The Market In 5 Minutes: Despite Jump, The 'Fear Index' Still Trading At 52-Week Lows

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

U.S. stocks pulled back on Tuesday after a rally to start the week on Monday. All three major averages closed the session with modest losses. The only sector that was positive on the day was financials, with the biggest losses coming in basic materials and utilities.

The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) climbed slightly on Tuesday in the wake of the market pullback. By the close of trading, the VIX was up 1.39 percent to 13.12. Despite the jump in the so-called "Fear Index," the VIX remains near 52-week low levels.
The Chicago PMI for August will be released at 9:45 a.m. ET.
The pending home sales index for July is schedule for release at 10:00 a.m. ET.
The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.
Data on farm prices for August will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.
Chicago Fed President Charles Evans is set to speak at the Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance in Beijing at 3:15 p.m. ET.

BZ News Desk

Palo Alto Networks PANW Reports Q4 EPS $0.50 vs. Est. $0.50, Rev. $400.8M vs. Est. $389.7M
Veeva VEEV Reports Q2 pEPS $0.15 vs. Est. $0.13, Rev. $131.3M vs. Est. $126.5M
Matrix Service MTRX Q4 EPS $0.34 vs $0.30 est, Revenue $359.6M vs $338.4M est
H&R Block HRB Reports Q1 EPS $(0.55) vs. Est. $(0.53), Rev. $125.2M vs. Est. $132.9M

Sell-Side Themes

Abercrombie & Fitch ANF saw its price target lowered by a slew of analysts after a weak earnings report and 20 percent selloff Tuesday.

Sell-Side's Most Noteworthy Calls

Atlantic Equities downgraded Dollar General DG to Neutral.
Stifel downgraded G-III Apparel GIII to Sell.
Deutsche Bank upgraded Banco Santander SAN to Buy.
RBC Capital upgraded Kosmos Energy KOS to Outperform.
Jefferies started First Data FDC at Buy.

Deal Talk

Agrium AGU confirmed Tuesday it's holding preliminary talks with Potash POT regarding a potential merger of equals. Shares were halted following a report from Bloomberg. Agrium says no decision has been made as to whether to proceed with a merger.

A Tesla TSLA filing shows registration of 15,081,775 shares to be sold to public upon completion of a merger with Solar City SCTY.

In a new letter to company management, Sinovac Biotech SVA shareholder Heng Ren Investments voices the firm’s displeasure over Sinovac insiders' plan to take the company private. Heng Ren points out that the buyout price the insiders are offering is 17.9 percent below the stock's 2014 high and represents only about 57 percent of Sinovac’s true value.

In The News

As first reported by the Washington Post, Donald Trump announced Tuesday night that he will meet Wednesday with the President of Mexico just hours before he is set to deliver a speech focused on immigration policy. A meeting between Trump and Peña Nieto would be extraordinary, given Trump's continued pledges to build a wall on the border with Mexico and make Mexico pay for it. Trump has also stoked fierce criticism in Mexico and in the Hispanic community at large for his at-times inflammatory rhetoric in discussing illegal immigration.

Alphabet's GOOG Google is moving onto Uber's turf with a ride-sharing service to help San Francisco commuters join carpools, a person familiar with the matter told Wall Street Journal. Google began a pilot program around its California headquarters in May that enables several thousand area workers at specific firms to use the Waze app to connect with fellow commuters. It plans to open the program to all San Francisco-area Waze users this fall, the person said. Waze, which Google acquired in 2013, offers real-time driving directions based on information from other drivers.

Blogosphere

"This will be a fairly controversial post, but I’m going to say it anyway," says the Reformed Broker. "Everyone is a closet technician. Everyone. And in a panic or a market correction, this truism is even more, um, truistic."

Trending

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U.S. veterans came in defense of San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, using the hashtag #VeteransForKaepernick. Kaepernick's controversial decision to sit out the National Anthem before games is the hottest topic in the NFL right now. The 49ers QB refuses to stand for the National Anthem as a protest of how black people are treated in America.

Guess This Chart

This stock fell Monday on news they're exposed to $11 billion in legal claims against one of their subsidiaries, but those lawsuits have since been haulted until October.
Shares rallied in December of 2014 after this company merged with an acquisition company.
Sympathy plays include MGM Resorts and Eldorado Resorts.