Good Morning
On December 22, the American stock indexes finished trading in different directions. The S&P 500 dropped by 0.21% to 3687 points, the Dow Jones fell at a rate of 0.67%, while the NASDAQ climbed at 0.51%. Consumer confidence was significantly worse than expected. The tech sector became the leader of growth with a result of 0.86%; Apple shares acted as the engine, rising in price by 2.85%. The communications sector was one of the outsiders, losing 0.99%.
Corporate Highlights
Peloton Interactive (PTON: + 11.7%) buys exercise equipment manufacturer Precor for $ 420 million to increase production capacity.
Revenue and EPS CarMax (KMX: -8.1%) were better than expected, but profit margins fell, and demand weakened at the end of the quarter due to COVID-19.
Sports goods retailer Sportsman’s Warehouse Holdings (SPWH: + 39.6%) will be acquired by the Great American Outdoors Group.
Today, world stock exchanges are showing mostly positive dynamics. The focus of attention is the unexpected statement by Donald Trump about his intention to change the parameters of the economic aid package, for which Congressmen voted yesterday. The current president believes that the one-time payment to the population should be increased from $ 600 per person to $ 2,000. Joseph Biden also noted that it is necessary to expand stimulus measures. Additional cash payments to the population should be included in the next package of assistance to the economy. Most likely, Trump will still sign the bill in the coming days.
New strains of coronavirus continue to cause concern for investors, although virology experts believe that the vaccines available today are effective against the mutated COVID-19. Representatives of AstraZeneca and BioNTech agree.
Nevertheless, full-fledged research has not yet been carried out. There is no complete confidence in this issue. In general, the news background is close to neutral, but the publication of the macrostatistics block may shift the balance in one direction or another.
Economic Highlights
Today there are weekly data on the number of initial applications for unemployment benefits. The indicator is expected to remain at the level of the previous week – 885
thousand. If the actual value turns out to be above 893 thousand, it will become the highest since August. The labor market situation remains challenging. More than 5.5 million Americans are currently receiving unemployment benefits.
Also, the indicator of the expenses of individuals for November will be published. Against the backdrop of new quarantine restrictions, consumption is expected to decrease.
By 0.2% compared to October levels, which will be the first negative value since April. A month earlier, expenses increased by 0.5%.
Today Top Movers
Hexo Corp (HEXO) share price gaining 300.00% at $4.08 in early morning trading session today following its declaration of lapse of base shelf prospectus.
Ocugen, Inc (OCGN) increasing 83.81% at $1.48 during premarket trading on Wednesday after the company and Bharat Biotech declared the signing of binding letter of intent (LOI) to co-develop Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate, COVAXIN, for the United States market.
Jaguar Health Inc (JAGX) is up 52.85% at $0.61 in today’s premarket trading session after declaring the voting results of Jaguar’s December 9, 2020 in the Special Meeting of Stockholders.
Onconova Therapeutics Inc (ONTX) share price changing with the gain of 38.76% at $0.59 in premarket trading on Wednesday after announcing FDA Permission for study to proceed under its investigational new drug application for Multi-kinase CDK4/6 Inhibitor ON 123300.
Top Upgrades & Downgrades
Truist Securities turned bullish on Pioneer Natural Resources Company (PXD), upgrading the stock to “Buy” and assigning a $135.0 price target.
Rent-A-Center Inc. (RCII) has won the favor of Loop Capital’s equity research team. The firm upgraded the shares from Hold to Buy and moved their price target to $50.
Illumina Inc. (ILMN) received an upgrade from analysts at Piper Sandler, who also set their one-year price target on the stock to $415.0. They changed their rating on ILMN to Overweight from Neutral in a recently issued research note.
Earlier Wednesday BMO Capital reduced its rating on Fubotv Inc (NYSE: FUBO) stock to Market Perform from Outperform and assigned the price target to $50.
Canaccord Genuity analysts reduced their investment ratings, saying in research reports covered by the media that its rating for Paysign Inc (NASDAQ: PAYS) has been changed to Hold from Buy and the new price target is set at $5.
Analysts at BMO Capital downgraded IAC/Interactivecorp (NASDAQ: IAC)’s stock to Market Perform from Outperform on Wednesday.
Latest Insider Activity
FireEye Inc. (FEYE) EVP and General Counsel King Alexa announced the sale of shares taking place on Dec 21 at $20.03 for some 56,532 shares. The total came to more than $1.13 million.
Apartment Investment and Management Company (AIV) Director STEIN MICHAEL A sold on Dec 21 a total 0 shares at $4.70 on average. The insider’s sale generated proceeds of almost $0.22 million.
GameStop Corp. (GME) 10% Owner Cohen Ryan declared the purchase of shares taking place on Dec 18 at $15.97 for some 756,089 shares. The transaction amount was around $12.08 million.
Upstart Holdings Inc. (UPST) 10% Owner Loeb Daniel S bought on Dec 18 a total 13,381,222 shares at $20.00 on average. The purchase cost the insider an estimated $24.0 million.
Earnings To Watch
Top US earnings releases scheduled for today include Paychex Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX). It will announce its Nov 2020 financial results. The company is expected to report earnings of $0.66 per share from revenues of $954M in the three-month period.
Analysts expect Bridgeline Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:BLIN) to report a net income (adjusted) of $0.03 per share, when the bank releases its quarterly results shortly. Revenue for the fiscal quarter ended Sep 2020 is predicted to come in at $2.64M.
