The Market In 5 Minutes: Trump Inauguration Takes Center Stage

Macro Focus

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 8 points to 19,701.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 4.25 points to 2,265.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 12.25 points to 5,065.50.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures gained 1.42 percent to trade at $54.93 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also rose 1.25 percent to trade at $52.77 a barrel.

  • Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Harker is set to speak in Somerset, N.J. at 9:00 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.
  • San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John C. Williams will speak in San Francisco, Calif. at 1:00 p.m. ET.

BZ News Desk Focus

  • General Electric GE Q4 EPS $0.46 vs $0.46 Est, Revenue $33.1B vs $33.6B Est
  • IBM IBM Reports Q4 Adj. EPS $5.01 vs $4.88 Est., Sales $21.8B vs $21.64B Est.
  • American Express AXP Reports Q4 Adj. EPS $0.91 vs $0.98 Est., Sales $8B vs $7.95B
  • Skyworks SWKS Reports Q1 EPS $1.61 vs. Est. $1.58, Rev. $914M vs. Est. $902M
  • Schlumberger SLB Q4 EPS $0.27 vs $0.27 Est, Revenue $7.11B vs $7.07B Est.

Sell-Side Themes

JPMorgan downgraded Teva TEVA and Endo ENDP to Neutral.

Sell-Side's Most Noteworthy Calls

  • Keybanc upgraded Domino's DPZ to Overweight.
  • Bank of America upgraded Noble Corporation NE to Neutral.
  • Aegis Capital started Amazon AMZN at Buy.

Deal Talk

Sony SNE is listening to bank pitches about a potential sale of its film and TV operations, several sources told The New York Post. “Every bank is pushing pitches,” said one person familiar with the process. Another confirmed that banks have paid a flurry of visits to Tokyo to advise on a sale of Sony’s film and TV business.

A federal judge is expected to block the proposed $54 billion merger between Anthem ANTM and Cigna CI, according to sources as reported by the New York Post. Sources said U.S. District of Columbia Judge Amy Berman Jackson will rule against the merger on antitrust concerns. Anthem announced earlier in a filing that it was extending the termination date for the pending merger, through and including April 30, 2017 and would appeal a negative ruling. Cigna said in a statement that it had received notice of Anthem’s extension and that it would evaluate its options after the court ruling.

According to Bloomberg, Herbalife HLF is in talks for a $1.2 billion term loan and a $1.175 billion refinance. Herbalife's struggle with gaining wide-spread retail distribution is nothing new to investors. Buying a major player in the nutritional retail space could get its products in front of more users and potential users.

In The News

For the first time since they won full control of Congress in 2014, Republicans have an ally in the White House. But Donald Trump will be a complicated partner.

On Wednesday, “Shark Tank” host and O’Shares Investments chairman Kevin O’Leary announced a bid for the leadership of Canada’s Conservative party. Members of Canada’s Conservative party will vote on a leader May 27, who will challenge Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of the Liberal party in the 2019 federal election. In his first exclusive interview with an American publication, O’Leary told Benzinga why he decided to run.

Blogosphere

Sell Netflix, Buy Blockbuster: "There’s nothing wrong with ideas, new or old, but the problem is that once we come public with them, it becomes incredibly difficult to change our mind. To admit that what we once believed is no longer valid can be viewed from the outside (and often times from the inside) as a sign of weakness, rather than a sign of growth. I want to look at a few real world examples of this."

Trending

SGYP IBM GE SWKS ENDP PG SPY FSLR STI AXP GLBL SLB RF CSX SYF

In the days leading up to President Barack Obama’s inauguration on January 20, 2009, traders panicked. Activity for the S&P 500 spiked with a trade volume of 7.8 billion just two days before the ceremony. Between the week preceding the election and the day following, the index fell 3.4 percent. On the day of inauguration, alone, it fell 5.2 percent.

Trump’s fate may not at all resemble that of his predecessor, who championed very different economic policies. But history shows that even his economic doppelganger, Ronald Reagan, saw negative market activity on his first day.

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