Markt snapshot Wall Street 14 september

TOP NEWS
• Amazon boosts hourly pay to over $18, to hire 125,000 workers
Amazon.com hiked its average starting wage to $18 per hour and said it plans to hire more than 125,000 warehouse and transportation workers in the United States.

• Apple expected to unveil new iPhones as part of 5G push
Apple is expected to show new iPhone and Apple Watch models with slight upgrades, and analysts expect that wireless carriers will play an outsized role in the annual show as they try to entice consumers into 5G plans.

• S.Korea fines Google $177 million for blocking Android customisation
South Korea's antitrust regulator has fined Alphabet Inc's Google $176.64 million for blocking customised versions of its Android operating system (OS), in the U.S. technology giant's second setback in the country in less than a month.

• Tesla, Toyota spar with Ford, UAW over EV tax bill
Toyota Motor and Tesla clashed with Ford Motor and the United Auto Workers (UAW) union over a proposal by Democrats in the U.S. House to give union-made, U.S.-built electric vehicles an additional $4,500 tax incentive.

• Nicholas weakens into tropical storm, battering Texas, Louisiana with rain
Heavy rains lashed Texas and Louisiana as hurricane Nicholas weakened into a tropical storm, bringing the threat of widespread floods and power outages as it swept down the U.S. Gulf Coast.


BEFORE THE BELL
Wall Street futures were little changed as investors awaited the U.S. inflation data that might offer clues on the timing of policy tightening by the Federal Reserve. European stocks slipped, weighed down by weakness in luxury and mining shares. Japan's Nikkei closed at a more than 31-year high, supported by gains in cyclical stocks. The dollar index was little changed, while gold prices were in the negative territory. Oil rose as another hurricane threatened to bring heavy rain to U.S. Gulf.


STOCKS TO WATCH

Deals Of The Day
• Intuit Inc: Known for its small-business accounting and DIY tax-filing software, the company said on Monday it will acquire digital marketing company Mailchimp for about $12 billion in a cash-and-stock deal. The deal, expected to close by the second quarter of fiscal 2022, is Intuit's biggest-ever acquisition. It will be financed through cash on hand and new debt of about $4.5 billion to $5.0 billion, Intuit said. Last year, the company bought personal finance portal Credit Karma for just over $7 billion. The deal for Atlanta-based Mailchimp, which operates a marketing platform for small- and mid-market businesses, will help Intuit add insights to its Quickbooks platform that tracks spending. The deal is expected to add to Intuit's adjusted earnings for full-year fiscal 2022.

In Other News
• Alphabet Inc: South Korea's antitrust regulator has fined Google $176.64 million for blocking customised versions of its Android operating system (OS), in the U.S. technology giant's second setback in the country in less than a month. The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said Google's contract terms with device makers amounted to an abuse of its dominant market position that restricted competition in the mobile OS market. The company said in a statement it intends to appeal the ruling, saying it ignores the benefits offered by Android's compatibility with other programs and undermines advantages enjoyed by consumers. "The Korea Fair Trade Commission's decision is meaningful in a way that it provides an opportunity to restore future competitive pressure in the mobile OS and app market markets," KFTC Chairperson Joh Sung-wook said in a statement. The antitrust regulator said this could be the ninth-biggest fine it has ever imposed.

• Amazon.com Inc: The world's largest online retailer hiked its average starting wage to $18 per hour and said it plans to hire more than 125,000 warehouse and transportation workers in the United States. Amazon also said it would pay a sign-on bonus of $3,000 in some locations and the hourly wage could go up to $22.50. Amazon was among the first few retailers to set a $15 an hour minimum wage in 2018. It had said in May it would pay around $17 in average wages. The company is hiring to run the 100 logistics facilities it will launch this month in the United States, on top of the more than 250 that opened earlier this year. The additional staffing will also help roll out one-day delivery for Amazon's Prime loyalty club members.

• Apple Inc: The company is expected to show new iPhone and Apple Watch models with slight upgrades, and analysts expect that wireless carriers will play an outsized role in the annual show as they try to entice consumers into 5G plans. Apple last year introduced its iPhone 12, which featured a new look and its first devices with 5G connectivity. This year, analyst expect modest hardware upgrades and a deeper focus on 5G. In particular, carriers such as AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile that have significantly built out their networks since the start of this year are likely to offer new incentives around the devices that can take advantage of the faster speeds those networks can offer, said Ben Bajarin, head of consumer technologies at Creative Strategies. Meanwhile, a cyber surveillance company based in Israel developed a tool to break into iPhones with a never-before-seen technique that has been in use since at least February, internet security watchdog group Citizen Lab said on Monday.

• Barrick Gold Corp: The company's Chief Executive Mark Bristow spent years burnishing his reputation as an aggressive dealmaker, but he says now he is focused on new mines that he hopes will boost profit and the company's sagging stock price. "The very foundation of our future has to be our geologists and where we are investing," Bristow told Reuters on the sidelines of the MINExpo conference in Las Vegas, the quadrennial gathering of industry executives and suppliers. "Organic growth is always a winner when it comes to value." The newfound focus on internal growth comes as Bristow pushes the mining industry to better invest in host communities. "They are stakeholders that are as important as our own shareholders," he said.

• Chevron Corp: The oil giant tripled its planned capital investment to $10 billion through 2028 to expand its lower carbon energy businesses. Oil majors across the globe are racing to reposition themselves as leaders of a shift away from oil, thanks to the mounting pressure from investors and environmentalists. Chevron said it would grow renewable natural gas production to 40 billion British Thermal units per day and increase renewable fuels production capacity to 100,000 barrels per day to meet growing customer demand for renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel. The company also reaffirmed its expectation to generate $25 billion in cash flow, above its dividend and capital spending, over the next five years. The announcement comes ahead of Chevron energy transition conference scheduled to be held later in the day.

• CNH Industrial NV: The Italian-American vehicle maker said it had named Francesco Tanzi as chief financial officer of Iveco Group, its commercial vehicle unit which is set to be spun-off early next year. CNH Industrial said in 2019 it planned to split in two and separately list its lower-margin Iveco truck and bus units along with its FPT engine division to boost asset values and streamline its businesses. The assets included in the spin-off plan - initially referred to as the CNH Industrial's "OnHighway" business - have now been renamed Iveco Group, which will start as an independent company in early 2022, CNH said in a statement.

• Johnson & Johnson: The company said on Monday its Ebola vaccine regimen demonstrated antibody immune responses in adults and children, citing data published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal. The two-dose regimen was well-tolerated and induced antibody responses to the Zaire ebolavirus species 21 days after the second dose in 98% of all participants, the company said, citing data from a late-stage trial. The regimen, Zabdeno and Mvabea, generated immune responses that persisted in adults for at least two years. "These peer-reviewed data support the prophylactic use of the Johnson & Johnson Ebola vaccine regimen to protect people at risk of Ebola, which is essential to our vision of preventing Ebola outbreaks before they can begin," J&J's Chief Scientific Officer Paul Stoffels said.

• Miniso Group Holding Ltd: The Chinese retailer will open a 'flagship' New York store and nearly double its U.S. outlets this year, betting post-pandemic shoppers on a budget will snap up cheap but fun goods for homes and work like $10 soft toy cats and $4 staplers shaped like avocados. At less than 60 outlets, Miniso's U.S. presence will still be dwarfed by giant low-price retailers like Dollar Tree, as well as its own home Chinese base of nearly 3,000 stores. But Miniso says it's moving quickly to take advantage of lower rents in the pandemic-hit U.S. economy, and Vincent Huang, a company vice president responsible for overseas business, told Reuters he ultimately sees potential for "thousands" of U.S. stores. "We choose to expand our presence in the U.S. now for several reasons, including that the cost of a new store opening following COVID-19 is lower," Huang said in a recent interview.

• Qualcomm Inc: Shares in Veoneer edged down after the auto tech firm stuck to its recommendation for Magna's bid after receiving an updated, non-binding offer from Qualcomm. The Swedish company has become an attractive takeover target as its expertise in making advanced driver assistance systems fits in the plan for both Qualcomm and Magna in cornering a share in a growing business. Qualcomm on Monday made a formal $37 per share bid for Veoneer in line with the offer announced last month and above Magna's original $31.25 per share offer. Despite the bigger price tag, Veoneer said its merger agreement with Magna remains "in full force and effect" and the company's board has not withdrawn its recommendation favouring a deal with Magna.

• Walmart Inc: Walmart said on Monday it was looking into how a fake press statement announcing a partnership with litecoin, which briefly led to near 30% gains in the cryptocurrency, was issued by news release distributor GlobeNewswire. The fake press release touting the acceptance of litecoin as online payment by the world's largest retailer led to a sudden spike in its prices, but the gains faded quickly after Walmart issued a statement saying the press release was fraudulent. "Walmart had no knowledge of the press release issued by GlobeNewswire and there is no truth to it. Walmart has no relationship with litecoin," a company spokesperson told Reuters. GlobeNewswire published a notice to "disregard" the news release and said it had put in place enhanced authentication steps to prevent a similar incident from occurring in the future.


INSIGHT
As oil-well backlog shrinks, U.S. shale may upset investors and drill more
U.S. energy producers have cut so deeply into a once-large reserve of oil wells waiting to be turned on they soon may have to resume drilling to keep production from sagging, executives and analysts said.


ANALYSTS' RECOMMENDATION
• Amazon.com Inc: Evercore ISI raises target price to $4700 from $4200 based on their recent analysis into the company’s substantial fulfilment network expansion.

• Cisco Systems Inc: JPMorgan raises target price to $67 from $62 on expectation that at FAC 2021 the company will deliver medium-term targets for FY23-25, including mid-single-digit revenue growth, steady margin expansion and earnings growth faster than top-line growth.

• Fedex Corp: Evercore ISI cuts target price to $350 from $360 to reflect higher assumed labor costs (new ground capacity, peak and reliability investments).

• Olin Corp: Piper Sandler initiates coverage with overweight rating and target price of $70, saying the company is transforming the existing pricing paradigm for chlorine, caustic soda and a key epoxy raw material called epichlorohydrin by leveraging their position as the producer of the marginal ton.


ECONOMIC EVENTS (All timings in U.S. Eastern Time)
0830 (approx.) Core CPI mm, SA for Aug: Expected 0.3%; Prior 0.3%
0830 (approx.) Core CPI yy, NSA for Aug: Expected 4.2%; Prior 4.3%
0830 (approx.) CPI Index, NSA for Aug: Expected 273.798; Prior 273.003
0830 (approx.) Core CPI Index, SA for Aug: Prior 279.05
0830 (approx.) CPI mm, SA for Aug: Expected 0.4%; Prior 0.5%
0830 (approx.) CPI yy, NSA for Aug: Expected 5.3%; Prior 5.4%
0830 (approx.) Real weekly earnings mm for Aug: Prior -0.1%
0830 (approx.) CPI mm NSA for Aug: Prior 0.480%
0830 (approx.) CPI Index SA for Aug: Prior 272.260
0830 (approx.) CPI Wage Earner for Aug: Prior 267.789
1100 (approx.) Cleveland Fed CPI for Aug: Prior 0.3%


COMPANIES REPORTING RESULTS
No major S&P 500 companies are scheduled to report for the day.


CORPORATE EVENTS (All timings in U.S. Eastern Time)
0800 MYT Netherlands Parent BV: Q4 earnings conference call
0830 Core & Main Inc: Q2 earnings conference call
0900 Lydall Inc: Shareholders Meeting
0900 Soaring Eagle Acquisition Corp: Shareholders Meeting
0900 Take-Two Interactive Software Inc: Annual Shareholders Meeting
1000 Digital Turbine Inc: Annual Shareholders Meeting
1000 Fuelcell Energy Inc: Q3 earnings conference call
1000 Tpg Pace Tech Opportunities Corp: Shareholders Meeting
1030 Freedom Holding Corp: Annual Shareholders Meeting
1200 NortonLifeLock Inc: Annual Shareholders Meeting
1700 European Wax Center Inc: Q2 earnings conference call
1700 Lions Gate Entertainment Corp: Annual Shareholders Meeting
1700 Skillsoft Corp: Q2 earnings conference call


EX-DIVIDENDS
Altria Group Inc: Amount $0.90
American Homes 4 Rent: Amount $0.10
Ares Capital Corp: Amount $0.41
Atrion Corp: Amount $1.95
Bancorpsouth Bank: Amount $0.20
Belden Inc: Amount $0.05
Bonanza Creek Energy Inc: Amount $0.35
Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc: Amount $0.64
Chesapeake Utilities Corp: Amount $0.48
Coca-Cola Co: Amount $0.42
Comerica Inc: Amount $0.68
Community Bank System Inc: Amount $0.43
Conmed Corp: Amount $0.20
Crown Castle International Corp: Amount $1.33
CSG Systems International Inc: Amount $0.25
Domino's Pizza Inc: Amount $0.94
Eastman Chemical Co: Amount $0.69
Enterprise Financial Services Corp: Amount $0.19
Extra Space Storage Inc: Amount $1.25
Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp: Amount $0.88
FS KKR Capital Corp: Amount $0.65
GATX Corp: Amount $0.50
Gilead Sciences Inc: Amount $0.71
Graphic Packaging Holding Co: Amount $0.07
Gray Television Inc: Amount $0.08
Hamilton Lane Inc: Amount $0.35
Hess Corp: Amount $0.25
Huntsman Corp: Amount $0.18
Installed Building Products Inc: Amount $0.30
Inter Parfums Inc: Amount $0.25
Iron Mountain Inc: Amount $0.61
KBR Inc: Amount $0.11
Leggett & Platt Inc: Amount $0.42
Leidos Holdings Inc: Amount $0.36
Macy's Inc: Amount $0.15
Maxar Technologies Inc: Amount $0.01
Merchants Bancorp: Amount $0.09
Merck & Co Inc: Amount $0.65
Motorola Solutions Inc: Amount $0.71
NewMarket Corp: Amount $2.10
News Corp: Amount $0.10
NorthWestern Corp: Amount $0.62
Oaktree Specialty Lending Corp: Amount $0.14
Old Republic International Corp: Amount $1.50
Ovintiv Inc: Amount $0.14
Owens & Minor Inc: Amount $0.00
Packaging Corp of America: Amount $1.00
Phillips Edison & Co Inc: Amount $0.08
Potlatchdeltic Corp: Amount $0.41
Prosperity Bancshares Inc: Amount $0.49
PS Business Parks Inc: Amount $1.05
Public Storage: Amount $2.00
Regency Centers Corp: Amount $0.59
Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida: Amount $0.13
Service Corporation International: Amount $0.23
Simmons First National Corp: Amount $0.18
Sixth Street Specialty Lending Inc: Amount $0.41
Sonic Automotive Inc: Amount $0.12
State Auto Financial Corp: Amount $0.10
Stewart Information Services Corp: Amount $0.33
T Rowe Price Group Inc: Amount $1.08
Telephone and Data Systems Inc: Amount $0.17
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc: Amount $0.26
Travel + Leisure Co: Amount $0.30
UGI Corp: Amount $0.34
United Community Banks Inc: Amount $0.20
Urban Edge Properties: Amount $0.15
Valley National Bancorp: Amount $0.11
Vector Group Ltd: Amount $0.20
Verisk Analytics Inc: Amount $0.29
ViacomCBS Inc: Amount $0.24
W R Berkley Corp: Amount $0.13
Winnebago Industries Inc: Amount $0.18
World Wrestling Entertainment Inc: Amount $0.12
Worthington Industries Inc: Amount $0.28
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Inc: Amount $0.24
Xcel Energy Inc: Amount $0.45