The Daily Briefing For December 3rd: Stocks Higher But Will It Last? Ah ..Nope

Overnight Summary: Markets are nervous heading into U.S. jobs data. China and Japan rose about 1%.  Asian economic data was weak, but the indexes remained positive.  European markets are flat.  Retail Sales for October exceeded European expectations.  US futures are down.  SP Futures traded in a range of 4583.00 and a low of 4543.75.  As of 7:15 a.m. EST they were in the middle of the range trading about 4573 awaiting the Non-farm Payroll Data at 8:30 a.m. EST.

Breaking News: FDA will do 1-2 week reviews of variant vaccines as needed. (WSJ) This is a rehash of Biden comments early in the week but media making a big deal of it.

Earnings Out After The Close:

• Beats: ULTA +1.46, VRNT +0.16, ZUMZ +0.16, DOCU +0.12, JOAN +0.11, SMAR +0.08, MRVL +0.05, ASAN +0.04, GWRE +0.04, OOMA +0.04, YEXT +0.03, DOMO +0.02
• Flat: None
• Misses: SWBI (0.16), OLLI (0.13), COO (0.10)

Capital Raises:

• IPOs Priced or News: None of note.
• New SPACs launched:
  • American Express Global Business Travel Nears $5.3 Billion SPAC Merger With Apollo Strategic Growth Capital
• Secondaries Priced:
  • ESPR 32.143M share  Secondary priced at $7.00 includes stock and warrants
• Notes Priced of note: None of note.
• Common Stock filings/Notes:
  • APP: Launch of Secondary Offering.. 6,500,000 shares .. JPM, BAC, Citi and MS Bookmanagers
  • KORE: Filed Form S-1.. 8,911,745 Common stock issuable upon the exercise of warrants.
  • MAPS: Filed Form S-1.. Up to 1,938,798 Shares of Class A Common Stock
  • RGLS: Filed Form S-1.. 96,180,552 shares of Common Stock
  • ESPR: Announced Public Offering but no terms yet
• Pricing of Over-Allotment: None of note.
• Direct Offering: None of note. 
• Selling Shareholders of note: None of note.
• Private Placement of Public Entity (PIPE): None of note.
• Mixed Shelf Offerings:
  • CIM: Filed Form S-3ASR.. Mixed Shelf Offering
• Convertible Offering & Notes Filed: 
  • FBHS: Form 8K — $400Million Unsecured load credit agreement
• Note Offerings 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: SMAR +17%, MRVL +16%, TLYS +12%, ZG +10%, JOAN +8%, FIZZ +7%, YEXT +6%, ULTA +5%, SBGI +4%, RJF +3%, ENFA +3%, ZUMZ +3%
  • Trading Down: DOCU -29%, OLLI -19%, ASAN -15%, ESPR -14%, SWBI -13%, SPWH -10%, DOMO -8%, OOMA -5%, APP -5%

• News Items:
  • Stocks making the biggest moves after hours: ULTA, MRVL, DOCU, OLLI (CNBC)
  • New York state reports 11,331 new coronavirus cases, the biggest one-day increase since January
  • Tesla (TSLA) Is Having Issues Getting Hands On Solar Panels, Delays Some Projects – Electrek
  • DocuSign plunges almost 30% after e-signature company issues weak fourth-quarter guidance (CNBC)
  • Pimco Credit CIO Says Fed is Behind the Curve Fighting Inflation (Bloomberg)
  • Kroger Nears Record Territory Again With Third Raise to Forecast (Bloomberg)
  • Sportsman’s Warehouse (SPWH) terminates merger with Great Outdoors Group which owns BassProShop.
  • Riot Blockchain (RIOT) produced 466 new Bitcoin in November which is up 298% from November 2020.
  • Churchill Downs (CHDN) may sell it betting business TwinSpires. (Bloomberg)
• Exchange/Listing/Company Reorg and Personnel News: 
  • NASDAQ (NDAQ) reports November 2021 metrics — U.S. equity options volume was 301 million contracts vs 252 million in October and 242 million November 2020
  • CNA Financial (CNA) names Scott Lindquist as CFO, effective January 10, 2022
  • DIDI announced plans of US delisting, HK listing.
  • Dril-Quip (DRQ) names Kyle McClure as CFO, effective January 1, 2022
  • Federal Realty (FRT) announces holding company reorganization
  • Lyft (LYFT) appoints Elaine Paul as CFO, effective January 3
  • White Mountains (WTM) announces Liam Caffrey as new CFO effective March 1, 2022
  • CapStar Financial (CSTR) names Dennis Bottorff as Non-Executive Chairman
• Buyback Announcements:
  • AXIS Capital (AXS) Announces $100 Million Share Repurchase Authorization
  • BIG Announces $250M share buyback
  • Nucor (NUE) to create a new $4 billion repurchase program
  • Raymond James Financial (RJF) Approves $1 Billion Share Repurchase Authorization
  • Zillow Group (Z/ZG) Announces Significant Progress on Zillow Offers Inventory Wind-Down and Authorizes $750 Million Share Repurchase Program
• Stock Splits: None of note.
• Dividends Announcements: 
  • AXIS Capital (AXS) Increases Quarterly Dividend for 18th Consecutive Year to $0.43
  • BMO Financial Group (BMO) Increases Common Share Dividend by 27 cents from the prior quarter, up 25 per cent from the prior quarter and prior year
  • Ecolab (ECL) Increases Cash Dividend 6% to $0.51 from $0.48
  • Eastman Chemical (EMN) ups dividend to $0.76
  • National Beverage Corp. (FIZZ) Again Enriches the Holiday Season With a Special Cash Dividend
  • Hillenbrand (HI)
  • Independence Realty Trust (IRT)
  • Nucor (NUE) raises quarterly dividend by 23% to $0.50
  • Owens Corning (OC) ups dividend to $0.35 from $02.6
  • Raymond James Financial (RJF) Raises Quarterly Dividend to $0.34 from $0.26
  • Trane Technologies (TT) Announces Intention to Increase Annual Dividend by 14 Percent to $0.67

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

S&P 500 +3 Dow Jones Industrial Average +12 NASDAQ +24 Russell 2000 +0.47. Asia and Europe trading mixed. VIX is at 26 from 26.15 in futures from Thursday. Gold and Silver higher with Copper lower. WTI Crude Oil and Brent Oil Futures higher. Natural Gas is higher. $ is higher vs Euro, higher vs Pound and higher vs Yen. US 10 year Treasury price is at $130.84 from $130.47  with yields at 1.432% from 1.419% on Thursday morning. Bitcoin at $56,915 from $56,578 on Thursday morning and this morning down -0.25%. As of 8:10 a.m. EST.

Thursday’s Action – 12/02 Close:  

• Daily Positive Sectors: Red rover red rover…send all the negative groups from yesterday on over:  Energy, Industrials, Real Estate, Financials, Basic Materials, Communication Services, Utilities, Consumer Defensive, Consumer Cyclical, Technology, Healthcare of note
• Daily Negative Sectors: None of note (“You surprised Clark?” “Oh, Eddie…if I woke up tomorrow with my head sewn to the carpet, I wouldn’t be more surprised than I am now”.
• One Month Winners: None of note.
• Three Month Winners: Energy, Consumer Cyclical, and Technology of note.
• Six Month Winners: Technology, Communication Services, Consumer Cyclical of note.
• Twelve Month Winners: Energy, Financials, and Technology of note.
• Year to Date Winners: Energy, Technology, and Communication Services  of note.

All indexes down  up 1% with Russell leading the charge down up 2.74%.  TLT remains up slightly at 152.53 up 0.12%.  Oil and Natural Gas diverge with USO up 2.68% and UNG down 3.24%. Updated 12/02 close.

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

• Friday After the Close: None of note.
• Monday Before the Open: None of note.

Earnings of Note This Morning:

• Beats: GCO +1.07, BMO +0.11, HIBB +0.07, BIG +0.02
• Flat: none
• Misses: DOLE (0.11)
• Still to Report: none

Erlanger Research Advance/Decline Chart: Updated through 12/02 close.

Gap Ups & Down In Early Pre-Market:

• • Gap Up: MRVL 19%, SMAR 15%, ENFA 12%, ZG 9%, TLYS 8%, ULTA 6%, SYNA 5%, HIBB 4%, SBGI 4%, ZUMZ 4%, DIDI 3%
  • Gap Down: DOCU -32%, ESPR -31%, OLLI -21%, SWBI -18%, ASAN -15%, BIG -13%, DOMO -9%, SPWH -8%, APP -8%, FRT -5%, PTGX -4%, VRNT -3%

Insider Action: AHCO, ELAN sees Insider buying with dumb short selling and MTG, BHC has smart short sellers with insider buys. 11/29 close

Rags & Mags: Highlighted Stories may be clicked through to the original story.  Repeated stories from prior days never listed, i.e. “rehashed news”.

• Five Things To Know To Start Your Day. (Bloomberg)
• Stocks Making The Biggest Moves: DOCU, DIDI, MRNA, MRVL, ULTA, PTON  (CNBC)
• Covid-19 Data sees cases move to 129,818 from 100,636 week over week
• WHO Spokesperson  ‘I Have Not Seen Reports Of Omicron-related Deaths Yet’ 
• Story in NYT that mixing vaccines provides strong protection. (NYT)
• New York officials confirm 5 cases of Omicron Covid-19 variant in NYC metro area and there is also a case in Hawaii (CNBC) 
• South Africa Coronavirus cases almost tripled in three days, hospitalizations are not yet increasing at the same level. (Washington Post)
• Berkshire’s (BRKB) Charlie Munger notes that current environment is now ‘even crazier’ Than Dotcom Bust (Bloomberg)
• House & Senate pass Continuing Resolution Bill which funds government through February 18. The Debt Ceiling is still predicted to expire on December 15). (The Hill)
• Citigroup (C) Applies For China Securities License – (WSJ)
• BIG Sees strong start to Q4 with record Black Friday and Thanksgiving Sales
• Federal Reserve Open Market Committee voting members want a faster tapering due to inflation concerns. (Reuters)
• BoE’s Saunders: Delay On Raising Rates Could Require A More Abrupt And Painful Policy Tightening Later. For Me, The Balance Between These Considerations Is Likely To Be A Key Factor At The December Meeting.
• Google (GOOGL) workers in U.S. won’t return to office as expected on Jan. 10 (CNBC)
• Himax Tech (HIMX) Chairman to buy $10 million of shares
• Draft Kings (DKNG) CEO was interviewed on CNBC in a rebuttal to Hedge Fund Manager Jim Chanos who attacked the company yesterday on CNBC.
• Didi (DIDI) share getting crushed this morning after starting out higher. (CNBC)
• Robinhood looks at Grab Holdings (GRAB). Major League Baseball shuts down and locks out players.

Moving Average Update:

• The score improves to 30% from a low of  16%. Updated 12/02 close.

Geopolitical: 

• President’s Public Schedule:
  • The President receives the President’s Daily Brief, 9:30 a.m. EST
  • The President delivers remarks on the November jobs report, 10:15 a.m. EST
  • The President has lunch with The Vice President, 12:15 p.m. EST
  • Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jen Psaki, 1:30 p.m. EST
  • The President departs the White House en route Camp David, 5:30 p.m. EST

Economic: 

• November Nonfarm Payrolls is due out at 8:30 a.m. EST and the unemployment rate is expected to drop to 4.5% from 4.6%.
• PMI Composite Final 9:45 a.m. EST
• October Factory Orders is due out at 10:00 a.m. EST and is estimated to rise to 0.4% from 0.2%.
• November ISM Non-Manufacturing Index is also due out at 10:00 a.m. EDT and is estimated to rise to 65% from 61.9%.
• Baker Hughes Rig Count 1:00 p.m. EST

Federal Reserve Speakers:

• None of note.

M&A Activity: 

• 890 5th Avenue Partners (ENFA) announces shareholder approval of combination with BuzzFeed
• Hillrom (HRC) Shareholders Approve Acquisition By Baxter (BAX)
• Moody’s  (MCO)Acquires PassFort and Agrees to Acquire kompany, Expanding KYC and Compliance Capabilities

Meeting & Conferences of Note:

• Sellside Conferences:
  • None of note

Previously Posted and Ongoing Conferences:

• • • Bank of America Clean Tech Conference 2021 (12/02-12/03)
    • Goldman Sachs Global Automotive Conference 2021 (12/02-12/03)
    • Stifel US Industrials Summit 2021 (12/02-12/03)
    • Barclays Eat, Sleep, Play Conference 2021 (12/01-12/02)
    • Cowen 2021 Energy Summit (12/01-12/03)
    • Credit Suisse 9th Annual Industrials Conference 2021 (12/01-12/03)
    • Jefferies Retail & Brands Summit 2021 (12/01/-12/02)
    • Jefferies Alternative Protein & Related ESG Summit 2021 (12/01/-12/02)
    • Bank of America Securities Leveraged Finance Conference 2021 (11/30-12/02)
    • Credit Suisse 25th Annual Technology, Media & Telecom Conference (11/29-12/02)
    • Evercore ISI 4th Annual HealthCONx Conference 2021 (11/29-12/03)
    • KeyBanc Summit @ AWS Re:Invent (11/29-12/03)
    • Morgan Stanley Global Consumer and Retail Conference 2021 (11/30-12/02)
    • Piper Sandler 33rd Annual Healthcare Conference (11/29-12/02)
    • Scotiabank Mining Conference 2021 11/30-12/02)
    • Stephens Investment Conference (11/29-12/03)
    • Wells Fargo 5th Annual TMT Summit 2021 (11/30-12/02)
• Company Meetings:
  • Fireside Chat: HRI
• Investor/Analyst Day: ALIZY
• Update: XHR
• R&D Day: ERIC
• Conference Call: None of note.
• Company Event: None of note.
• Industry Meetings:
  • American Epilepsy Society AES Annual Meeting 2021 (12/03-12/07)
  • 37th Annual Southern Biomedical Engineering Conference (SBEC) 2021 (12/03-12/05)
  • 18th Global Cardiovascular Clinical Trialists / CVCT Forum 2021

Previously Posted and Ongoing Conferences:

• • • 22nd Annual Meeting of the Society of Urologic Oncology (12/01-12/03)
    • Nasdaq Investor Conference 2021 (11/30-12/03)
    • 15th Annual Global Wellness Summit 2021 (11/30-12/03)
    • World Antiviral Congress 2021 (11/30-12/02)

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:

Thursday’s Upgrades and Downgrades: