The Market In 5 Minutes: Thursday, March 24, 2016

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

The dollar was on its best run in almost a year on Thursday, Reuters said, pressuring commodities and shares after yet another Federal Reserve official talked up the chance of more than one hike in U.S. interest rates this year.

Two of the suicide bombers who carried out attacks in Brussels on Tuesday have been named as brothers and Belgian nationals. BBC said two other attackers at the airport have not yet been identified. One of them died, another is on the run.

Home prices are rising faster than wages in most of the U.S., "making homeownership increasingly difficult for average Americans in some of the most populous areas of the country," according to a new report. On Wednesday, USA New Home Sales month-over-month for February came out at 2 percent vs. 3.2 percent estimates. USA New Home Sales for the month were 512,000 vs. 510,000 estimates.

The SEC has ruled Exxon Mobil XOM "must include a climate change resolution on its annual shareholder proxy, a defeat for the world's largest publicly traded oil producer, which had argued it already provides adequate carbon disclosures. The SEC said the oil producer cannot keep a proposal spearheaded by New York state's comptroller from a full shareholder vote at the company's annual meeting in May."

BZ Newsdesk Focus

USA Durable Goods Orders month-over-month for February came out at -2.80 percent vs. -2.90 percent estimates.

USA Initial Jobless Claims for March 18 were up 265,000, slightly below estimates of 268,000. USA Continuing Claims for March 11 were 2.18 million vs. 2.23 million estimates.

Starboard will nominate nine directors to Yahoo's YHOO board of directors -- looking to remove the tech company's entire current board -- at the annual 2016 meeting. Separately, Goldman Sachs took a look at Yahoo's strategic options

Portola Pharmaceuticals PTLA is down 30 percent following poor topline results from its Betrixaban trial.

Sell-Side Themes

Multiple analysts weighed in on Google's GOOG cloud business. Check Benzinga soon for more detailed analysis.

General Mills GIS and KB Home KBH reported strong earnings reports on Thursday evening. Roundups from Wall Street firms will be available on Benzinga later today.

Sell-Side's Most Noteworthy Calls

The global market for dating services is estimated to be at $4.2 billion, with 75 percent of this being online. This is a big reason Bob Peck set Buy ratings on Match Group MTCH and InterActiveCorp IAC.

Despite a 53 percent plunge in 2016, Barclays remains Overweight on Tableau Software DATA.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Lisa K. Lewandowski said fundamentals of domestic tobacco stocks are likely to continue to be strong, while suggesting a switch from Altria MO to Philip Morris PM.

Goldman Sachs added Buffalo Wild Wings BWLD to its Conviction Buy list, as the near-term risk-reward seemed compelling.

Deal Talk

The DC Public Service Commission voted 2-1 on Wednesday to Approve Exelon's EXC merger with Pepco POM. That was the final regulatory obstacle for a deal already approved in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia. Pepco was halted Thursday morning.

The government’s legal challenge to the planned merger of Staples SPLS and Office Depot ODP took an unexpected turn Wednesday when a federal judge said he was disturbed by allegations that the Federal Trade Commission had sought to alter testimony by Amazon AMZN. Check out the Wall Street Journal report for more.

What's Up In The News?

"Donald Trump's threats to slap steep tariffs on Chinese and Mexican imports may have won him votes in Republican primaries," Reuters wrote, "but they would likely backfire, severely disrupting U.S. manufacturers that increasingly depend on global supply chains."

In an extensive report, the New York Times says deeply flawed concussion research and ties to big tobacco are keeping the NFL in murky waters.

The Detroit News wrote about how the Michigan Department of Education has generated a GOP backlash and complaints of “social engineering” by recommending that public schools adopt transgender-friendly policies, but refrain from unilaterally telling parents if students identify with a gender they didn't have at birth.

The Golden State Warriors are now 64-7 and nine victories away from an NBA record. Steve Kerr finally admitted after last night's game that the team wants to break the 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls legendary 72-win plateau.

Academia

A new study from Clinical Psychological Science says people who smoke marijuana on a regular basis for years and those who are dependent on it are significantly more likely to have economic and social problems at midlife than those who use it only occasionally or not at all.

The moon's axis rotation – the imaginary stick around which the moon spins – has moved by at least six degrees, and that motion is recorded in ancient lunar ice deposits, according to new research.

Blogosphere

How does a single person manipulate the stock market in any significant way? This discussion on market structure and high-frequency trading should inform and maybe even entertain you.

Buy-Side

Driehaus Capital Sees Carmike Cinemas CKEC worth $43.50-$47.25 per share.

Quote Of The Day

"Working together with other smart people in front of a whiteboard, we can come up with a lot of very bad ideas," Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, when talking about his feature that would allow a Washington Post reader who didn't enjoy an article to pay to remove its vowels. He called it "disemvoweling" and the concept was to allow another reader to pay to restore the missing letters.

"Bezos Prime" by Fortune's Adam Lashinky

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