U.S. stocks rose to start off the holiday-filled shortened trading week on a positive note as investors found plenty of reason to be optimistic on retail sales which jumped the most since 2012.
Investors were also encouraged by Citigroup's better than expected earnings which eased investor concerns over the banking sector.
The markets will take a breather and close on Friday to commemorate Easter while the Jewish holiday of Passover begins on Monday at sunset.
- The Dow gained 0.91 percent, closing at 16,173.24.
- The S&P 500 gained 0.82 percent, closing at 1,830.61.
- The Nasdaq gained 0.57 percent, closing at 4,022.69.
- Gold gained 0.52 percent, trading at $1,325.90 an ounce.
- Oil lost 0.13 percent, trading at $103.60 a barrel.
- Silver gained 0.07 percent, trading at $19.96 an ounce.
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News of Note
March Retail Sales rose 1.1 percent from February, higher than the 1.0 percent gain expected and higher than February's gain of 0.7 percent.
February Business Inventories rose 0.4 percent to $1,715.6 billion, below the consensus estimate for a 0.6 percent gain. Sales rose 0.8 percent to $1,311.8 billion with an inventory/sales ratio reading 1.31.
Pro-Russian militias in several Ukraine cities have ignored calls to disarm and vacate government offices that they occupied. Ukraine warns it is prepared to carry out “large-scale anti-terrorist operations” against these pro-Russian militias.
Eurozone industrial production rose 0.2 percent on month in February, after coming in unchanged in January.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades of Note
Analysts at Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of 3D Systems DDD with a Neutral rating and $63 price target. Shares lost 3.97 percent, closing at $46.16.
Analysts at Jefferies maintained a Buy rating on AbbVie ABBV with a price target raised to $61 from a previous $60. Shares gained 0.77 percent, closing at $46.82.
Analysts at Barclays maintained an Equal-weight rating on Edwards Lifesciences EW with a price target raised to $67 from a previous 64. Meanwhile, analysts at CRT Capital upgraded Edwards Lifesciences to Buy from Fair Value with a price target raised to $87 from a previous $79. Shares surged 11.11 percent, closing at $81.08.
Analysts at FBR Capital upgraded Hyatt Hotels H to Outperform from Market Perform with a price target raised to $62 from a previous $55. Shares gained 2.23 percent, closing at $53.22.
Analysts at Leerink Swann maintained a Market Perform rating on Intuitive Surgical ISRG with a price target lowered to $490 from a previous $550.
Analysts at FBR Capital maintained a Market Perform rating on JPMorgan Chase JPM with a price target of $55. Meanwhile, analysts at Jefferies maintained a Buy rating on JPMorgan with a price target lowered to $68 from a previous $69. Shares lost 3.33 percent, closing at $425.00.
Analysts at Jefferies maintained a Hold rating on Eli Lilly LLY with a price target raised to $54 from a previous $45. Shares gained 0.82 percent, closing at $58.93.
Analysts at Atlantic Securities initiated coverage of LinkedIn LNKD with a price target of $240. Shares gained 0.03 percent, closing at $165.83.
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Analysts at Deutsche Bank maintained a Buy rating of Las Vegas Sands LVS with a price target raised to $87 from a previous $85.
Analysts at Baird upgraded Mastercard MA to Buy from Neutral to Outperform with a $83 price target. Shares gained 3.65 percent, closing at $71.19.
Analysts at MKM Partners maintained a Buy rating on Merck MRK with a price target raised to $70 from a previous $64. Meanwhile, analysts at Jefferies maintained a Hold rating on Merck with a price target raised to $61 from a previous $57. Shares lost 0.63 percent, closing at $55.57.
Analysts at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey initiated coverage of Pandora P with a Buy rating and $34 price target. Shares lost 0.12 percent, closing at $25.28.
Analysts at Jefferies maintained a Buy rating of Pfizer PFE with a price target lowered to $36 from a previous $38. Shares finished the day unchanged at $29.86.
Analysts at Raymond James maintained a Strong Buy rating of Prudential Financial PRU with a price target raised to $101 from a previous $99. Shares gained 0.99 percent, closing at $78.38.
Analysts at Deutsche Bank upgraded Transocean RIG to Hold from Sell with a price target of $45. Shares gained 4.03 percent, closing at $41.04.
Analysts at Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of Stratasys SSYS with a Buy rating and $146 price target. Shares gained 2.33 percent, closing at $96.78.
Analysts at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey upgraded Stryker Corporation SYK to Neutral from Reduce with a price target raised to $84 from a previous $74. Shares gained 0.55 percent, closing at $79.80.
Analysts at Baird upgraded Visa V to Outperform with a $245 price target. Shares gained 2.23 percent, closing at $201.01.
Analysts at FBR Capital maintained an Outperform rating on Wells Fargo WFC with a price target of $50. Meanwhile, analysts at Barclays maintained an Overweight rating on Wells Fargo with a price target raised to $57 from a previous $52. Shares gained 0.04 percent, closing at $48.10.
Analysts at BB&T Capital downgraded Whole Foods Market WFM to Hold from Buy with a price target of $62. Shares lost 0.02 percent, closing at $49.49.
Analysts at Oppenheimer maintained a Perform rating on Williams-Sonoma WSM with a price target raised to $67 from a previous $61. Shares gained 1.46 percent, closing at $62.40.
Analysts at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey upgraded Yahoo! YHOO to Buy from Neutral with a price target lowered to $40 from a previous $42. Shares gained 1.77 percent, closing at $33.45.
Equities-Specific News of Note
According to Peter Misek, analyst at Jefferies, Apple AAPL is considering a $100 hike in its iPhone 6 prices and has already begin communicated its desires with carriers. Shares gained 0.40 percent, closing at $521.68.
Facebook FB is set to receive approval from Irish authorities to hold money on its social network on behalf of members to be used as a means of exchange. Separately, according to analysts at Topeka it is a matter of when, not if, Facebook enters China. Shares gained 0.62 percent, closing at $58.89.
Google GOOG has purchased Titan Aerospace, a startup maker of high-altitude drones to be incorporated with the company's Project Loon initiatives. Shares gained 0.36 percent, closing at $532.52.
Related: Google To Buy Satellite Maker Titan Aerospace
Twitter's TWTR co-founders Jack Dorsey and Evan Williams said that they have no current plans to sell their shares ahead of Twitter's May 5 lockup expiration. Shares gained 2.05 percent, closing at $40.90.
Momentive Performance Materials, a silicone and quarts producer owned by Apollo Global Management's APO has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with $2.69 billion in assets and $4.17 billion in debt. Shares of Apollo Global gained 0.25 percent, closing at $27.56.
Kraft Foods KRFT will spend as much as $25 million (versus $7.8 million last year) to promote its Maxwell House brand of coffee this year. Shares gained 1.02 percent, closing at $56.21.
Encana ECA has agreed to sell its liquefied natural gas assets to Stabilis Energy for an undisclosed amount. Shares hit new 52 week highs of $22.83 before closing the day at $22.64, up 0.96 percent.
A group of shareholders who own nearly five percent of Walgreen WAG are pressuring the company to relocate to Europe for tax benefits. Shares gained 2.19 percent, closing at $65.67.
Intercept Pharmaceuticals' ICPT obethicholic acid has achieved its primary endpoint in a Phase 3 study of reducing serum alkaline phosphatase. The pharmaceutical company is expected to file application for marketing approval in Europe and the U.S. later this year. Shares lost 3.76 percent, closing at $256.00.
Total TOT expects to begin work on its $16 billion oil project off the coast of Angola which is expected to have a production of capacity of 230,000 barrels per day in 2017. Shares hit new 52 week highs of $68.03 before closing the day at $67.73, up 2.30 percent.
Yingli Green Energy YGE announced a framework agreement with Chinese solar plant owner United PV to construct and sell 300MW of solar plants through 2016. Shares gained 3.87 percent, closing at $4.03.
Tesla's TSLA CEO Elon Musk is reportedly set to hold talks with China Petroleum & Chemical SNP over construction of a charging grid network in China for Tesla's electric vehicles. Shares of Tesla lost 2.75 percent, closing at $198.17 while shares of China Petroleum & Chemical lost 0.77 percent, closing at $92.41.
Winners of Note
The U.S. District Court of Delaware has granted a preliminary injunction limiting the sale of Medtronic's MDT CoreValve system in the United States based on the previous notion (which was reaffirmed) that CoreValve infringes on Edward Lifesciences' EW patent. Shares of Edwards surged 11.00 percent, closing at $81.00 while shares of Medtronic's finished the day lower by 1.89 percent, closing at $58.08.
Goodrich Petroleum GDP announced that it has completed is Bales 33H-1 well at its Louisiana based Tuscaloosa Marine Shale holdings. According to the company, the well has a production rate at its peak of 1,270 barrels of energy, of which 1,250 barrels are oil. Shares surged 30.22 percent, closing at $23.96.
Endurance Specialty Holdings offered to acquire Aspen Insurance Holdings AHL for $47.50 in cash (or 0.8826 Endurance shares.) Shares of Aspen Insurance previously closed at $39.37. Aspen rejected the takeover bid as the company's Chairman Glyn Jones noted “Endurance's ill-conceived proposal undervalues our company, represents a strategic mismatch, carries significant execution risk, and would result in substantial dis-synergies.” Shares of Aspen Insurance hit new 52 week highs of $46.86 before closing the day at $43.77, up 11.18 percent. Shares of Endurance Specialty closed the day lower by 2.79 percent at $52.32.
WebMD WBMD issued upside guidance and expects its first quarter revenue to come in at the high end of its previous $130 million to $133 million target. EBITDA is expected to come in above previous guidance of $28.5 million to $30.5 million as well. For the full fiscal year, the company is guiding its revenue, EBITDA and net income to fall in the higher end of previous guidance of $545 million to $575 million, and $140 million to $155 million, and $27 million to $39 million, respectively. Shares gained 16.46 percent, closing at $43.87.
Decliners of Note
National Bank of Greece NBG has hired several Wall Street banks to facilitate an equity offering of up to 2.5 billion euros. The bank previously guided investors that it will not take on an equity offering and will focus on cost cutting initiatives and selling off non-core assets. Shares lost 14.72 percent, closing at $4.46.
Earnings of Note
This morning, Citigroup C reported its first quarter results. The company announced an EPS of $1.30, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15. Revenue of $20.1 billion beat the consensus estimate of $19.37 billion. Net income for the quarter rose to $3.9 billion from $3.8 billion in the same quarter last year as net credit losses of $2.4 billion were lower by 15 percent from a year ago. The bank estimates its Basel III Tier 1 common ratio to be 10.4 percent and supplementary leverage ratio of 5.6 percent. Also, the bank said its book value per share increased to $66.25 while tangible book value per share increased to $56.40. Shares gained 4.36 percent, closing at $47.67.
Related: Citigroup Saves The Market
Quote of the Day
"Enjoy the little things in life for one day you'll look back and realize they were the big things." -Kurt Vonnegut, author of Slaughterhouse-Five and many other novels that have stood the test of time.
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