The Market In 5 Minutes: Earnings And EpiPens

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

The U.S. stock market recorded moderate losses on Wednesday with stocks closing near session lows. The only sector that did not fall on the day was consumer cyclicals, which added 0.15 percent. Selling pressure was most concentrated in basic materials and healthcare, which lost 2.06 percent and 1.51 percent, respectively. U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures declined 0.61 percent to trade at $48.75 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also fell 0.66 percent to trade at $46.46 a barrel. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

BZ News Desk Focus

HP HPQ Reports Q3 Adj. EPS $0.48 vs $0.44 Est., Sales $11.9B vs $11.47B Est.
Williams-Sonoma WSM Reports Q2 EPS $0.58, Inline, Sales $1.159B vs $1.17B Est.
Guess GES Sees Q3 EPS $0.11-$0.16 vs. Est. $0.16, FY17 EPS $0.62-$0.75 vs. Est. $0.60
PVH PVH Reports Q2 Non-GAAP EPS $1.47 vs $1.29 Est, Rev $1.93B vs $1.94B Est
Tiffany TIF Q2 EPS $0.84 vs $0.72 est, Revenue $932M vs $935M est.
Dollar General DG Q2 EPS $1.08 vs $1.09 est, Revenue $5.39B vs $5.5B est
Dollar Tree DLTR Reports Q2 EPS $0.72 vs $0.73 Est., Sales $5B vs $5.09B, Comps Up 1.2%

Sell-Side Themes

BTIG initiated coverage on dozens of REIT and healthcare stocks, mostly with Buy or Neutral ratings.

Sell-Side's Most Noteworthy Calls

RBC Capital downgraded Tableau Software DATA to Sector Perform.
Buckingham downgraded Sprint S to Underperform.
William Blair upgraded Netflix NFLX to Outperform.
Citi upgraded Transocean RIG to Neutral.
Jefferies started WD40 WDFC at Hold.

Deal Talk

Berry Plastics BERY and AEP Industries AEPI reached a definitive deal by which the former would buy the latter in a cash and stock transaction worth about $765 million. This included assumed net debt. The companies expect the transaction to be completed in December current year.

Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission has approved the planned acquisition of Taiwan-based Hermes Microvision by Netherlands-based ASML, stating the deal complies with fair trade rules and regulations set by the government.

In The News

The biotech sector was crushed Wednesday afternoon, in response to statements made by Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and The White House regarding the increase in Mylan's MYL EpiPen pricing. Mylan announced a 50 percent price cut for the EpiPen on Thursday morning.

The death toll in the 6.2-magnitude earthquake that struck central Italy rose to 247 people. The earthquake’s devastation starkly exposed Italy’s vulnerability to such disasters as well as serious shortcomings in its ability to help affected areas recover as the search for survivors continued in the hardest-hit towns of Amatrice, Pescara del Tronto and Accumoli.

Blogosphere

"There is a bubble in indexes," says Reformed Broker. "Bernstein plots the rise of man-made indexes in the chart below, and talks about how factors have become the new active management. I think this is true."

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