The Market In 5 Minutes

IN THE NEWS

BENZINGA

Benzinga announced the judging panel for the 2017 Benzinga Global Fintech Awards Thursday, giving startups an "unprecedented" opportunity to have their products evaluated by leaders from throughout the financial technology space: Link

PepsiCo, Inc. PEP announced Wednesday between 80 and 100 layoffs at its Philadelphia sites over the next few months — and management blames the city’s newly implemented soda tax: Link

Agents from the Internal Revenue Services, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and U.S. Department of Commerce carried out a search warrant Thursday of three Caterpillar Inc. CAT facilities, including corporate headquarters: Link

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Thursday he will remove himself from involvement in any investigation related to the 2016 presidential race, following the disclosure that he had conversations with a Russian official while advising the Trump campaign: Link

Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen will deliver a highly anticipated speech in Chicago on Friday, her last scheduled public remarks before the central bank’s March 14-15 policy meeting: Link

Snap Inc. SNAP, parent company of Snapchat, begins life as a publicly traded company at a moment when prospects for young social-media startups aren’t looking so bright: Link

REUTERS

NBCUniversal, a unit of Comcast Corp CMCSA, invested $500 million in Snap during its IPO as part of a strategic investment and partnership, CNBC reported on Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter: Link

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence used a private email account to conduct public business as governor of Indiana, his office said in a statement on Thursday: Link

BLOOMBERG

U.S. retailers are coming off one of the worst Christmas-shopping seasons in recent memory, and now they have to deal with Paul Ryan: Link

After star money manager Bill Gross left in 2014, Pacific Investment Management Co. seemed destined to fade from prominence and become just one of the many firms that dot the U.S. bond-industry landscape. But then Dan Ivascyn, the man tapped to replace Gross, got hot: Link

NEW YORK POST

Senior Apple Inc. AAPL executives have reached out to some of Hollywood’s most successful TV and film producers in the last couple of weeks about going to work for the tech giant, The Post has learned: Link

ECONOMIC DATA

• USA ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI for Feb 57.60 vs 56.40 consensus estimate. The prior reading was 56.50.
• USA Markit Services PMI for Feb 53.80 vs 53.90 consensus estimate. The prior reading was 53.90.
• Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans and Richmond Federal Reserve Bank President Jeffrey Lacker will speak in New York City at 10:15 a.m. ET.
• Federal Reserve Gov. Jerome Powell is set to speak at Yale University at 12:15 p.m. ET.
• The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is schedule for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.
• Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen will speak at the Executives' Club of Chicago at 1:00 p.m. ET.
• Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer is set to speak in New York City at 1:00 p.m. ET.

ANALYST RATINGS

• Citigroup upgrades Expedia EXPE from Sell to Neutral
• Bank of America upgrades Advanced Disposal Servs ADSW from Neutral to Buy
• Jefferies upgrades Southwestern Energy SWN from Underperform to Hold
• Goldman Sachs downgrades Kroger KR from Conviction Buy to Buy
• Argus Research downgrades Southern SO from Buy to Holdld
• Morgan Stanley downgrades Nutanix NTNX from Equal-Weight to Underweight

NOTABLE OPTION ALERTS

• Aerovironment AVAV Apr 30.0 Calls Sweep: 592 @ ASK $0.55: 597 traded vs 12 OI: Earnings 3/7 After Close $27.08 Ref
• Kite Pharma (KITE) Apr $90 Call; 2000 @Bid @$1.36
• Akamai AKAM Mar 65.5 Calls Sweep: 502 @ ASK $0.44: 502 traded vs 7 OI: Earnings 4/25 After Close (est) $63.76 Ref
• Unim (UNM) Jun 48.0 Puts Sweep: 531 @ ASK $2.10: 531 traded vs 0 OI: Earnings 4/26 After Close (est) $48.96 Ref
• T-Mobile (TMUS) Mar 3rd 62.5 Calls Sweep: 652 @ ASK $0.63: 653 traded vs 1330 OI: Earnings 4/26 Before Open (est) $62.45 Ref
• Pepsico (PEP) Mar 31st 114 Calls Sweep: 3500 @ ASK $0.30: 3504 traded vs 10 OI: Earnings 4/20 Before Open (est) $109.90 Ref
• Wright Med (WMGI) Apr 30.0 Calls Sweep: 1000 @ ASK $0.50: 1124 traded vs 110 OI: Earnings 5/3 After Close (est) $28.01 Ref
• Marvell Tech (MRVL) Apr 20.0 Calls Sweep: 759 @ ASK $0.05: 1000 traded vs 10 OI: Earnings today After Close $15.83 Ref
• Zumiez (ZUMZ) May 22.5 Puts Sweep: 759 @ ASK $2.742: 759 traded vs 1500 OI: Earnings 3/9 After Close $21.20 Ref
• Apple(AAPL) Apr $140 Call; 2112 @Bid @$3.55
• Oclaro (OCLR) Apr 10.0 Calls: 580 @ ASK $0.50: 817 traded vs 12k OI: Earnings 5/2 After Close (est) $8.96 Ref

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