The Market In 5 Minutes: Oil, Debates And Epidiolex

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

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 85 points to 18,105.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures declined 9 points to 2,149.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 26.25 points to 4,829.75.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures gained 1.33 percent to trade at $46.50 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also rose 0.97 percent to trade at $44.91 a barrel. OPEC members are meeting on the sidelines at the International Energy Forum to discuss a potential agreement that would limit oil output.

• Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari is set to speak in Minneapolis, Minn at 9:30 a.m. ET.
• Data on new home sales for August will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.
• The Dallas Fed manufacturing index for September is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.
• The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.
• The Treasury will auction 2-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET
• Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan will speak in San Antonio, Texas at 1:30 p.m. ET.

BZ News Desk Focus

Reports from consumer goods giants Nike (NYSE: NKE) and PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) will be highlights. Wall Street expectations for these results appear to be somewhat low, as both have shrinking earnings in their forecasts. Wall Street's consensus forecast calls for Nike to post EPS of $0.56, which would be down more than 16 percent year over year. When PepsiCo shares its third-quarter results, the Wall Street forecast is that its earnings will have retreated by $0.04 from a year ago to $1.31 per share, on $15.82 billion in revenue, which would be around a 3 percent decrease.

Companies in the S&P 500 are now expected to report an earnings decline for the sixth consecutive quarter in the coming weeks, according to analysts polled by FactSet.

Sell-Side Themes

Goldman Sachs initiated coverage on several lodging and travel stocks. Marriott (NASDAQ: MAR) received a Buy rating, while La Quinta (NYSE: LQ) received a Sell rating.

Sell-Side's Most Noteworthy Calls

• Oppenheimer downgraded Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) to Underperform.
• Longbow downgraded Restaurant Brands (NYSE: QSR) to Underpeform.
• HSBC upgraded AT&T (NYSE: T) to Hold.
• Susquehanna upgraded Potash (NYSE: POT) to Positive.
• Guggenheim started Xenon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: XENE) at Buy.

Deal Talk

Chemtura (NYSE: CHMT) was up more than 16 percent in the pre-market session after being acquired by Lanxess for $33.50 per share.

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) will not be splitting the company into Innovative Health and Essential Health. The company believes it's best positioned to optimize future value creation in its current structure for its shareholders. The decision comes after an extensive evaluation of the company's two mainline businesses.

TransCanada (NYSE: TRP) has offered to buy Columbia Pipeline Partners (NYSE: CPPL) for $15.75 per share.

In The News

GW Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: GWPH) announced positive results of the second r Phase 3 clinical trial of its investigational medicine Epidiolex for the treatment of seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, a rare and severe form of childhood-onset epilepsy. In this trial, Epidiolex, when added to the patient’s current treatment, achieved the primary endpoint for both dose levels with high statistical significance.

Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB) shares dropped to a record low amid concerns that mounting legal bills, including a looming fine over its pre-crisis mortgage bond business, may force the German lender to raise capital. CEO John Cryan’s efforts to shore up capital and profitability, by cutting thousands of jobs and reducing risky assets, have been put at risk by the U.S. Justice Department requesting $14 billion to settle a probe tied to residential mortgage-backed securities.

Blogosphere

The fake-Mayo miracle, or how Hampton Creek sold Silicon Valley. "I swear, I'm too ethical to be successful with getting a startup funded. I need a fibbery consultant."

Trending

TWTR GWPH DB NKE CHMT LNKD BATS VXX CALM XIV PFE TESO CBOE

#Debates: "A roller coaster of a campaign 18 months in the making arrives Monday at a huge moment for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump: a 90-minute debate, with much of the nation expected to tune in amid great uncertainty about what they’ll see," The Washington Post writes. "Virtually tied in recent national polls, both Clinton and Trump enter the debate as the two most deeply unpopular presidential candidates in modern history."

Guess This Chart

• One of this company's drugs achieved its Phase 3 primary endpoint Monday morning.
• This stock hit an all-time high in June 2015.
• Sympathy plays include Novartis (NYSE: NVS) and Bayer (OTC: BAYRY).