Markt snapshot Wall Street 7 april

TOP NEWS
U.S. jobs progress still far short of Fed's 'substantial' tripwire
The U.S. job market may have picked up steam in March, but the improvement was only a small step towards the Federal Reserve's threshold for considering reining in its massive support for the economy.

• G20 agree to boost IMF war chest by $650 billion amid pandemic -draft
The world's financial leaders will agree to boost the resources of the International Monetary Fund by $650 billion so it can better help vulnerable countries deal with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, a draft communique showed.

• UK launches rollout of Moderna COVID vaccine as daily shots slow
Britain began using Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine in Wales just as its rollout of other shots fell to their lowest level this year due to a supply crunch caused by manufacturing problems at AstraZeneca.

• Tesla tells China car cameras not activated outside North America
Cameras in Tesla cars are not activated outside of North America, the U.S. automaker said on its Chinese social media page, seeking to assuage security concerns in the world's biggest car market.

• ​Samsung Electronics says Q1 profit likely rose 44%, matching expectations
Samsung Electronics said first-quarter profit likely rose 44%, with analysts attributing the surge to brisk sales of smartphones and TVs, albeit tempered by a likely fall in chip earnings after a storm halted U.S. output.


BEFORE THE BELL
U.S. stock futures were slightly higher and European shares hovered around record highs as a strong global growth forecast from the International Monetary Fund boosted demand for riskier assets. Oil prices edged higher. Asian shares pulled back from a three-week high, dragged lower by Chinese stocks. Hopes of swift economic recovery pulled gold prices lower, while the dollar was little changed. Trade deficit data for February is scheduled for release later during the day.


STOCKS TO WATCH
IPOs
• AppLovin Corp: The mobile app and gaming company, which is backed by private equity giant KKR, said it was targeting a valuation of more than $30 billion in its U.S. initial public offering. The company said it was looking to raise as much as $2.13 billion in its IPO by selling 25 million shares at a price range of $75 to $85 per share.

• ​Vaccitech: The Biotech startup which owns the technology behind the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Oxford and AstraZeneca, has confidentially filed for an initial public offering in the United States, the Financial Times reported. The startup could price its offering as early as this month, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

In Other News
• Amazon.com Inc: The company supports a hike in the U.S. corporate tax rate as part of an infrastructure overhaul, Jeff Bezos, chief executive of the largest U.S. retailer, said on Tuesday after facing withering criticism from the White House, Congress and on social media. "We support the Biden Administration’s focus on making bold investments in American infrastructure," Bezos said in a blog post. "We recognize this investment will require concessions from all sides — both on the specifics of what’s included as well as how it gets paid for (we’re supportive of a rise in the corporate tax rate)."

• Citigroup Inc: Citibank N.A. has lodged an application with Australia's Supreme Court of New South Wales to wind up two businesses run by Indian-British steel magnate Sanjeev Gupta as part of insolvency measures. The London branch of Citibank lodged an application on Tuesday to wind up OneSteel Manufacturing, which includes the Whyalla steel plant in South Australia, and Tahmoor Coal, which includes a coal mine in New South Wales, according to the court. A directions hearing is listed for May 6.

• Curevac NV. Global supply chains for making COVID-19 vaccines have been disrupted by U.S. restrictions, creating headaches for companies seeking to build production in Europe, according to one of the founders of Germany's Curevac. Florian von der Muelbe said in a newspaper interview that he was hopeful Curevac's vaccine candidate would win emergency European approval this quarter and confirmed a forecast that it would produce 300 million doses this year.

• Fox Corp: Betting group Flutter Entertainment, the owner of Paddy Power, Betfair and PokerStars, said it will "vigorously defend its position" after Fox filed a suit against the company related to its option to buy a 18.6% stake in U.S. sports betting firm FanDuel Group. Fox wants to acquire the stake in FanDuel for the same price Flutter paid for the interest in December last year. Flutter argues the parties had agreed the exchange should take place at a fair market value.

• Genworth Financial Inc: The company has terminated a $2.7 billion buyout agreement with investment firm China Oceanwide Holdings Group Co, the U.S. insurer said on Tuesday. Originally proposed in October 2016, the merger was stalled for years over concerns about Chinese access to sensitive data of U.S. citizens. "Greater clarity about Genworth's future is needed now in order for the company to execute its plans to maximize shareholder value," Genworth's non-executive chairman James Riepe said, explaining the rationale behind the move. Genworth said its revised plans include a potential partial IPO of its U.S. mortgage insurance business.

• KKR & Co Inc: T-Mobile Netherlands said it will invest at least 700 million euros to build and offer fibre optic networks in Dutch cities together with Open Dutch Fibre, a joint venture between KKR Infrastructure and Deutsche Telecom Capital Partners. The project aims to reach 1 million households within five years, it said.

• Moderna Inc: Deliveries of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine are on track to meet the number of doses it promised to the European Union, a spokesperson for the company said, following a report of delays in Germany. Separately, Britain began using Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday in Wales just as its rollout of other shots fell to their lowest level this year due to a supply crunch caused by manufacturing problems at AstraZeneca.

• Nokia Oyj: The company has settled a multi-year patent fight with China's Lenovo, the world's biggest PC maker, resolving all pending litigation across all jurisdictions, the companies said. While terms of the cross-license agreement remain confidential, Lenovo will make a net balancing payment to Nokia, the Finnish telecom equipment maker said. A Nokia spokesman declined to disclose the financial details.

• Occidental Petroleum Corp: Chief Executive Vicki Hollub said she opposes a carbon tax, an idea that has gained the backing of large rival oil companies and some trade groups. "A carbon tax would be bad for a lot of the industry, a carbon tax would be bad for the consumers and especially for those consumers who are more disadvantaged from an economic standpoint," Hollub told the virtual summit of the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association.

• Pfizer Inc: Canada's health regulator said it was launching a probe into the company's arthritis drug, Xeljanz, after a trial by the company identified increased risk of serious heart-related issues and cancer in the participants. The trial investigated the long-term safety of Xeljanz at two doses in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, who are at least 50 years old and have at least one cardiovascular risk factor, the regulator said.

• Royal Dutch Shell PLC: The company expects its fuel sales to fall or at best be broadly steady for the first quarter, the world's biggest fuel retailer said, indicating fuel demand recovery has remained slow amid coronavirus restrictions. In a trading update, Shell said it saw refined oil product sales at 3.7-4.7 million barrels per day (bpd) for the first quarter compared with just under 4.8 million bpd in the last quarter of 2020. It had previously forecast sales of 4-5 million bpd.

• Ryanair PLC: The European Union's slow COVID-19 vaccine rollout will damage Ryanair's prospects in the coming year, Europe's biggest low-cost airline said, as it flagged a smaller than expected loss for its financial year just ended. The Irish company said it now expected passenger traffic in the year to March 31, 2022, to be towards the lower end of its previously estimate of 80-120 million people.

• Tesla Inc: Cameras in Tesla cars are not activated outside of North America, the U.S. automaker said on its Chinese social media page, seeking to assuage security concerns in the world's biggest car market. "Even in the United States, car owners can freely choose whether to turn on its (the camera system's) use. Tesla is equipped with a network security system with world-leading security levels to ensure user privacy protection," the electric carmaker wrote on Weibo, China's Twitter-like social media site.


INSIGHT
CEO Mary Barra bets GM can grow beyond cars and trucks
Pam Fletcher wants to change the way General Motors makes money. The veteran GM engineer's Global Innovation team is looking for new enterprises to expand the automaker's sources of revenue well beyond vehicle sales and is incubating ventures from commercial delivery services to vehicle insurance, to address future markets worth an estimated $1.3 trillion. That doesn't include flying cars, a market sector that alone could be worth $1.3 trillion, Fletcher told Reuters.


ANALYSTS' RECOMMENDATION
• Applied Materials Inc: Cowen and Company raises price target to $160 from $140, to reflect on the company’s diverse product portfolio, AI driven learning & integrated approach to solve high-value customer problems.

• Bank of America Corp: Barclays raises price target to $45 from $40, believing that in the near term, a lower than previously expected loan loss provision should drive the company’s EPS higher, while a better than anticipated interest rate environment should help looking out.

• Howmet Aerospace Inc: JPMorgan raises price target to $35 from $32, to factor in the company’s recently announced debt pay down plans and higher margins beyond 2021.


ECONOMIC EVENTS (All timings in U.S. Eastern Time)
0830 (approx.) International trade for Feb: Expected -$70.5 bln; Prior -$68.2 bln
0830 (approx.) Goods trade balance (R) for Feb: Prior -$86.72 bln
1500 Consumer credit for Feb: Expected $5.00 bln; Prior -$1.31 bln


COMPANIES REPORTING RESULTS
Carnival Corp : Expected Q1 loss of $1.54 per share
Lamb Weston Holdings Inc : Expected Q3 earnings of 51 cents per share


CORPORATE EVENTS (All timings in U.S. Eastern Time)
0830 MSC Industrial Direct Co Inc: Q2 earnings conference call
0830 Simply Good Foods Co: Q2 earnings conference call
0900 Schlumberger NV: Annual Shareholders Meeting
1000 Carnival Corp: Q1 earnings conference call
1000 Lamb Weston Holdings Inc: Q3 earnings conference call
1000 RPM International Inc: Q3 earnings conference call
1100 Lennar Corp : Annual Shareholders Meeting
1130 Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc: Q2 earnings conference call
1230 Advanced Micro Devices Inc: Shareholders Meeting
1230 Xilinx Inc: Shareholders Meeting


EXDIVIDENDS
Campbell Soup Co: Amount $0.37
Ingles Markets Inc: Amount $0.16
Oracle Corp: Amount $0.32
Trinseo SA: Amount $0.08
Wabash National Corp: Amount $0.08