The Market In 5 Minutes: Oil Chugs Higher Amid Tillerson News

Macro Focus

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 72 points to 19,853.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures gained 6.50 points to 2,262.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 16.50 points to 4,884.25.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures gained 1.11 percent to trade at $56.31 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also rose 1.04 percent to trade at $54.31 a barrel.

• The Federal Open Market Committee will begin its two-day policy meeting today.
• The NFIB small business optimism index for November is schedule for release at 6:00 a.m. ET.
• Data on import and export prices for November will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET.
• The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index for the latest week is schedule for release at 8:55 a.m. ET.
• The Treasury is set to auction 4-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.
• The Treasury will auction 30-year bonds at 1:00 p.m. ET.

BZ News Desk Focus

• Verifone PAY Reports Q4 Adj. EPS $0.30 vs $0.29 Est., Sales $468M vs $461.3M Est.
• BlueBird BLUE Q4 EPS $0.49 vs $0.42 Est, Revenue $286.4M vs $291.3M Est

After several years of bad news for oil investors, things are starting to look a bit more bullish for the U.S. oil industry. WTI crude oil prices jumped above $54/bbl on Monday following news that a group of non-OPEC oil producers will be joining OPEC and cutting crude oil output in an effort to eliminate the global oil supply glut that triggered the collapse in oil prices.

In addition to the positive oil market news, Donald Trump’s victory on Election Day coupled with Republican majorities in both houses of Congress means the regulatory environment for U.S. oil companies could potentially be much looser in coming years.

Sell-Side Themes

UBS downgraded a couple of REITs -- Douglas Emmett DEI and DDR DDR -- to Sell.

Sell-Side's Most Noteworthy Calls

• Deutsche Bank downgraded Procter & Gamble PG to Hold.
• BMO downgraded Buffalo Wild Wings BWLD to Market Perform.
• Janney upgraded SeaWorld SEAS to Buy.
• Goldman Sachs upgraded Opthotech OPHT to Neutral.
• Aegis started Yelp YELP at Buy.

Deal Talk

Patterson-UTI Energy PTEN will acquire Seventy Seven Energy in a stock deal valued at $1.76 billion.

A blank-check company formed by private-equity firm TPG has agreed to combine with Playa Hotels & Resorts BV, creating a public company with a market value about $1.1 billion, people familiar with the matter told Wall Street Journal.

Anheuser Busch Inbev BUD is selling the assets as part of its pact with European regulators to win approval for its purchase of SABMiller, give more international heft to Asahi.

In The News

President-elect Trump officially selected Rex Tillerson, the chief executive of Exxon Mobil XOM, to be his secretary of state.

Apple AAPL CEO Tim Cook's $10 million in compensation isn't chump change, but it's a bargain when you compare that to the company's massive average economic profit over the last three years.

Blogosphere

"If parties of the left cannot appeal to the working class, what's their use?" John Lloyd asks in a Reuters column.

"The 21st century may be the one in which the umbilical link between the main left parties and organized labor is broken in favor of a politics of identity, and a grasping after some form of direct democracy that translates desires and frustrations into instant policies. Lurking over this movement is the fear of such an unsustainable politics producing authoritarian leaders, especially if the economies of the Western states worsen."

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