The Market In 5 Minutes: Fast Food Downgrades, Jobless Claims Hit 5-Month High

Macro Focus

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1 point to 19,133.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures dropped 2 points to 2,196.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index declined 7 points to 4,809.00.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 1.16 percent to trade at $52.44 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also climbed 0.85 percent to trade at $49.86 a barrel.

Initial Jobless Claims for Nov 25 268.0K vs 253.0K estimate. Continuing Claims for Nov 18 2.08M vs 2.04M estimate.

  • Data on motor vehicle sales for November will be released today.
  • The manufacturing PMI for November is schedule for release at 9:45 a.m. ET.
  • The ISM manufacturing index for November will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.
  • Data on construction spending for October will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.
  • The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.
  • Data on money supply for the recent week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.

BZ News Desk Focus

  • Express EXPR Q3 EPS $0.15 vs $0.13 Est, Revenue $506.1M vs $497.1M Est
  • Lands' End LE Q3 EPS $(0.14) vs $(0.05) Est, Revenue $311.5M vs $303.6M Est
  • Dollar General DG Q3 EPS $0.84 vs $0.93, Revenue $5.32B vs $5.37B Est
  • PVH Corp PVH Reports Q3 EPS $2.60 vs. Prior Year Quarter $2.66, Rev. $2.24B vs. Est. $2.23B
  • Box BOX Reports Q3 EPS $(0.14) vs. Est. $(0.19), Rev. $102.8M vs. Est. $100M

Sell-Side Themes

Macquarie downgraded Honda HMC to Neutral, initiated Ford F at Neutral and General Motors GM at Outperform.

Sell-Side's Most Noteworthy Calls

  • Guggenheim downgraded McDonald's MCD and Wendy's WEN to Neutral.
  • CLSA downgraded Cummins CMI to Outperform.
  • Credit Suisse upgraded BP BP to Outperform.
  • Morgan Stanley upgraded Randgold Resources GOLD.
  • Roth started Inotek Pharmaceuticals ITEK at Buy.

Deal Talk

Rockwell Collins COL is said to be under pressure from investor Starboard Value LP to reconsider its acquisition of B/E Aerospace BEAV, according to sources as reportred by Bloomberg. The fund led by Jeff Smith would like Rockwell Collins to explore a potential sale, as well as other options.

GNC Holding’s GNC talks on a potential sale have stalled following disagreements over the structure of a deal for the U.S. vitamin and supplement brand, people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg. The Pittsburgh-based retailer had held discussions with several Chinese suitors about a sale of the entire company. The Chinese firms expressed interest only in buying GNC’s Asian business and didn’t want to take over its network of more than 6,700 retail outlets in the U.S., according to the people.

In The News

Donald Trump’s nominee for Treasury secretary, who worked for Goldman Sachs and billionaire investor George Soros, made millions buying failed IndyMac. His résumé appears at odds with the president-elect’s campaign rhetoric, which targeted Wall Street bankers.

Exactly how did Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac end up owned by the government? The two entities were right in the eye of the mortgage crisis storm back in 2008. Here’s a summary of the role Fannie and Freddie are supposed to play in the mortgage market.

Blogosphere

The Reformed Broker likes Trump's Cabinet picks: "They’re both highly accomplished and capable people who’ve held senior roles within businesses, even if they don’t have government experience. To my knowledge, neither is looking to eject homosexuals, Jews or brown people from the country, so that’s a step in the right direction. I don’t believe that either has an agenda against women or takes money directly from Russian banks or posts frog memes on Twitter. Neither pick is a sitcom star from the 1980’s or one of the President-Elect’s children."

Trending

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Beauty and the Beats By Dre, Left Swipe Story and My Fair Self-identifies as a Lady... Check out some other #MillennialMusicals

Guess This Chart

  • This stock was up 45 percent Wednesday after comments made by a new Trump appointee.
  • This currently stock trades on the OTC market.
  • Also up in sympathy was Fannie Mae.
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