Wake Up Call
- Hello ! Stock futures wavered as traders weighed economic data and remarks from a handful of policymakers for clues on the Federal Reserve’s next steps. S&P 500 contracts struggled to pick up much traction after a rally that drove the US equity benchmark to an all-time high.
- Fed Bank of New York President John Williams told Reuters the latest US inflation data confirm price pressures are gradually easing — but he still needs more evidence to adjust interest rates. He’s among the several central bank speakers scheduled to talk Thursday.
- The meme-stock craze continued to fizzle out, with GAMESTOP and AMC plunging. WALMART gained after another quarter of sales growth. CHUBB shares jumped after Berkshire Hathaway unveiled a $6.7bn stake in the insurer.
Wall Street Movers
- 13F
- Hedge funds increased their AI exposure through Nvidia, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft, while Berkshire Hathaway unveiled a $6.7bn stake in Chubb.
- Michael Burry doubled down on JD.com and Alibaba bets.
- PIF roughly halved its direct holdings in US equities, dropping entire stakes in BlackRock, Carnival and Booking.
- BAIDU -0.3% Q1 rev 31.51bn yuan (¥31.43bn) / Adj profit per ADR ¥9.91 (¥15.59) / Adj EBITDA ¥8.24bn (¥7.58bn).
- CHUBB +7.5% Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway unveiled a $6.7bn stake in insurer Chubb. The disclosure in a filing on Wednesday ends months of suspense over its mystery position in a financial firm, previously kept concealed in regulatory filings. Chubb's stock jumped in after-hours trading, adding as much as 9.9%.
- CISCO +2% boosts FY rev $53.6bn to $53.8bn ($53.63bn exp) / adj EPS $3.69 to $3.71 ($3.64 exp) / Q3 Rev $12.70bn ($12.66bn exp) indicating that some customers are beginning to invest in their computer networks again / Adj EPS 88c (82c exp) despite negative impact of the acquisition of Splunk.
- COUPANG +2.6% after UBS raised its recommendation on the stock to buy.
- DEERE -5.5% Cut FY net income 4cst $7.0bn, saw $7.50bn to $7.75bn ($7.53bn exp) / Q2 Net sales $13.61bn ($13.2bn exp) / Net income $2.37bn ($2.16bn exp).
- JD.COM +3.9% Q1 net rev ¥260.05bn (¥258.35bn) / Company has slashed prices and ramped up shopper perks/ Adj earnings per ADR ¥5.65 (¥4.67) / Adj EBITDA ¥10.79bn (¥9.5bn).
- MEME STOCKS Was it just a blip? The meme rally that added about $11bn in value to GAMESTOP -8% and AMC -5.3% in the first two days of the week faltered Wednesday. The stocks had more than doubled over the first two days of the week, before yesterday’s slide erased roughly $3bn in market value between the two.
- META -0.8% is under investigation by the EU over concerns its algorithms are illegally exploiting the weakness of children to get them addicted to Facebook and Instagram.
- UNDER ARMOUR -10% FY25 adj EPS 18c-21c (59c exp) / Q4 adj EPS 11c (7.6c exp) / Net rev $1.33bn ($1.33bn exp) / Company justifies weak performance w/ lower wholesale channel demand and inconsistent execution across our business / Company sees restructuring charges of about $70mn to $90mn.
- WALMART +5.7% Q1 adj EPS 60c (53c exp) / Rev $161.51bn ($159.58bn exp) as it attracts price-conscious consumers looking for essentials and discounts / Q2 adj EPS 4cst 62c to 65c (64c exp) / Boosts FY adj EPS 4cst at high-end or slightly above $2.23 to $2.37, saw $2.23 to $2.37 ($2.37 exp) / Company also launches Walmart Luminate and closed health clinics due to reimbursement rates >> TGT +2%; DG +1.1%
At A Glance
- ALPHABET‘s Google didn't meet hotel search obligations in Turkey.
- AMAZON is in talks w/ PARAMOUT about expanding the ties between their media businesses. Discussions are said to include bundled sales of channels.
- AT&T and satellite provider AST SPACEMOBILE are teaming up to provide wireless service from space, a challenge to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which struck a similar deal two years ago with T-Mobile US.
- BIOGEN and Ionis decided to terminate development of BIIB105, a treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, based on results from a Phase 1/2 study.
- CHEVRON is expected to start a sale process in June for its remaining UK North Sea oil and gas assets, raising as much as $1bn excluding tax benefits.
- ELI LILLY says Insulin Efsitora Alfa met the primary goal in the trials.
- GRAB HOLDINGS Q1 rev $653mn ($642mn exp) / adj EBITDA $62mn ($29.7mn exp) / Boosted FY Ebitda $250mn to $270mn, saw $180mn to $200mn ($218.9mn exp).
- JOHNSON & JOHNSON to acquire Proteologix to lead in Atopic Dermatitis Treatmentfor $850mn.
- MICROSOFT is asking hundreds of employees in its China-based cloud-computing and AI operations to consider transferring outside the country.
- PFIZER has agreed to pay between $200mn to $250mn to settle more than 10,000 US lawsuits over cancer risks associated with Zantac.
- VISA is rolling out new technology that will allow the payments giant to share more information about customers’ preferences based on their shopping history
Key Events (UK Time)
Thursday
13:30 US Initial Jobless Claims and Continuing Claims, Housing Starts, Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook
15:00 Fed's Barr Testifies to Senate Banking
15:30 Fed's Harker Speaks on Higher Education, Healthcare
17:00 Fed's Mester Gives Remarks on Economic Outlook
20:50 Fed's Bostic Speaks in Moderated Chat on Economy
Friday
15:00 US Leading Index
15:15 Fed's Waller Speaks on Payments Innovation
17:15 Fed's Daly Gives Commencement Speech
Game Of Corporate Actions
DIV EX DATE
- Today : Amgen ($2.25); Chevron ($1.63); Duke Energy ($1.025); Emerson Electric ($0.525); Hershey ($1.37); Hilton Worldwide ($0.15); Honeywell International ($1.08); IDEX ($0.69); J M Smucker ($1.06); Moody's ($0.85); MSCI ($1.6); Otis Worldwide ($0.39); RTX ($0.63); Sherwin-Williams ($0.715); Starbucks ($0.57); Visa ($0.52)
- Tomorrow : Bunge Global ($0.68); Cognizant Technology Solutions ($0.3); Evergy ($0.6425); Gen Digital ($0.125); Phillips 66($1.15); Snap-on ($1.86); Southern ($0.72); Wynn Resorts ($0.25)
TODAY EARNINGS
- Results aft mkt : Applied Materials; Copart ; Take-Two Interactive
TOMORROW
- Results bef mkt : --
- Results aft mkt : --