The Market In 5 Minutes: Crude Oil Hits Highest Level In Nearly A Year

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 price of US WTI crude oil closed Tuesday above the $50 per barrel mark for the first time since July. The commodity continued to trade higher early Wednesday and was trading above the $51 per barrel handle. The last time WTI crude futures traded near the $51 per barrel level was back July 21, 2015, when it hit a high of $50.92.

Accordingly, oil is now trading at an 11-month high, which is boosting oil-related products. The VelocityShares 3X Long Crude ETN linked to the S&P GSCI Crude Oil Index Excess Return UWTI is trading higher by nearly 4 percent this morning. Meanwhile, the United States Oil Fund LP (ETF) USO is now higher by more than 11 percent since the start of 2016.

The price of oil continues to rise on supply disruptions from countries such as Nigeria, while U.S. crude oil inventories are decreasing.

BZ News Desk Focus

Some of last night's and this morning's notable earnings:

lululemon LULU Q1 EPS $0.30 vs $0.31 est, Revenue $495.5M vs $487.7M est
Verifone PAY Reports Q2 EPS $0.47 vs. Est. $0.52, Rev. $532M vs. Est. $530M
Dave & Buster's PLAY Reports Q1 EPS $0.72 vs. Est. $0.59, Rev. $262M vs. Est. $251M
Verint VRNT Reports Q1 EPS $0.46 Vs Est $0.41, Sales $249M Vs Est $250.71M
Brown-Forman BFB Reports Q4 EPS $2.60 vs $0.66 in Same Qtr. Last Year, Sales $933M vs $899M Est.

Sell-Side Themes

Nearly every major analyst downgraded Verifone following its earnings report. The stock was down 27 percent on a guidance cut.

Sell-Side's Most Noteworthy Calls

Morgan Stanley downgraded AbbVie ABBV to Equal-Weight.
Jefferies downgraded Sunoco SUN to Underperform.
Bank of America upgraded Ralph Lauren RL to Neutral.
Keefe Bruyette & Woods upgraded LendingClub LC to Market Perform.
Drexel initiated Anadarko APC at Buy.

Deal Talk

Could Anadarko's debt be the reason no M&A rumors have come to fruition?

Williams Companies WMB remains committed to closing its deal with Energy Transfer Equity ETE as soon as possible.

Sanofi SNY said if Medivation MDVN were to engage and provide additional information, it would be in a position to increase its buyout offer.

In The News

After winning New Mexico and California, Hillary Clinton claimed her place in history as America's first female presumptive presidential nominee, although Bernie Sanders is refusing to drop his bid despite overwhelming odds.

Active investment managers may need to shrink assets by as much as 30 percent if they want to beat industry benchmarks, according to Peter Kraus, chief executive officer of AllianceBernstein. The $30 trillion industry has grown too large with the proliferation of asset-management firms and the growth of individual funds, which forced managers to maintain too many positions and undermined returns, Kraus said Tuesday on Bloomberg TV.

Amazon's AMZN founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, said the company will invest an extra $3 billion in India on top of the $2 billion it announced two years ago.

Blogosphere

Do you think it's possible to earn $19 million in under two hours? Here's how one person did it.

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