The Market In 5 Minutes: A Down Week Comes To A Close

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

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 72 points to 18,044.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures declined 9.50 points to 2,128.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 15 points to 4,798.50.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures declined 1.70 percent to trade at $45.80 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also fell 1.53 percent to trade at $43.84 a barrel.

• The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index for September will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.
• The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is schedule for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.
• The Treasury International Capital data for July will be released at 4:00 p.m. ET.

BZ News Desk Focus

• Oracle ORCL Reported Q1 EPS $0.55 vs. Est. $0.58, Rev. $8.6B vs. Est. $8.7B
• S&W Seed SANW Reports Q4 non-GAAP EPS $.08 vs $0.06 Est, Sales $34.6M vs $33.72M Est
• Benchmark Electronics BHE Reaffirms Q3 Adj. EPS $0.33-$0.38 vs $0.35 Est., Sales $570M-$600M vs $584.2M Est.

Novavax NVAX plummeted more than 85 percent in Thursday’s after-hours session, after reporting disappointing results from two Phase 3 vaccine trials that had previously done well in the Phase 2 trial. Data from the Resolve Phase 3 trial for its vaccine for a potentially deadly respiratory virus didn't meet the efficacy objectives it had set.

Sell-Side Themes

Cowen downgraded Raptor Pharma and Horizon Pharma to Market Perform.

Sell-Side's Most Noteworthy Calls

• Bernstein downgraded Fox FOXA to Market Perform.
• Atlantic Equites downgraded Wells Fargo WFC to Underweight.
• Goldman Sachs downgraded Citigroup C to Neutral.
• Goldman Sachs upgraded Comerica CMA to Buy.
• Bank of America upgraded Statoil STO to Buy.
• Credit Suisse started Boston Beer SAM at Underpeform.
• Bank of America started GoPro GPRO at Buy.

Deal Talk

Depomed DEPO is preparing to put itself up for sale, following calls from activist investor Starboard Value LP to explore such a move, just a year after it fought off a hostile acquisition bid, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. Negotiations with potential buyers are expected to kick off shortly after Depomed receives a court decision clarifying the patent exclusivity of its biggest drug, Nucynta, an opiate used to treat severe, often chronic pain, the people said. The ruling is expected by the end of the month.

TheDeal.com reported that CIBER CBR is in late-stage talks to sell itself. The IT company has recently received approaches from potential strategic, private equity buyers with a bid of Up to $3.50 per share, sources said. CIBER is said to have hired an investment bank to handle takeover approaches. CIBER closed at $1.36, up 11.43 percent.

In The News

The U.S. Justice Department proposed that Deutsche Bank DB pay $14 billion to settle a set of high-profile mortgage-securities probes stemming from the financial crisis, according to people familiar with the matter, a number that would rank among the largest of what other banks have paid to resolve similar claims and is well above what investors have been expecting.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is investigating why Exxon Mobil XOM hasn’t written down the value of its assets, two years into a pronounced crash in oil prices. Schneiderman’s office, which has been probing Exxon’s past knowledge of the impact of climate change and how it could affect its future business, is also examining the company’s accounting practices, according to people familiar with the matter.

Blogosphere

Complete the sentence: If markets are efficient how come....

Trending

NVAX GPRO DB ORCL BIDU PGNX VIP BCS JBLU SRPT PII V XOM

#TNF Twitter TWTR livestreamed its first NFL game on Thursday night, with the New York Jets defeating the Buffalo Bills 37-31. One user told Benzinga, "Looking great, no issues. Runs 34-38 seconds behind FiOS TV broadcast, but that's not really important to me."

Guess This Chart

• The U.S. government has asked this company to pay a fine of $14 billion.
• One year ago this stock was more than double what it is today.
• Sympathy plays include JPMorgan Chase JPM and Bank of America BAC.