The Market In 5 Minutes: Big Earnings And A Major IPO Acquisition

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

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 58 points to 19,902.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 6.25 points to 2,280.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 19.75 points to 5,115.75.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures dropped 0.88 percent to trade at $54.95 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also fell 0.90 percent to trade at $52.70 a barrel.

The FHFA house price index for November will be released at 9:00 a.m. ET.
The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.
The Treasury will auction 5-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

BZ News Desk Focus

Boeing BA Reports Q4 Adj. EPS $2.47, Sales $23.286B vs $23.573B in Same Qtr. Last Year
United Technologies UTX Reports Q4 Adj. EPS $1.56, Inline, Sales $14.7B, Inline
Alcoa AA Reports Q4 Adj EPS $0.14 vs $0.19 Est, Revenue $2.5B vs $2.46B Est
Capital One COF Reports Q4 EPS $1.45 vs $1.61 Est, Revenue $6.6B vs $6.67B Est
Texas Instruments TXN Reports Q4 GAAP EPS $1.02 Does Not Compare to $0.82 Est., Sales $3.41B vs $3.32B Est.
Seagate Technology STX Reports Q2 EPS $1 vs $1.08 Est, Revenue $2.9B vs $2.83B Est
Steel Dynamics STLD Reports Q4 EPS $0.43 vs. Est. $0.43, Rev. $1.9B vs. Est. $1.88B
McCormick MKC Q4 EPS $1.27 vs $1.27 Est, Revenue $1.23B vs $1.24B Est
Textron TXT Reports Q4 Adj. EPS $0.80 vs $0.87 Est., Sales $3.8B vs $4.05B Est.

Sell-Side Themes

FBR Capital and RBC Capital downgraded Verizon VZ to Market Perform.
JPMorgan downgraded Southwest Airlines LUV and upgraded JetBlue JBLU.

Sell-Side's Most Noteworthy Calls

JPMorgan downgraded AK Steel AKS to Neutral.
Telsey upgraded American Eagle AEO to Outperform.
DA Davidson started Arista Networks ANET at Buy.

Deal Talk

Cisco CSCO announced its intent to acquire AppDynamics for approximately $3.7 billion in cash and assumed equity awards. AppDynamics's, which was set to IPO on Thursday, is cloud application and business monitoring platform enables the world's largest companies to improve application and business performance

Shares of Kellogg K rose to a high of $72.87 on Tuesday, following renewed unconfirmed takeover chatter in the cereal maker. Sources say Coca-Cola KO could acquire Kellogg in a $40 billion stock for stock deal. Berkshire and 3G also are said to be interested in Kellogg once again. Back in November, 3G was mentioned as a potential suitor for Kellogg.

Walgreens Boots Alliance WBA CEO Stefano Pessina says he's not certain whether the deadline for his company’s purchase of Rite Aid RAD, with just three days to go before the deadline. In a Bloomberg interview, Pessina said extension of the deadline is the responsibility of the boards of the companies. On Friday, Bloomberg reported that the proposal to sell 865 drugstores to Fred's FRED was not satisfactory to FTC regulators. A Walgreen's spokesperson says the FTC has asked Fred's for additional information.

In The News

President Donald Trump is set to announce plans to expedite construction of a wall along the Mexican border, an order banning people from countries deemed a terror risk from entering the U.S. and the suspension of a refugee program.

President Trump continues to maintain his position that millions of illegal votes and widespread voter fraud cost him the popular vote. However, in White House press briefing No. 2, journalists' questions regarding this concern were dodged throughout the meeting.

Blogosphere

Apple AAPL personal computer lineup originally launched in January 1984. The Mac accounted for roughly 11.3 percent of Apple's revenues in the fiscal year ended September 2016. The company shipped 18.48 million units of Macs in 2016. As with any other product, the Macintosh had a humble beginning.

Stop These Asian Blank Checks: "Much business in Asia is still done the old way -- trust is the most important asset. As the region becomes the biggest source of dollar bonds in the developing world, however, investors are starting to question whether they need more in writing. It's high time."

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