The Market In 5 Minutes: Interest Rate Hike Finally Arrives

Macro Focus

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 9 points to 19,774.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures slipped 1.75 points to 2,250.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 8.50 points to 4,924.25.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures gained 0.58 percent to trade at $54.21 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also rose 0.19 percent to trade at $52.19 a barrel.

Initial Jobless Claims for Dec 9 254.0K vs 255.0K estimate. Continuing Jobless Claims for Dec 9 2.02M vs 2.02M estimate.

USA NY Empire State Manufacturing Index for Dec 9.00 vs 4.00 consensus estimate.

USA CPI (MoM) for Nov 0.20% vs 0.20% consensus estimate. CPI (YoY) for Nov 1.70% vs 1.70% consensus estimate.

The Markit manufacturing PMI for December will be released at 9:45 a.m. ET.
The housing market index for December is schedule for release 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.
The Treasury International Capital data for October will be released at 4:00 p.m. ET.
Data on money supply for the recent week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.

BZ News Desk Focus

Pier 1 Imports (NYSE: PIR) Reports Q3 EPS $0.22 vs. Est. $0.12, Rev. $475.9M vs. Est. $466M
Apogee (NASDAQ: APOG) Reports Q3 EPS $0.78 vs $0.77 Est., Sales $274.1M vs $272.9M Est.
Scholastic (NASDAQ: SCHL) Reports Q2 EPS $1.92 vs. Est. $1.92, Rev. $623.1M vs. Est. $628M
Ocean Rig (NASDAQ: ORIG) Reports Q3 EPS $0.47 vs $0.56 Est, Revenue $335M vs $360.66M Est
Lakeland Industries (NASDAQ: LAKE) Reports Q3 EPS $0.21 vs. Est. $0.20, Rev. $23.24M vs. Est. $23.18M
Sanderson Farms (NASDAQ: SAFM) Q4 EPS $3.36 vs $2.66 Est, Revenue $790.8M vs $791.1M Est

Sell-Side Themes

Barclays initiated coverage on nearly every airline stock, with Alaska Air (NYSE: ALK), Untied Continental (NYSE: UAL) and JetBlue (NASDAQ: JBLU) getting Overweight ratings.

Sell-Side's Most Noteworthy Calls

Morgan Stanley downgraded Valeant (NYSE: VRX) to Equal-Weight.
RBC Capital downgraded General Mills (NYSE: GIS) to Sector Perform.
Cowen upgraded Zoetis (NYSE: ZTS) to Outperform.
Aegis upgraded Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU) to Buy.
BTIG started Organovo (NASDAQ: ONVO) at Buy.

Deal Talk

Shares of Mondelez (Nasdaq: MDLZ) spiked as high as $54.89 on a report from Bilanz that Kraft-Heinz (NASDAQ: KHC) is seeking to take over the maker of Oreos and Cadbury, according to a food industry source. Brazil's 3G and investor Warren Buffett, who put together the deal Kraft to merger with Heinz, are said to putting together the financing for this deal.

Reuters later reported that Mondelez has not heard from Kraft Heinz said there is no reason to believe the Bilanz report is true, according to sources.

In The News

The U.S. Federal Reserve has decided to raise its benchmark short-term interest rate by 0.25 percent, effective Thursday, after one year with no changes. The federal-funds rate will now stand between 0.50 and 0.75 percent. The document indicated that Fed officials see the economic outlook ameliorating, and now expect to boost interest rates by 0.75 percent next year, through three separate 0.25 percent hikes.

Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) announced that more than one billion user accounts may have been stolen by hackers in August 2013, in what could be the biggest hack of all time. This is a separate hack than the one the company announced in September, when 500 million user accounts were hacked

Earlier this year, natural gas prices dipped below $2.00 for the first time in more than a decade. Now, natural gas prices are on pace to finish the year at their highest level since 2014. According to some analysts, there is plenty of upside left for natural gas.

Blogosphere

The post-election stock market rally has propelled the Dow Jones Industrial Average to new highs. Tuesday’s intra-day peak of 19,953.75 was just a stone’s throw away from 20,000. But does Dow 20,000 hold any real significance?

Benzinga