The Market In 5 Minutes: Alibaba Beats, Verizon Disappoints

Macro Focus

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 4 points to 19,739.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 0.25 points to 2,261.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 2.50 points to 5,065.75.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures gained 0.05 percent to trade at $55.26 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also rose 0.17 percent to trade at $52.84 a barrel.

Redbook Reports US Retail Sales for First 3 Weeks of Jan. Up 0.5% YoY

• The Markit PMI manufacturing data for January is schedule for release at 9:45 a.m. ET.
• Data on existing home sales for December will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.
• The Richmond Fed manufacturing index for January is schedule for release at 10:00 a.m. ET.
• The Treasury is set to auction 4-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.
• The Treasury will also auction 2-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

BZ News Desk Focus

• Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) Reports Q4 EPS $3.25 vs. Est. $3.06, Rev. $13.75B vs. Est. $13.03B
• Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Q4 EPS $1.58 vs $1.56 Est, Revenue $18.1B vs $18.3B Est
• Verizon (NYSE:VZ) Reports Q4 EPS $0.86 vs. Est. $0.89, Rev. $32.3B vs. Est. $32.08B
• Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) Reports Q4 Adj. EPS $0.25 vs $0.21 Est., Sales $1.469B vs $1.38B Est.
• Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) Q3 EPS $1.30 vs $1.13 Est, Revenue $7.67B vs $7.33B Est
• Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) Reports Q4 EPS $1.45 vs. Est. $1.42, Rev. $4.5B vs. Est. $4.55B

Sell-Side's Most Noteworthy Calls

• Barclays downgraded Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) from Outperform to Equal-Weight.
• Oppenheimer downgraded Energous (NASDAQ:WATT) to Perform.
• Citi upgraded Tableau Software (NYSE:DATA) to Buy.
• Cowen upgraded Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) to Market Perform.
• Berenberg started coverage on Deere (NYSE:DE) at Sell.

Deal Talk

U.S. District Judge John D. Bates blocked the proposed $34 billion merger between Aetna (NYSE:AET) and Humana (NYSE:HUM) due to antitrust issues. Bates said the DoJ proved that a merger of the healthcare companies would pose a threat to competition.

Yahoo confirmed in its Q4 earnings release that the acquisition by Verizon will close in Q2 2017. Yahoo said the "opportunities ahead with Verizon look bright."

Federal-Mogul (NASDAQ:FDML) and Icahn Enterprises (NASDAQ:IEP) announced that Icahn Enterprises has completed its acquisition of Federal-Mogul for $10.00 per share in cash. Icahn increased his tender offer for Federal Mogul to $10.00 from $9.25 per share on January 3.

In The News

President Donald Trump started his first full workday at the White House focused on the economy, trade and jobs, withdrawing from the TPP agreement and promising to tax firms that move operations overseas.

Bitcoin was trending over the past few weeks after surpassing the $1,000 threshold, hitting an all-time high, and later plummeting 20 percent in just a few hours. While aware of its existence, many readers still don't know what Bitcoin is exactly, how it works and what cryptocurrencies imply. Let’s take a look at cryptocurrencies going into 2017.

Blogosphere

Soccer and the Problem of Superstar CEOs: "What does Alex Ferguson have in common with some of Britain's top CEOs?The Manchester United manager famously wrung the last drops out of a weak squad. But when he handed the team over to a successor it struggled.It's something investors in some of the U.K.'s biggest companies will recognize: the newbie fails to deliver the stellar returns their long-standing predecessor produced year after year."

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