The Market In 5 Minutes: OPEC's Deal And Gary Johnson's Moment

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 [email protected].

Macro Focus

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1 point to 18,239.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures slipped 0.75 points to 2,162.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 3.75 points to 4,864.50.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures declined 0.39 percent to trade at $48.50 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also fell 0.13 percent to trade at $46.99 a barrel.

OPEC reached an agreement to freeze production starting in November. The Oil Exporting Cartel is expected to cut production by 200-700,000 barrels per day, its first cut in eight years.

Oil prices jumped as much as 6 percent after the news. OPEC has agreed to limit production to 32.5 million barrels per day. After that target is reached, the cartel is expected to reach out to non-member oil producing countries for support to further ease ‘global glut' sources said.

USA Initial Jobless Claims for Sep 23 254.0K vs 260.0K consensus estimate. Continuing Claims for Sep 16 2.06M vs 2.13M consensus estimate.

BZ News Desk Focus

Pepsi (NYSE: PEP) Q3 EPS $1.40 vs $1.32 est, Revenue $16.0B vs $15.8B est., Sees FY 2016 EPS $4.78 vs $4.76 est
Pier 1 Imports (NYSE: PIR) Reports Q2 EPS $(0.05) vs. Est. $(0.05), Rev. $405.8M vs. Est. $407M; Same Store Sales Down 4.3%
Progress (NASDAQ: PRGS) Reports Q3 EPS non-GAAP $0.44 vs $0.45 Est, Rev $102M vs $104.72M Est.
Accenture (NYSE: ACN) Q4 EPS $1.31 vs $1.30 est, Revenue $8.97B vs $8.43B est.

Sell-Side Themes

Wells Fargo started coverage on nearly two dozen stocks. Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) received an Outperform ratings, while Lennar (NYSE: LEN) was given Market Perform.

Sell-Side's Most Noteworthy Calls

Pacific Crest downgraded Fitbit (NYSE: FIT) to Underweight.
Stifel downgraded Targa Resources (NYSE: TRGP) to Hold.
Deutsche Bank upgraded eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) to Buy.
CIBC upgraded Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO) to Underperform.
Boenning started Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN) at Neutral.
Roth Capital started Ambarella (NASDAQ: AMBA) at at Buy.

Deal Talk

Scottrade is working with an adviser to explore a sale, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. A deal could value Scottrade at about $4 billion.

Shares of Viacom (NASDAQ: VIAB) and CBS (NYSE: CBS) surged Wednesday, as controlling shareholder National Amusements was said to push the companies for a merger, according to a Reuters report. National Amusements is controlled by Sumner and Shari Redstone. Sources say National Amusements may ask the companies as soon as this week to form independent board committees and explore a merger.

Shares of Acadia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ACAD) popped on a report from DealReporter that Allergan (NYSE: AGN) might bid for the biopharma company whose pipeline includes treatments for Alzheimer's and Shizophrenia in phase II trials, as well as Nuplazid, which has been approved by the FDA for the treatment of hallucinations and delusions associated with Parkinson’s disease psychosis. Ophthotech (NASDAQ: OPHT), which had unusual activity in the December 80 call on Wednesday, also was mentioned as a potential takeover target.

In The News

Congress avoided a partial government shutdown at week’s end after both chambers passed a short-term spending bill that would keep the government running through early December. A weekslong partisan impasse over the bill broke when lawmakers agreed to provide federal assistance for residents of Flint, Michigan, in separate legislation this year. That deal quickly paved the way for the Senate to pass a short-term spending bill, also known as a continuing resolution, that would keep the government funded through December 9.

Volkswagen (OTC: VLKAY) unveiled a new long-range electric car in Paris, and, in terms of cost and range, it's miles ahead of anything coming to market soon. The car, called the I.D., is expected to cost less than $30,000, which is less than both the Tesla Model 3 and the Chevrolet Bolt. It will have much longer range, and it could go up to about 375 miles on a single charge.

The Detroit News endorsed Libertarian Gary Johnson for president, the first time in its 143-year history it did not endorse the Republican candidate. Yesterday, Johnson said he had an "Aleppo moment" when he struggled to name a single foreign leader when asked who his favorite was during an MSNBC town hall Wednesday night.

Blogosphere

"SoundCloud is a bit like Twitter, and they're both a lot like puppies," writes Gadfly's Leila Abboud. "Adorable disasters that can’t easily be trained not to spoil your rug."

Guess This Chart

Carl Icahn cut his stake in this stock to 1.5% on Wednesday.
This stock has Hold ratings at Jefferies, UBS, Citi and Credit Suisse, and Sell ratings at JP Morgan, Barclays and Goldman Sachs.
Sympathy plays include Atwood Oceanics (NYSE: ATW), Diamond Offshore Drilling (NYSE: DO) and Seadrill (NYSE: SDRL).