The Market In 5 Minutes: Why Do We Get High On 4/20?

Below is a tool used by the Benzinga News Desk each trading day -- it's a look at everything happening in the market, in five minutes. Apply for daily AM access by clicking here or email minutes@benzinga.com.

Macro Focus

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton notched resounding victories in New York Tuesday night, answering questions about their command of the race as the front-runners moved significantly closer to their party's nominations.

Asian stocks were mostly lower during Wednesday's trading session, led by a more than 2 percent decline in China's Shanghai index. According to China Daily, the selloff in Chinese equities were attributed to market speculations that monetary easing will be less likely following recent data points that show a stabilization of the economy.

The price of crude oil fell nearly 2 percent and was trading at $41.73 a barrel. Gold futures for April delivery were lower by 0.42 percent as well. Commodity-linked currencies, such as the Australian and Canadian dollar, pulled back from recent multi-month highs while the Euro held steady at $1.137 ahead of Thursday's European Central Bank meeting.

"Iran faces a struggle to increase oil exports because many of its tankers are tied up storing crude, some are not seaworthy, and foreign shipowners remain reluctant to carry its cargoes," an exclusive Reuters report said. "Tehran is seeking to make up for lost trade to Europe following the lifting of EU sanctions imposed in 2011 and 2012, which deprived it of a market that accounted for over a third of its exports and left it relying completely on Asian buyers."

Bz News Desk Focus

Coca-Cola KO beat EPS estimates by a penny ($0.45 per share), while sales came in just below estimates ($10.28 billion).

EMC Corp EMC missed top and bottom line estimates, but was still trading up about 2 percent.

Find out what's going on in today's market and bring any questions you have to Benzinga's PreMarket Prep.

Sell-Side Themes

Analysts across the board raised their price targets on Yahoo YHOO, ranging from $37 to $46 per share.

Viacom VIAB and DISH Network DISH apparently entered a blackout period overnight. Cowen said the Carriage deal "'sounds similar to other affiliate negotiations that pushed up against (or past) contractual deadlines but were ultimately resolved." BTIG and JPMorgan also weighed in on the news.

The Street has also weighed in on IBM's IBM and Netflix's NFLX disappointing guidance.

Sell-Side's Most Noteworthy Calls

Kansas City Southern KSU was upgraded from Underperform to Buy at Bank of America.

Manitowoc MTW was raised to Buy at Sitfel.

Boeing BA was cut to Underperform at Bank of America, and shares were trading lower by more than 2 percent.

Spirit Airlines SAVE was downgraded to Neutral at JPMorgan.

The going is likely to get tougher for BATS Global Markets (BATS). Raymond James initiated coverage of the company with an Underperform rating, citing growth as a major concern.

Deal Talk

Verizon Communications VZ was set to advance to the second stage of bidding for Yahoo's core assets, as the U.S. internet company went through offers to put together a short list, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Lexmark LXK confirmed it has entered into an agreement to be acquired by a consortium of investors, led by Apex Technology and PAG Asia Capital for $40.50 per share.

In The News

Alphabet's GOOGL business has come under fire by European regulators who are accusing Google of abusing its dominant position in the mobile market. European Union's antitrust regulators said Google is denying consumers a wider choice of mobile apps and stifling innovation by requiring phone manufactures to pre-install Google's services, including Search and Chrome.

Mitsubishi Motors, the Japanese automaker tarnished by a massive recall cover-up 15 years ago, owned up to another scandal, saying employees had intentionally falsified fuel mileage test data for several vehicle models. The inaccurate tests by the Tokyo-based automaker involved 157,000 of its own-brand eK wagon and eK Space light passenger cars, and 468,000 Dayz and Dayz Roox vehicles produced for Nissan.

Criminal charges are expected to be announced Wednesday by Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette against two state officials and one local administrator in an ongoing investigation into Flint’s water crisis, two sources familiar with the probe told the Detroit News. Schuette is scheduled to make an announcement of the charges for either malfeasance and/or misconduct in office against the three individuals related to the lead contamination of Flint’s water supply. The indictments are “the first of more to come."

Blogosphere

A group of Democratic senators, led by Chuck Schumer of New York, appears to be sacrificing its own regulators as it holds up confirmation of two nominees to the Securities and Exchange Commission over mandated political spending disclosures. New York Times' Dealbook looks into why this time, it's an act rich with irony.

The "most transparent administration in history" has spent years trying to hide embarrassing financial secrets from the public. This thread is wondering why the Obama administration is trying to keep 11,000 documents sealed.

Trending

UGAZ INTC CARA KO ISRG VMW KITE LXK BLUE BA STJ UNG DFS ANGI EMC [Stocktwits]

It's April 20, otherwise known as 4/20 Day. Why exactly? As TIME notes:

"The most credible story traces the date to Marin County, Calif. In 1971, five students at San Rafael High School would reportedly meet at 4:20 p.m. by the campus’s statue of chemist Louis Pasteur to partake. Two of these students, David Reddix and Steve Capper, wrote an article for The Huffington Post about how this group—known as the “Waldos” because they met at a wall—would say “420” to each other as code for marijuana."

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