Liveblog Archief dinsdag 8 september 2020

TOP NEWS
• Exxon downsizes global empire as Wall Street worries about dividend
Ill-timed bets on rising demand have Exxon Mobil facing a shortfall of about $48 billion through 2021, according to a Reuters tally and Wall Street estimates, a situation that will require the top U.S. oil company to make deep cuts to its staff and projects.
• Brexit poker begins: UK ramps up no-deal preparations
Britain went into fresh round of Brexit trade talks with a warning to the European Union that it was ramping up preparations to leave without an agreement as both sides bickered over rules governing nearly $1 trillion in commerce.
• U.S., European COVID vaccine developers make pledge to uphold testing rigour
Nine leading U.S. and European vaccine developers pledged to uphold the scientific standards that their experimental immunisations will be held against, amid a hurried global race to contain the pandemic.
• GM venture's mini car becomes China's most sold EV, surpassing Tesla's Model 3
A micro electric vehicle (EV) by General Motors' local Chinese joint venture becomes the most sold EV model in China, with 15,000 cars sold in China last month, followed by Tesla's 11,800 Model 3 sedans, industry data showed.
• China unveils global data security initiative, says some countries bullying others
China announced an initiative to establish global standards on data security, saying it wanted to promote multilateralism in the area at a time when "individual countries" were "bullying" others and "hunting" companies.


BEFORE THE BELL
Futures tracking the Nasdaq 100 index fell after a report said SoftBank made significant option purchases during a Wall Street rally since a coronavirus-driven crash in March. European shares slipped on fears that the UK was in danger of leaving the European Union without a trade agreement. China stocks closed higher, supported by heavyweight financials firms and Japanese stocks rose as investors focused on COVID-19 vaccine developments. Gold prices fell on a strong dollar but the metal held in a tight range buoyed by lingering economic concerns as investors awaited policy cues from the European Central Bank. Oil dipped on demand concerns.​


STOCKS TO WATCH
Deals Of The Day
• Discovery Inc (DISCA). New Zealand's largest independent broadcaster, MediaWorks, said on Monday it would sell its free-to-air TV business to the U.S. media company, months after putting the struggling division up for sale. Mediaworks, owned by U.S. asset management firm Oaktree Capital, had put the business on the auction block in October last year as it took a hit from state broadcaster Television New Zealand's dominance in the industry and growing pressure from streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. The sale unveiled on Monday includes entertainment channels Three and Bravo, streaming service ThreeNow, and multi-platform news service Newshub, MediaWorks said, without disclosing the financial details of the deal.
• Mylan NV (MYL). South African drugmaker Aspen Pharmacare has agreed to sell the rights to its European thrombosis business to the U.S. pharmaceutical company for almost 642 million euros. "The transaction supports Aspen's strategy of continuing to reshape the Group towards a greater concentration of revenue in emerging markets," Aspen said in a statement. The company said it would retain the thrombosis business almost exclusively in emerging markets. The sale will also allow Aspen to streamline its business in Europe, strengthen its balance sheet and provide "financial headroom" for future investments, the company said. Proceeds from the deal will be used to reduce the group's debt, Aspen said, adding Mylan would pay 263.2 million euros on completion of the deal and the balance in June 2021. ​

In Other News
• Alphabet Inc (GOOGL) & Apple Inc (AAPL). Australia's competition regulator said it would look into the extent of competition between the app stores of Apple and Google, and also examine whether more pricing transparency is needed in the country's mobile apps market. Meanwhile, Italy's antitrust authority said on Monday it had opened an inquiry into Google, Apple and Dropbox over cloud computing services. Separately, Epic Games said late on Friday that it has asked a court to stop what it saw as Apple's retaliation against the "Fortnite" creator after the iPhone maker terminated Epic Games' account on its App Store.
• Amazon.com Inc (AMZN). Britain's competition regulator on Monday fined the company 55,000 pounds after the U.S. online giant delayed an investigation into its purchase of a 16% stake in food platform Deliveroo by failing to provide documents on time. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) finally cleared Amazon's stake purchase in August - 16 months after the company led a $575 million fundraising in Deliveroo. Separately, Amazon.com said it has banned foreign sales of seeds in the United States after thousands of Americans received unsolicited packages of seeds in their mailboxes, mostly postmarked from China.
• Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa). The company said on Friday it had cut its Wells Fargo & stake to 3.3%, further reducing what had once been a $32 billion investment in the bank. Berkshire said in a regulatory filing, it owned about 137.6 million shares, worth $3.4 billion, of the fourth-largest U.S. bank by assets, down about 100 million from the end of June.
• Beyond Meat Inc (BYND). The company said it had signed a deal to open a production facility near the business hub of Shanghai, as the plant-based meat products maker ramps up its focus on the rapidly growing Chinese market. Beyond Meat (Jiaxing) Food, a unit of the company, signed a pact with Jiaxing Economic and Technological Development Zone to design and develop manufacturing facilities in the region, it said.
• Blueprint Medicines Corp (BPMC). Roche Holding on Friday said a therapy it co-developed with the company was approved by the U.S. health regulator for the treatment of patients with a type of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The drug, Gavreto, is an oral therapy which selectively targets so-called RET-altered cancers that have mutations that drive tumor growth, which are detected by a test approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
• Boeing Co (BA). The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said Sunday it is investigating manufacturing flaws involving some Boeing 787 Dreamliners but said it was too early to say if it will require new inspections. Boeing said in August airlines operating its 787 Dreamliners had removed eight jets from service as a result of two distinct manufacturing issues in fuselage sections. The FAA could require inspections covering hundreds of 787 jetliners after production issues at one plant, a person briefed on the matter confirmed. The Wall Street Journal reported the potential inspections earlier, citing an internal government memo and people familiar with the matter.
• ConocoPhillips (COP). The U.S. oil and gas producer withdrew a request to extend flaring permits at 41 of its sites in West Texas, saying it no longer needed them as operational improvements had reduced the need for flaring events. Flaring, the practice of deliberately burning unwanted gas, has become a concern for environmentalists and investors on fears that it exacerbates climate change by releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. ConocoPhillips continues to take steps to reduce flaring in Permian Basin's Goldsmith area by improving operational procedures, including shut-ins, John Roper, director of the company's media relations and crisis communications, told Reuters on Friday.
• Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM). Ill-timed bets on rising demand have the company facing a shortfall of about $48 billion through 2021, according to a Reuters tally and Wall Street estimates, a situation that will require the top U.S. oil company to make deep cuts to its staff and projects. Wall Street investors are even starting to worry about the once-sacrosanct dividend at Exxon, which in the 20th Century became the world's most valuable company using global scale, relentless expansion and strict financial controls.
• Facebook Inc (FB). The company on Friday removed the pages of U.S. right-wing group Patriot Prayer and its founder Joey Gibson, a company spokesman told Reuters. Patriot Prayer has hosted dozens of pro-gun, pro-Trump rallies. Attendees have repeatedly clashed with left-wing groups around Portland, Oregon, where one group supporter was killed this week. The victim, 39-year-old Aaron Danielson, was walking home on Saturday night after a pro-Trump demonstration in the city when he was shot.
• General Motors Co (GM) & Tesla Inc (TSLA). A micro electric vehicle (EV) by General Motors' local Chinese joint venture becomes the most sold EV model in China, with 15,000 cars sold in China last month, followed by Tesla's 11,800 Model 3 sedans, industry data showed. Meanwhile, Volkswagen's Chief Executive Herbert Diess on Monday sought to quell speculation that the world's largest carmaker, which is on a mass production push for electric cars, has plans to develop deeper ties with start-up rival Tesla. Separately, shares of Tesla tumbled 7% in extended trade on Friday after the electric car maker was excluded from a group of companies being added to the S&P 500, among them Etsy, whose stock market value is less than a 20th of Tesla's.
• Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS). The company has joined the growing list of investment banks working on Chinese financial technology firm Ant Group's mammoth initial public offering of up to $30 billion, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said. Ant, backed by Alibaba Group plans to list simultaneously in Hong Kong and Shanghai, in what sources have said could be the world's largest IPO and come as soon as October. Wall Street major Goldman Sachs has been hired as a joint lead manager on the Hong Kong leg of the IPO, said the people, who declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media on this subject.
• Marathon Petroleum Corp (MPC). The company has agreed to be the lead company in 2022 talks with the United Steelworkers union (USW) for a new national agreement covering U.S. refinery and chemical workers, said a USW official. Marathon will replace Royal Dutch Shell because of changes in the industry over the past decade, said Mike Smith, chair of the USW’s National Oil Bargaining Program.
• Moody's Corp (MCO) & S&P Global Inc (SPGI). German investment funds and insurers have called on the European Union to force credit rating agencies to provide more transparency on the fees they charge for data. Moody's, S&P Global and Fitch Ratings, dubbed the Big Three, dominate credit ratings in Europe. German funds association BVI and insurance industry body GDV said they were making a joint appeal to the EU's executive European Commission to force raters to provide more transparency on prices.
• Nokia Oyj (NOK). The Finnish telecom firm has suffered a setback after a source close to the matter confirmed it had lost out to Samsung Electronics on a part of the contract to supply new 5G equipment to Verizon in the United States. With this $6.64 billion contract win, Samsung has reinforced its position as a challenger to the dominance of Nokia and its Nordic rival Ericsson in selling telecom gear, after China's Huawei was barred from bidding for 5G contracts in the United States. The loss for Nokia comes after its new Chief Executive Pekka Lundmark took the top job in August, but the source said negotiations were going on before he took charge.
• Sanofi SA (SNY). A coronavirus vaccine that the company is developing with GlaxoSmithKline is likely to be priced at less than 10 euros per shot if it is approved for use, Sanofi's chief in France said on Saturday. "The price is not totally set ... We are assessing production costs for the coming months ... We will be below 10 euros," Olivier Bogillot told France Inter radio.
• Starbucks Corp (SBUX). The company said it will add plant-based food and beverages to menus across Asia from September, including products from Impossible Foods, Oatly and Beyond Meat, as it targets more environment-conscious diners. The coffee chain said it was introducing products in markets such as Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Taiwan and Thailand that suit local tastes and preferences.​
• Sinovac Biotech Ltd (SVA). The Chinese firm said on Monday its coronavirus vaccine candidate appeared to be safe for older people, according to preliminary results from an early to mid-stage trial, while the immune responses triggered by the vaccine were slightly weaker than younger adults. Sinovac's candidate CoronaVac did not cause severe side effects in a combined Phase 1 and Phase 2 trials launched in May involving 421 participants aged at least 60, Liu Peicheng, Sinovac's media representative, told Reuters. The complete results have not been published and were not made available to Reuters. Separately, China National Biotec Group (CNBG) and Sinovac Biotech said on Saturday they have each found two more countries to run late-stage clinical tests of their coronavirus vaccine candidates, as China steps up its efforts in the global race.​


FOCUS
Scared of COVID-19 this Halloween? Hershey is making an ad for that
Spooked by COVID-19, Martha Jones of Southern Kentucky will not let her three children trick-or-treat this year. Instead, she is transforming her sun deck into a mini-haunted house and setting up games, a grill and a bonfire in her backyard. Hundreds of miles away in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, 43-year-old musician Paul Lee is figuring out how to make sure his two kids can safely go trick-or-treating - the Halloween custom in some countries of children wearing costumes and going from house to house, asking for candy with the phrase "Trick or treat." In the weeks leading up to the Oct. 31 event, Jones and Lee will see very different ads on social media and websites from candy maker Hershey, based on where they live, how likely they are to be on lockdown, and what Halloween activities they have been searching for online.


ANALYSTS' RECOMMENDATION
• Avient Corp (AVNT). Jefferies raises target price to $31 from $30, to better reflect the likely sequential improvement in the company’s end-markets and incremental margins.
• Merck & Co Inc (MRK). Cowen and Company raises target price to $95 from $88, saying marginal gefapixant data will likely lead to marginal uptake in chronic cough, if approved.
• Roper Technologies Inc (ROP). JPMorgan cuts to underweight from neutral, saying the current value looks unjustified by growth in the base business, with an acquisition strategy that has little focus on real returns.​


ECONOMIC EVENTS (All timings in U.S. Eastern Time)
1000 (approx.) Employment Trends for Aug: Prior 50.89
1500 Consumer credit for July: Expected $13.50 bln; Prior $8.95 bln


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)
1200 NortonLifeLock Inc (NLOK). Annual Shareholders Meeting
1630 Coupa Software Inc (COUP). Q2 earnings conference call
1630 Healthequity Inc (HQY). Q2 earnings conference call
1700 Calavo Growers Inc (CVGW). Q3 earnings conference call
1700 Slack Technologies Inc (WORK). Q2 earnings conference call​


EXDIVIDENDS
Ameren Corp (AEE). Amount $0.49
Avnet Inc (AVT). Amount $0.21
Becton Dickinson and Co (BDX). Amount $0.79
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co (HPE). Amount $0.12
HP Inc (HPQ). Amount $0.17
Jack Henry & Associates Inc (JKHY). Amount $0.43
L3harris Technologies Inc (LHX). Amount $0.85
Lancaster Colony Corp (LANC). Amount $0.70
Public Service Enterprise Group Inc (PEG). Amount $0.49
TFS Financial Corp (TFSL). Amount $0.28​

Goedemorgen
Voor wat betreft Europa een groene maandag net als de weken ervoor, Wall Street deed dus niet mee maar de Dow future kon wel mee omhoog in tegenstelling tot de Nasdaq future waar de verkoopdruk blijft aanhouden voorlopig. Wat ik lees is dat er volop CALL opties in de markt zitten die de bubbel van lucht blijven (of bleven) voorzien maar dat wisten we al. Naast de Robin Hood's blijkt dat ook Softbank volop aan het speculeren was met opties op de TOP tech bedrijven.

En rara ... waar dook die naam toch eerder op? Juist, in de jaren 1999-2000 was er ook al wat met Softbank die toen tijdens de bubbel aan het speculeren was en toen bijna omviel daardoor toen de Nasdaq tot 75% corrigeerde. Je zou haast denken hoe is het mogelijk, wel het blijkt wel zo te zien dat je een deja-vu krijgt momenteel. Ik ben zeer benieuwd hoe het met de huidige bubbel zal aflopen, weer een 75% correctie blijft mogelijk want het is vrijwel nooit anders met BUBBELS, alleen is het de vraag of de bubbel nu al uiteen gaat spatten, ik denk zelfs van niet op dit moment want in 1999-2000 kregen we ook voor de grote val er kwam grotere correcties een paar weken ervoor ... Toch in de gaten blijven houden de huidige situatie ...

Waar we mee zitten is de heer Trump, die blijft leugens uitspuwen en de een na de andere zelfs. Alles wat hij zegt moet je met een korreltje zout nemen. Ik weet dat er Trump fans zijn, ik weet dat er Trump haters zijn, van de ene groep gelukkig wat meer dan van de andere want des te meer die man liegt des te meer mensen er afhaken. Nu gebruikt hij het zogenaamde huis van iedere Amerikaan als politiek podium, dat komt haast nooit voor want een President kent een onbeschreven regel dat je geen politiek bedrijft in het Witte Huis, wel Trump veegt nu ook daar zijn voeten aan, voor de 2e of 3e keer geeft hij recht voor de deur een soort zwanenzang en maakt hij steevast zijn tegenstander Joe Biden zo zwart als roet en pakt hij meteen ook VP kandidaat Harris aan. Alles om ervoor te zorgen dat hij wat achterstand ophaalt want in de peilingen blijft Trump ver achter op Biden ...

Met alle vuile trucks probeert hij daar nu wat aan te doen, gisteren op Labor Day deed hij het weer, hij probeert een vaccin erdoor te drukken voor de verkiezingen (zonder de nodige tests vooraf af te ronden), hij zet het Pentagon nu op de kop door verwijten in die richting en daarnaast vertelt hij nog meerdere onmogelijke zaken om kiezers naar hem toe te trekken. We gaan het zien, maar dat soort praat zet de markten wel weer een stapje hoger, ieder woord over een vaccin stuwt de hoop bij beleggers maar het is niet meer dan een nieuwe scheut lucht in de al zo opgeblazen BUBBEL. Hou daar rekening mee, niets is wat het lijkt, op een gegeven moment moet alles er toch weer uit en hoe snel het kan gaan hebben we eind vorige week wel weer kunnen zien. Laat je dus niet vangen de capriolen van Trump die de markt beïnvloeden, opletten dus ...

Goed, voor vandaag een hogere opening op Wall Street zo lijkt het, de vraag is hoe ver de optiedruk door zal wegen op de Nasdaq of beter die hoogvliegers (TOP-8), zo ja dan kan de correctie daar nog doorzetten, zo niet dan kan er nog een behoorlijke impuls omhoog komen, niet terecht maar wel een mogelijkheid. Het probleem daarvan is wel dat we dan van hoger nog veel dieper terug moeten maar dat is dus voor later, als het nieuws, de hoop en als er feiten op tafel liggen (vaccin, verkiezingen, China enz...) ... Afwachten dus en vooral volgen en waar het kan iets doen ...

De AEX en de DAX kenden een sterke sessie gisteren, de AEX kon 7 punten ophalen, de DAX won er 260. De DAX staat niet eens zo ver onder de top van afgelopen donderdag (13.460), de AEX zette de top op 568 punten vorige week maar staat daar nu ruim 20 punten onder. De AEX kreeg een grotere klap door dat ASML fors onderuit ging, van 340 naar bijna 300 en ASML is nu eenmaal het aandeel dat het zwaarst weegt binnen de AEX (bijna 18%) ... We gaan ook hier in Europa zien hoe de dag verloopt en waar we eventueel iets kunnen doen ...

Wat kunnen we doen wat betreft nieuwe posities:
Vandaag zal ik de markt even rustig laten zoeken en waar het kan zal ik mogelijk een paar kleine posities opnemen. Dat kan net zo goed long als short worden, ik moet eerst even zien hoe de markt zich zal gedragen na de opening. De leden kunnen dan een signaal verwachten op de AEX, de DAX en wie weet ook op de Nasdaq of de Dow Jones. Wel doe ik het niet gehaast, eerst even zien hoe alles verloopt vandaag.

Lid worden kan via de aanbieding die loopt tot 1 NOVEMBER, lid worden kan nu voor €39, een proefabonnement. Om u in te schrijven ga naar https://www.usmarkets.nl/tradershop en dan staat u meteen op de lijst.

Verder zijn we de maand goed begonnen, na een moeilijke fase komen we de start van deze maand goed op gang. Zie hieronder de tabel met het resultaat van de gesloten posities ....

Tot later ... Guy

GLOBAL TOP NEWS
Britain will tell the European Union that progress must be made in trade talks this week or the government will step up preparations to leave the bloc without a deal as the time ticks down to an end-of-year deadline.

With the U.S. election approaching, President Donald Trump on Monday again raised the idea of separating the U.S. and Chinese economies, also known as decoupling, suggesting the United States would not lose money if the world's two biggest economies no longer did business.

Japan's economy sank deeper into its worst postwar contraction in the second quarter as the coronavirus jolted businesses more than initially thought, underscoring the daunting task the new prime minister faces in averting a steeper recession.​


EUROPEAN COMPANY NEWS
The controlling shareholders in Spain's Caixabank and state-owned Bankia are close to agreeing on Valencia as their joint headquarters but are still mulling other aspects of the planned takeover, two sources with knowledge of the deal said on Monday.

The global commodities chief at Standard Chartered is leaving the bank as part of the division's restructuring, with many commodities team executives switching to the bank's financial markets unit, according to a company memo and one person familiar with the matter.​

Budweiser beer maker Anheuser-Busch InBev has started searching for a replacement for its long-serving chief executive Carlos Brito, the Financial Times reported on Monday.


TODAY'S COMPANY ANNOUNCEMENTS
Ashtead Group PLC Annual Shareholders Meeting
Bakkavor Group Plc HY 2020 Earnings Call
Civitas Social Housing PLC Annual Shareholders Meeting
Distribution Finance Capital Holdings PLC Shareholders Meeting
DP Eurasia NV HY 2020 Earnings Call
DS Smith PLC Annual Shareholders Meeting
FERAX Capital AG Annual Shareholders Meeting
Genus PLC Preliminary 2020 Earnings Release
Hipgnosis Songs Fund Ltd Annual Shareholders Meeting
International Personal Finance PLC HY 2020 Earnings Release
Mediaset SpA Q2 2020 Earnings Release
Meggitt PLC HY 2020 Earnings Release
Oxford Instruments PLC Annual Shareholders Meeting
Partners Group Holding AG HY 2020 Earnings Call
Reederei Herbert Ekkenga Ag Annual Shareholders Meeting
Royal Mail PLC Annual Shareholders Meeting
Sectra AB Annual Shareholders Meeting
Signature Aviation PLC HY 2020 Earnings Release
Tod's SpA HY 2020 Earnings Call
Travis Perkins PLC HY 2020 Earnings Call
Vistry Group PLC HY 2020 Earnings Call
XPS Pensions Group PLC Annual Shareholders Meeting​


ECONOMIC EVENTS (All times GMT)
0530 France Non-Farm Payrolls Rev for Q2: Prior -0.6%
0600 (approx.) Germany Exports mm SA for Jul: Expected 5.0%; Prior 14.9%
0600 (approx.) Germany Imports mm SA for Jul: Expected 3.3%; Prior 7.0%
0600 (approx.) Germany Trade Balance, SA for Jul: Expected 16 bln EUR; Prior 14.5 bln EUR
0600 (approx.) Germany Current Account - Balance NSA for Jul: Prior 22.4 bln EUR
0645 France Current Account for Jul: Prior -8.4 bln EUR
0645 France Trade Balance, SA for Jul: Prior -7.96 bln EUR
0645 France Imports for Jul: Prior 40.36 bln EUR
0645 France Exports for Jul: Prior 32.400 bln EUR
0700 (approx.) Austria Trade Balance for Jun: Prior -457.6 mln EUR
0730 (approx.) Sweden New Orders Manuf. yy for Jul: Prior -11.9%
0730 (approx.) Sweden Private Production yy for Jul: Prior -8.5%
0730 (approx.) Sweden Private Production mm for Jul: Prior 0.7%
0730 (approx.) Sweden Ind Production Val yy for Jul: Prior -9.1%
0730 (approx.) Sweden Ind Production Val mm for Jul: Prior 6.6%
0730 (approx.) Sweden Services Production yy for Jul: Prior -8.4%
0800 (approx.) Italy Retail Sales SA mm for Jul: Prior 12.10%
0900 (approx.) Euro Zone Employment Overall Final for Q2: Prior 155,894.700
0900 Euro Zone Employment Final yy for Q2: Expected -2.9%; Prior -2.9%
0900 Euro Zone Employment Final qq for Q2: Expected -2.8%; Prior -2.8%
0900 Euro Zone GDP Revised qq for Q2: Expected -12.1%; Prior -12.1%
0900 Euro Zone GDP Revised yy for Q2: Expected -15.0%; Prior -15.0%​