterday, lower by -1.03%.

Sector Action – (1/3/6/12/YTD Updated Weekly with Monday release):  

• Daily Positive Sectors: Utilities, Healthcare, Energy of note.
• Daily Negative Sectors: Consumer Cyclical, Industrials, Technology of note.
• One Month Winners: Technology, Communication Services, Utilities of note.
• Three Month Winners: Technology, Communication Services, Consumer Cyclical of note.
• Six Month Winners: Technology, Basic Materials, Industrial of note.
• Twelve Month Winners: Energy of note.
• Year to Date Winners: Technology, Communication Services, Consumer Cyclical of note.

U.S. stocks closed mixed on Wednesday as weaker economic data weighed on equities and focus among investors returned to recession concerns. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained about 80 points, or 0.2%, ending near 33,482, but the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.3% and 1.1%, respectively. That left the S&P 500 down for two straight days and the Nasdaq lower for a third day in a row. (MarketWatch – edited by QPI)

Click here for a video explanation of Erlanger Value Lines.

Upcoming Earnings Of Note: (From Chartroom Software – sorted by market cap, highest to lowest with most visible names)

• Thursday After the Close: 

• Monday Before the Open: None of note.

Earnings of Note This Morning:

• Beats: STZ +0.14, RPM +0.06, LEVI +0.03 of note.
• Flat: None of note.
• Misses: None of note.
• Still to Report: LW of note.

Guidance:

• Positive Guidance: CAG of note.
• Negative Guidance: ABBV, RPM of note.

Erlanger Research Advance/Decline Chart:

Gap Ups & Down In Early Pre-Market:

• Gap Up: PL +4% of note.
• Gap Down: LITE -11% of note.

Insider Action: No stock sees Insider buying with dumb short selling.  No stock sees Insider buying with smart short sellers.

Rags & Mags: Repeated stories from prior days never listed, i.e. “rehashed news”. Sorted by Global, U.S. and stock specific.

• 5 things to know before the stock market opens. (CNBC)
• 5 Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day. (Bloomberg) 
• Bloomberg Lead Story: China Restraint on Taiwan Shows Xi Has Bigger Concern Right Now. (Bloomberg)
• Bloomberg Most Read Story: Top Taxes Mistakes To Avoid If You Make More Than $100,000. (Bloomberg)
• France’s Macron starts tough talks with China’s Xi on state visit. (CNBC)
• US Yields Extend Slide On Worries Over Economy: Market Wrap (Bloomberg)
• US Profits set for pandemic-sized drop, Goldman strategists say. (Bloomberg)
• Airlines answer for congested airports and rising costs: Bigger Planes. (CNBC)
• Investors worry what strong jobs data means for the economy. (NYT)
• The Masters’ field ranked. (Golf Digest)

Moving Average Update:

• Score goes down to 68% from 82%.

Geopolitical: 

• President’s Public Schedule:
  • The President receives the Presidential Daily Briefing, 11:00 a.m. EDT
  • Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, 1:00 p.m. EDT
  • The President departs the White House en route to Fort Lesley J. McNair and Camp David 4:00 p.m. EDT

Economic:

• Thursday
  • Challenger Job Cut 7:30 a.m. EDT
    • U.S Challenger Job Cuts (Mar) Actual: 89.703k Vs 77.770k Previous; Est 65.000k
    • U.S Challenger Job Cuts (Yoy) Actual: 319.4% Vs 410.1% Previous; Est 148.0%
    • Challenger: Large-scale Layoffs Will Likely Continue Amid Rising Interest Rates, Companies Reigning In Costs
  • Initial Jobless Claims 8:30 a.m. EDT
  • EIA natural Gas Report 10:30 a.m. EDT
  • Baker Hughes Rig Count 1:00 p.m. EDT
• Friday
  • Markets and the Federal Government are closed for Good Friday. Happy Easter to all!
  • March Nonfarm Payrolls are due out at 8:30 p.m. EDT and are expected to fall to 239,000 from 311,000. The unemployment rate is expected to stay at 3.6%.

Federal Reserve / Treasury Speakers:

• Federal Reserve St. Louis President James Bullard 10:00 a.m. EDT

M&A Activity:

• Hecla (HL) Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire ATAC Resources.

Meeting & Conferences of Note:

• Sellside Conferences:
  • B. Riley Securities’ Life Sciences Tools Conference
  • JP Morgan Midwest Utilities and Midstream
    • Previously posted and ongoing conferences: None of note.

• Company Meetings: FSV, RUBY, SCLX
• Fireside Chat: None of note.
• Investor/Analyst Day/Calls: PFE
• Update: None of note.
• R&D Day: None of note.
• Company Event: None of note.
• Industry Meetings:
  • Arizona Space Summit 2023
    • Previously posted and ongoing conferences:
      • World Vaccine Congress Washington D.C. 2023 (04/03/23-04/06/23)

Top Tier Sell-side Upgrades & Downgrades:

The recommendations listed below in this “Upgrade/Downgrade” section are compiled from what we believe are Tier I, II and III firms. Recommendations posted are taken from a variety of sources each day and we only post upgrades or significant initiations as well as downgrades to underweight or sell. The purpose of this posting it to make the reader aware of market moving recommendations. None of these recommendations should be interpreted as actual recommendations from CAPIS or its employees.

Today’s Upgrades and Downgrades:

Previous Day’s Upgrades and Downgrades: