Pre-Market overzicht Wall Street (nieuws)

TOP NEWS
• Tesla cuts Model Y prices in Germany after China price cuts
Tesla has slashed prices of its Model Y cars in Germany, where it lost the spot as top electric vehicle seller to Volkswagen in 2023, a week after the carmaker reduced its Model 3 and Model Y prices in China.

• Biden admin unveils proposed curbs on overdraft fees
The Biden administration unveiled new draft regulations that officials said could save consumers $3.5 billion a year by curbing the fees large banks charge on overdrawn deposit accounts.

• Albemarle seeks to sell lithium-miner Liontown stake after failed $4.3 billion bid
Albemarle is trying to sell its stake in Australia's Liontown Resources, a term sheet showed, three months after Australia's richest person blocked its $4.3 billion bid for the lithium developer.

• US judge blocks JetBlue from acquiring Spirit Airlines
A federal judge on Tuesday blocked JetBlue Airways' planned $3.8-billion acquisition of ultra-low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines after agreeing with the U.S. Department of Justice that the deal was anticompetitive and would harm ticket buyers.

• Coinbase, SEC set to face off in federal court over regulator's crypto authority
Coinbase will argue at a court hearing on Wednesday that the U.S. securities regulator should drop its case against it because the tokens traded on its crypto exchange are not akin to securities, said a person familiar with the case and court filings.

BEFORE THE BELL
U.S. stock index futures dropped as hawkish comments from the Federal Reserve lowered hopes for a March rate cut, while attention turned to regional bank earnings and December retail sales data due later in the day. Meanwhile, European equities fell as remarks from ECB officials tempered interest rate cut expectations. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei retreated from previous session gains on profit taking, while China's blue-chip index closed at near five-year lows as domestic growth appeared shakier and weak property data deepened concerns. Oil declined more than 1% on China economic worries and a strengthening dollar, while gold prices edged lower.

STOCKS TO WATCH
• Albemarle Corp: The company is trying to sell its stake in Australia's Liontown, a term sheet showed on Wednesday, three months after Australia's richest person blocked its $4.3 billion bid for the lithium developer. U.S.-based Albemarle, the world's largest lithium producer, has offered the roughly 96 million shares it holds in Liontown for around A$121 million in a block trade run by JPMorgan, the term sheet showed. The shares represent some 4% of Liontown's shares. The offer price of A$1.26 to A$1.32 per share is a discount of 7.4%-2.9% to Liontown's last traded price of A$1.36 on Wednesday. In abandoning the bid, Albermarle cited "growing complexities" after Hancock Prospecting, an iron ore miner controlled by Australia's richest person, Gina Rinehart, raised its stake in Liontown sufficiently to block the bid. Hancock Prospecting ultimately acquired a 19.9% stake in Liontown, making it the company's largest shareholder. Separately, Albemarle said it expects to reduce costs by around $95 million through headcount reductions and capital expenditure cuts among other measures this year.

• BP Plc: BP interim boss Murray Auchincloss was named permanent CEO four months after the energy giant was rocked by the sudden resignation of Bernard Looney over undisclosed relationships with employees. Auchincloss, who headed BP's finances under Looney, indicated he will continue a strategy aimed at slashing carbon emissions, building up its renewables and clean fuel capacity and cutting oil and gas output by 2030. Kate Thomson continues as interim CFO as the process to appoint a person to the permanent role continues, a spokesperson said. Auchincloss became interim CEO after Looney resigned on Sept. 12 for failing to disclose relationships with employees, throwing the energy giant into turmoil. He will receive an annual salary of $1.83 million plus bonus.

• Coinbase Global Inc: The company will argue at a court hearing that the U.S. securities regulator should drop its case against it because the tokens traded on its crypto exchange are not akin to securities, said a person familiar with the case and court filings. The hearing is the next major development in a closely watched court battle between Coinbase and the Securities and Exchange Commission that is likely to have implications for digital assets since it could clarify the SEC's jurisdiction over the sector. Coinbase's plan is to lean on a core argument it has made in court filings: that the SEC is overreaching and the assets it lists for trading are not securities. Coinbase is expected to argue that crypto assets differ from assets such as stocks or bonds that are subject to oversight by the U.S. securities regulator and that the SEC has overstepped its authority. Other crypto firms have expressed similar views.

• Exxon Mobil Corp, TotalEnergies SE & Valero Energy Corp: A severe winter storm shut a U.S. Gulf Coast refinery in Texas on Tuesday, triggered malfunctions at others and halved North Dakota oil production as it dumped snow and rain across a broad swath of the nation. TotalEnergies' 238,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, was examining units after a plantwide power outage on Tuesday morning as a winter storm brought frigid temperatures to the U.S. Gulf Coast, sources familiar with the company's operations said. Exxon returned a gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracker and a coker at its 564,440-bpd refinery in the Houston suburb of Baytown, Texas, to normal operation after a malfunction triggered when severe cold crossed the area on Monday night. Valero began a planned overhaul on the large crude distillation unit (CDU) at its 335,000-bpd refinery in Port Arthur on Monday, people familiar with plant operations said on Tuesday.

• Fox Corp: U.S. viewership for Monday's Emmy awards honoring the best of television fell to a record low 4.3 million on the company’s broadcast network, according to preliminary estimates released on Tuesday. The ceremony, which was delayed by four months because of labor turmoil in Hollywood last year, faced competition from a National Football League game and the Iowa caucuses, the first Republican contest of the 2024 U.S. presidential race. It was the first time the 75th edition of the awards show competed with the NFL, the biggest draw on U.S. television. This year's telecast showered "Succession" and "The Bear" with six awards each at a nostalgic ceremony that commemorated classic TV shows and drew generally positive reviews. Final viewership figures were expected to be released on Wednesday.

• Gildan Activewear Inc: The Canadian apparel maker on Tuesday alleged that its former chief Glenn Chamandy failed to disclose certain fund investments and had an undisclosed relationship with a shareholder. The remarks, that Gildan said underscores why the board "lost trust and confidence" in Chamandy, comes a day after new CEO Vince Tyra assumed his role and as the company battles activist investor pressure following the co-founder's sudden removal from the chief executive's position. Chamandy invested in funds managed by a Gildan shareholder, whose senior executive also bought a property at Apes Hill, the private golf resort in Barbados owned by Chamandy, Gildan alleged, citing information it obtained by accessing the former CEO's files and electronic information. "Chamandy appears to have treated Browning West differently than other Gildan shareholders," Gildan claimed, adding that the ousted CEO had hosted the co-founders of Browning West, and a number of the hedge fund's investors, on an exclusive visit to a Gildan facility in Honduras.

• GSK Plc & Haleon Plc: The drugmaker has raised $1.24 billion from a discounted sale of a stake in its spun-off consumer healthcare business Haleon, the British drugmaker said on Wednesday. GSK sold around 300 million shares in Haleon at 326 pence per share, cutting its shareholding in the world's largest standalone consumer healthcare company to 4.2%. The disposal marks the third time GSK is selling a stake in the Sensodyne toothpaste maker in less than a year, reducing its holding from the 12.9% stake initially retained in the business. Haleon was formed in 2019 by merging GSK and Pfizer's consumer healthcare businesses. Pfizer holds a 32% stake in Haleon, according to GSK. GSK had raised $1.12 billion from a discounted stake sale in Haleon in October last year.

• HDFC Bank Ltd: Shares of the Indian bank fell, their worst day since March 2020, after the country's biggest private lender reported weak margins for a second consecutive quarter. While HDFC Bank's standalone net profit for the third fiscal quarter beat analyst estimates, its core net interest margin (NIM) on total assets fell to 3.4% from 3.65% in the previous quarter. Those margins were above 4% for the bank before it merged with parent Housing Development Finance Corp (HDFC) in July last year. HDFC's higher borrowing costs and a lower-yielding loan book have weighed on the merged entity's margins in the two quarters it reported results after the merger. Brokerage Jefferies said margins were a "key miss" and that higher retail deposit mobilisation and lending will be key to lifting NIMs.

• Intercontinental Exchange Inc: The company will raise the price premiums for physical deliveries of some types of arabica coffee at the expiration of futures contracts at the exchange, including for Colombian beans, the exchange said on Tuesday. ICE said in a note to the market that commencing with the March 2026 contract expiry, there will be changes to the price differentials for the deliveries of coffees from Colombia, Kenya, Costa Rica and Guatemala. It said Colombian coffee deliveries will see a premium of 10 cents per pound from the current premium of 4 cents per pound over the futures. Coffees from Kenya and Guatemala will also have a price premium of 10 cents over futures. The two origins are currently delivered at par. For Guatemala, there will be a premium of 5 cents per pound, from at par currently.

• JetBlue Airways Corp & Spirit Airlines Inc: A federal judge on Tuesday blocked JetBlue’s planned $3.8-billion acquisition of ultra-low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines after agreeing with the U.S. Department of Justice that the deal was anticompetitive and would harm ticket buyers. JetBlue's lawyers had called the case a "misguided" challenge to a mergerof the nation's sixth- and seventh- largest airlines, which combined would control 10.2% of a domestic market dominated by four larger airlines. The ruling by U.S. District Judge William Young in Boston marked a victory for the White House in its efforts to prevent further concentration of the U.S. airline industry and raises questions about the viability of another recently proposed deal, Alaska Air's acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines. President Joe Biden, who has made boosting airline competition a top priority, called the ruling "a victory for consumers everywhere who want lower prices and more choices." The ruling finding the deal violated U.S. antitrust law also called into question Spirit's future. The ultra-low-cost carrier has struggled to turn a profit amid a run-up in operating costs and persistent supply chain problems.

• KKR & Co Inc: Italy's government has cleared Telecom Italia's (TIM) planned sale, worth up to $23.92 billion, of its fixed-line network to U.S. fund KKR under the so-called golden power rule, the telecoms group said on Wednesday. TIM said the approval came after the companies made commitments which the government deemed to "be fully adequate to guarantee the protection of the strategic interests connected with the assets involved in the transaction." In a separate statement, the government said the proposed commitments ensure the Italian administration will have the power to oversee the newly-created network company in areas concerning national security and defence. The commitments, which the government made obligatory, include the creation of a security task force overseeing the network company and the pledge to maintain all activities linked to the maintenance and the monitoring of the infrastructure in Italy, the government said.

• Masimo Corp: The company appoints former Walt Disney's chief executive officer Bob Chapek to its board, the medical technology maker said on Tuesday. Chapek held the helm at Disney from February 2020 to November 2022 and has earlier served as the chairman of Disney's parks, experiences and products unit. Irvine, California-based Masimo has been making the headlines since it sued Apple in October, alleging that the iPhone maker stole trade secrets related to technology for reading blood-oxygen levels in its watches and infringed Masimo patents. "As we execute our hospital-to-home strategy, we expect to benefit greatly from Bob's role on our Board," Masimo CEO Joe Kiani said.

• Natera Inc: The genetic-testing company must pay Maryland biotech company Ravgen $57 million in damages for infringing one of Ravgen's patents, a jury in Austin, Texas, said on Tuesday. The jury agreed with Ravgen that Austin-based Natera's Panorama prenatal screening tests violate Ravgen's patent rights in cell-free DNA testing technology, according to a Ravgen spokesperson. Natera said in a statement that the verdict will have "no impact on the company's ability to continue serving its customers" and that the award was "significantly less than the $410 million Ravgen was seeking." Ravgen attorney Kerri-Ann Limbeek told Reuters that the company was pleased with the verdict and that the jury recognized that its technology is "foundational" to non-invasive prenatal testing. Ravgen has sued several diagnostics companies for patent infringement. Its patents relate to diagnostic tests that analyze free-floating DNA taken from a patient's bloodstream, technology that the Columbia, Maryland-based company said it pioneered.

• Tesla Inc & Uber Technologies Inc: The ride-hailing company is working with Tesla to promote use of electric vehicles by its drivers in the United States as it works towards becoming emission-free in U.S. and Canadian cities by 2030, the ride-hailing platform told Reuters on Tuesday. Uber is offering its drivers exclusive purchase incentives of up to $2,000 for Tesla's Model 3 and Model Y, apart from existing federal tax credits. "We know from listening to Uber drivers that the cost of ownership and access to convenient charging are the top two barriers preventing them from going electric, and we are ... (working with) Tesla to tackle both of these issues," said Andrew Macdonald, senior vice president of mobility and business operations at Uber. As per the initiative, drivers will be able to use a referral code to purchase vehicles directly from Tesla's factory or from available inventory, while supplies last. They must purchase and receive the vehicle through March 31 and complete 100 trips by May 15 to be eligible. Separately, Tesla has slashed prices of its Model Y cars in Germany, where it lost the spot as top electric vehicle seller to Volkswagen in 2023, a week after the carmaker reduced its Model 3 and Model Y prices in China.

• UBS Group AG: The bank’s return on equity may be higher than currently expected, once the integration of its former rival, Credit Suisse, has been completed, its chairman said on Wednesday. "We have given a 15% target exit ROE at the end of 2026 as a guideline and obviously there may be upside on that," Colm Kelleher said in an interview with Bloomberg in Davos. Switzerland's largest bank said it will announce a three year strategic plan in February alongside its fourth quarter results. The bank has been working to integrate its former rival and has began merging teams and reducing the combined bank's employees. Kelleher, who has in the past spoken out against the culture at Credit Suisse, said the people that UBS has taken on following the takeover have fit in well. Separately, UBS's Chief Executive said the takeover of Credit Suisse last year, which was orchestrated by Swiss authorities, was "not the deal of the century" and that there was hard work to be done to integrate successfully.

• Walt Disney Co: The company said on Tuesday it "does not endorse" the candidates nominated by activist shareholders in a preliminary proxy filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger, in a letter to investors, said the company has embarked on an "unprecedented transformation," making management changes and streamlining operations to become more cost-efficient. It is on track to achieve roughly $7.5 billion in cost reductions - about $2 billion more than it originally targeted. Iger said Disney has prioritized making its streaming business profitable, turning ESPN, its sports media brand, into the "preeminent" digital platform, improving the output and economics of its film studios, while "turbocharging" the growth at its theme parks. "We have already made considerable progress on all four of these opportunities, and we are continuing to move forward with urgency and clarity," Iger wrote, urging shareholders to support Disney's 12 nominees - and rejecting those candidates put forward by investor groups Trian and Blackwells.

FOCUS
Spirit Airlines finds itself with few options after judge blocks deal with JetBlue
Spirit Airlines faces tough choices about its future including looking for another buyer and finding other ways to shore up its finances after a federal judge on Tuesday blocked its $3.8 billion merger deal with JetBlue Airways, industry experts said.

ANALYSTS' RECOMMENDATION
• Burlington Stores Inc: Piper Sandler raises rating to overweight from neutral, expecting its improved store experience to boost comparative benefits.

• Carrols Restaurant Group Inc: Stephens cuts rating to equal-weight from overweight, following Restaurant Brands agreement to fully acquire the company.

• Mastec Inc: Baird cuts rating to neutral from outperform, citing project risks to impact revenue in 2024.

• Morgan Stanley: KBW cuts rating to market perform from outperform and reduces target price to $91 from $102, saying the bank’s wealth management unit’s potential growth will take time to reflect.

• Parsons Corp: Baird raises rating to outperform from neutral, expecting gains from its effective acquisition strategy and large scope contracts.

ECONOMIC EVENTS (All timings in U.S. Eastern Time)
0830 Import prices mm for Dec: Expected -0.5%; Prior -0.4%
0830 Export prices mm for Dec: Expected -0.6%; Prior -0.9%
0830 Import prices yy for Dec: Prior -1.4%
0830 Retail sales mm for Dec: Expected 0.4%; Prior 0.3%
0830 Retail sales ex-autos mm for Dec: Expected 0.2%; Prior 0.2%
0830 Retail ex-gas, autos for Dec: Prior 0.6%
0830 Retail control for Dec: Expected 0.2%; Prior 0.4%
0830 Retail sales yy for Dec: Prior 4.09%
0915 Industrial production mm for Dec: Expected 0.0%; Prior 0.2%
0915 Capacity utilization SA for Dec: Expected 78.7%; Prior 78.8%
0915 Manufacturing output mm for Dec: Expected 0.0%; Prior 0.3%
0915 Industrial production yy for Dec: Prior -0.39%
1000 Business inventories mm for Nov: Expected -0.1%; Prior -0.1%
1000 Retail inventories ex-autos, R for Nov: Prior -0.8%
1000 NAHB housing market index for Jan: Expected 39; Prior 37

COMPANIES REPORTING RESULTS
Charles Schwab Corp: Expected Q4 earnings of $0.64 per share
Discover Financial Services: Expected Q4 earnings of $2.51 per share
Kinder Morgan Inc: Expected Q4 earnings of $0.30 per share
Prologis Inc: Expected Q4 earnings of $0.55 per share

CORPORATE EVENTS (All timings in U.S. Eastern Time)
0800 US Bancorp: Q4 earnings conference call
0900 Citizens Financial Group Inc: Q4 earnings conference call
1100 DR Horton Inc: Annual Shareholders Meeting
1200 Prologis Inc: Q4 earnings conference call
1630 Kinder Morgan Inc: Q4 earnings conference call