Liveblog Archief donderdag 11 maart 2021

TOP NEWS
• Pfizer to consider new production sites only after 'pandemic supply phase'
Pfizer will consider making its coronavirus vaccine outside the United States and Europe only after the "pandemic supply phase" is over, it said, adding it was not currently talking to India over local production.

• Boeing nears 737 MAX order from Southwest worth billions -sources
Boeing is close to a multibillion-dollar deal to sell dozens of its 737 MAX 7 jets to Southwest Airlines, in potentially the company's largest 737 MAX order since the aircraft's safety ban was lifted, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

• Europe begins rolling review of Eli Lilly's antibodies for COVID-19
Europe's drug regulator said it had initiated a rolling review of U.S.-based Eli Lilly's antibodies to treat COVID-19, days after saying their combination could be used in patients at high risk of progressing to severe illness.

• China's Baidu to sell around 4% of shares in HK listing - sources
Chinese search engine giant Baidu will launch its Hong Kong secondary listing on Friday and will sell around 4% of its shares, which at current price will raise at least $3 billion, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

• Apple starts iPhone 12 assembly in India
Apple has started the assembly of iPhone 12 in India, the U.S. tech giant said, as the company ramps up manufacturing operations in the world's second-biggest smartphone market.


BEFORE THE BELL
U.S. stock index futures were up after a report on U.S. consumer prices calmed investor nerves about inflation and lifted the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a record close in the previous session. European stocks hit a new one-year high with attention turning to the European Central Bank's policy decision, while Japanese shares closed higher as investors picked up beaten-down cyclical stocks. Gold prices gained on a weaker dollar. Oil prices rose as a steep fall in U.S. fuel stocks meant a crude glut would be short-lived as refiners restart in Texas after last month's freeze. Investors will also focus on the third U.S. Treasury auction of the week, with $24 billion of 30-year paper coming to market.


STOCKS TO WATCH
Results
• AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc: The company said the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines and the release of major movies, including "Black Widow", would boost sales this year, sending the company's shares up. "For all the talk of the steps we at AMC have taken to bolster our position, the real salvation of our company will be because of vaccination," Chief Executive Officer Adam Aron told analysts. The cinema chain in recent weeks reopened many theaters, with about 90% of its U.S. theaters open as of Friday. AMC's fourth-quarter revenue slumped 88.8% to $162.5 million, beating estimates of $142.4 million. Excluding items, AMC lost $3.15 per share, smaller than expectations for a loss of $3.16 per share.

• Bumble Inc: The company said it expects pent up demand from people who had been avoiding dating in person due to the COVID-19 pandemic, after it reported a bigger-than-expected rise in fourth-quarter revenue. Texas-based Bumble expects current quarter revenue to be in the range of $163 million and $165 million. Bumble posted a 31.1% rise in revenue to $165.6 million in the fourth quarter, first earnings report since it went public. Analysts on average had expected a revenue of $163.3 million. Net loss widened to $26.1 million during the quarter, or 1 cent a share, from a net loss of $17.2 million a year ago.

• JD.com Inc: The Chinese e-commerce company reported a 31% jump in fourth-quarter revenue as more shoppers flocked to its website on the back of a broader shift to online shopping triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Beijing-based company's net revenue rose to 224.3 billion yuan ($34.58 billion) in the quarter ended Dec. 31, beating analysts' estimate of 219.73 billion yuan. Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders rose to 24.33 billion yuan from 3.63 billion yuan a year earlier.

• Oracle Corp: The business software maker's cloud division reported quarterly revenue that missed analysts' estimates, on increased competition from Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft Corp for cloud services due to remote working. Oracle said it expects fourth-quarter revenue to increase between 1% and 3% on a constant currency basis, the midpoint of which implies a revenue of $10.65 billion, according to Reuters calculations. Analysts had expected current-quarter revenue of $10.84 billion. The company's revenue rose 3% to $10.09 billion for the third quarter ended Feb. 28, edging past analysts' estimates of $10.07 billion. On an adjusted basis, Oracle earned $1.16 per share, beating estimates of $1.11.

• WPP Plc: The world's biggest advertising company said it would relaunch its buyback scheme immediately after its work to promote vaccines and help clients shift online helped get it through the worst of the pandemic. It forecast a return to growth in the second quarter of 2021 after a reduction in headcount, the use of fewer freelancers and a massive cut to the travel budget helped the British company save around 800 million pounds ($1.1 billion). The owner of the Ogilvy, Grey and GroupM agencies reported a fourth-quarter drop in underlying net sales of 6.5%, slightly better than an analyst consensus of -6.7%, taking the full-year drop to 8.2% compared with a forecast of -8.4%. "We're pretty pleased with the performance given all of the uncertainties over the last 12 months and what we've been navigating economically," Chief Executive Mark Read told Reuters.

Deals of the Day• British American Tobacco Plc: The company said it will buy a nearly 20% stake in Canada-based cannabis producer Organigram for about 126 million pounds ($175.81 million) as it diversifies beyond its main tobacco business. Organigram grows cannabis and makes cannabis-derived products in Canada where marijuana was legalised in 2018. The deal with Organigram will give BAT access to R&D technologies, product innovation and cannabis expertise. "Organigram has a proven track record of consumer-led innovation and developing high quality adult-use recreational and medical cannabis products, which are legally available in Canada," BAT said in a statement.
IPOs
• Coupang LLC: South Korea's largest e-commerce company, sold shares in its initial public offering (IPO) on Wednesday at $35 apiece, above its target range, to raise $4.2 billion, people familiar with the matter said. The IPO gives Seoul-based Coupang, which is backed by Japan's SoftBank Group Corp, a market value of $60 billion. Coupang had aimed to sell 120 million shares at a target price range $32-$34 per share, higher than the initial $27-$30 announced last week. The company declined to comment.

Moves
• Royal Dutch Shell Plc: The company announced Andrew Mackenzie, a former BHP CEO and BP veteran, as its next chairman who will help lead the energy company through a major shift away from oil and gas to low-carbon energy. Mackenzie will succeed Charles Holliday who will step down on May 18 after serving six years in the role. "I look forward to working with Ben van Beurden and the Board to profitably accelerate Shell's transition into a net-zero emissions energy business that continues to generate substantial value for shareholders, customers and communities alike," Mackenzie said.

In Other News
• 890 5th Avenue Partners Inc: Online media outlet BuzzFeed is in talks to go public through a merger with the company, a special purpose acquisition company, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people with knowledge of the matter. 890 5th Avenue did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment, while BuzzFeed declined to comment. The blank-check firm raised $287.5 million through an initial public offering in January, while BuzzFeed bought news website HuffPost from Verizon Communications Inc in November.

• Apple Inc: The company has started the assembly of iPhone 12 in India, the U.S. tech giant said, as the company ramps up manufacturing operations in the world's second-biggest smartphone market. "We are proud to be starting production of iPhone 12 in India for our local customers," Apple said in a statement, without naming the supplier making the smartphone. The Indian unit of Apple's Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn will assemble the device in its plant in southern Tamil Nadu state, two sources familiar with the matter said. "Nice to see our efforts to make India a big hub of mobile and components manufacturing is attracting global attention," India's technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad tweeted following news of iPhone 12 production in India.

• AstraZeneca Plc: South Korea will authorise the use of the company's coronavirus vaccine for people aged 65 years and older, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said, a move that will allow the country to ramp up its immunisation drive. "Vaccination had been postponed to those aged 65 and over due to lack of evidence to determine the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine, but recently, data to prove its efficacy for the elderly has been released in the UK," Chung told a government meeting. Meanwhile, Denmark has put using AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine shots on hold for two weeks after reports of cases of blood clots forming, including one death in Denmark, Danish authorities said.

• Baidu Inc: The Chinese search engine giant will launch its Hong Kong secondary listing on Friday and will sell around 4% of its shares, which at current price will raise at least $3 billion, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The deal has been ready to launch since at least Tuesday but the New York-listed Baidu has waited for volatility in stock markets to ease, especially in tech shares, before going ahead with it, one of the sources added. Baidu did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the deal being ready earlier this week.

• BHP Group Plc: The company is unlikely to make any major acquisitions in the near-term given rocketing commodity prices, and will instead focus on exploration and wringing more value out of existing assets, its chief executive said. The world's biggest listed miner is looking to grow its exposure to "future facing commodities" or those expected to be cornerstones of the world's transition towards cleaner energy. "Given what we have seen over the past 6-9 months in terms of asset values in commodities like copper for example, it's unlikely that we will see acquisition in the near term because any acquisition has to be for the right assets at the right value," Chief Executive Mike Henry told an investor briefing. BHP is also looking to boost the number of permanent employees to around 60-80% of total staff in the next few years, Henry said, to increase safety and productivity. Permanent staff currently make up 30-40% of BHP's total workforce, while the rest are contractors or employed through labour hire firms.

• Boeing Co & Southwest Airlines Co: The planemaker is close to a multibillion-dollar deal to sell dozens of its 737 MAX 7 jets to the airlines company, in potentially the company's largest 737 MAX order since the aircraft's safety ban was lifted, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. If confirmed, the deal would head off a partial defection to Airbus SE by one of Boeing's largest customers and provide Boeing much-needed support after the nearly two-year grounding of the 737 MAX family, following fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019. The order would include dozens of firm orders and potentially significant options, the sources said. U.S. carrier Southwest said it does not comment on fleet decisions and has nothing to announce. Boeing declined comment.

• Boeing Co: Prominent attorneys Kenneth Feinberg and Camille Biros have been named to oversee a $500 million victim compensation fund for the relatives of 346 people killed in two fatal Boeing 737 MAX crashes, a spokeswoman for Feinberg confirmed on Wednesday, the second anniversary of the second crash. The fund is part of a $2.5 billion Justice Department settlement reached in January with Boeing Co after prosecutors charged the company with fraud over the certification of the 737 MAX following a Lion Air crash on Oct. 29, 2019 and an Ethiopian Airlines disaster on March 10, 2019. Boeing said it looked "forward to working with Mr. Feinberg and Ms. Biros to ensure the prompt distribution of these funds.” The settlement allowed Boeing to avoid criminal prosecution but did not impact civil litigation against the planemaker by victims' relatives that continues.

• BP Plc: The company's trading arm made nearly $4 billion in 2020, according to a copy of an internal BP presentation seen by Reuters, almost equalling the record trading profit in 2019 despite the collapse in oil demand caused by the pandemic. BP, which does not publicly disclose the revenue from its trading arm, would not confirm the content of the presentation seen by Reuters and declined to comment for this article. Last year, integrated supply and trading made close to $4 billion in replacement cost operating profit, a near record amount compared to slightly over $4 billion in 2019, according to the presentation. RCOP excludes tax and changes in value of inventories and is the closest metric to the underlying replacement cost pre-tax result. BP declined to provide company-wide RCOP metrics.

• Canoo Inc: The electric vehicle startup on Wednesday said it will introduce an American-built pod-like electric pickup truck in 2023, following in the footsteps of several rivals also entering the most popular segment of the U.S. automotive market. Canoo Executive Chairman Tony Aquila revealed the timing for the truck ahead of an Automobility LA event. He said the Los Angeles-based company would begin taking pre-orders in the second quarter of 2021. Aquila told Reuters he was aiming to launch the rounded, snub-nosed truck in the first quarter of 2023, and Canoo will build the vehicle in a U.S. microfactory it intends to open. Canoo's pickup will join a lineup that includes the pod-like, seven-seat canoo coming in the second quarter of 2022, a delivery vehicle later that year and a sport sedan in 2025.

• Eli Lilly and Co: Europe's drug regulator said it had initiated a rolling review of the U.S.-based company's antibodies to treat COVID-19, days after saying their combination could be used in patients at high risk of progressing to severe illness. Lilly's bamlanivimab and etesemivab belong to a class of drugs called monoclonal antibody treatments, which mimic natural antibodies the body generates to fight infection. This is the latest antibody treatment to earn such a review in the region and follows the European Medicines Agency's (EMA) evaluation of drugs from South Korea's Celltrion and U.S.-based Regeneron. EMA said it was yet to evaluate the full dataset, adding it was too early to draw any conclusions regarding the benefit-risk balance of Lilly's medicines.

• GlaxoSmithKline Plc & Vir Biotechnology Inc: The companies plan to seek emergency use authorization for their experimental COVID-19 antibody therapy after interim data from a study showed 85% reduction in hospitalization and deaths among patients. Vir and GSK said in a joint statement on Wednesday that an independent panel recommended stopping further enrolment in the late-stage trial of the therapy due to evidence of "profound efficacy." The companies said they plan to use the results of the study to seek emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and regulatory approvals in other countries. Antibody treatments are designed to decrease the severity of COVID-19 among patients diagnosed with the infection. Vir and GSK also said that a new laboratory study showed the therapy, VIR-7831, was equally effective against the UK, South African and Brazilian variants of the coronavirus.

• HSBC Holding Plc: The company will phase out its support for the coal industry in the developed world by 2030 and in the developing world by 2040, the bank said, bowing to investor pressure to toughen its stance on fossil fuel financing. Investors managing some $2.4 trillion in assets who earlier this year filed a resolution that would bind the bank to make stronger commitments, have withdrawn the motion in a sign they have reached a compromise with Europe's biggest bank. The new goals from HSBC also include short and medium-term targets on aligning its financing with the goals of the landmark Paris agreement on climate change. HSBC's new commitments go further than those made last October when the bank set out an 'ambition' to get to net zero carbon emissions by 2050, a goal criticised by campaigners for not directly addressing HSBC’s lending to fossil fuel firms.

• KKR & Co Inc: The U.S. private equity firm and its partners have revived plans to list non-bank lender Latitude Financial this year at a valuation of over $2.32 billion, after two failed attempts in the last three years, a source told Reuters. The owners, who also includes Deutsche Bank and Varde Partners, on Wednesday signed a strategic alliance with Japan's Shinsei Bank that values Latitude at A$3 billion ($2.32 billion). After the deal with Shinsei, which includes a pro-rata sell-down by the trio of about 3% of the company each, the owners expect an IPO in the first half of the year would easily exceed its current valuation, according the person with knowledge of the plans. The source requested anonymity because the plans were private and had not been finalised. Latitude, Varde, KKR declined to comment on the revived IPO plans.

• L3Harris Technologies Inc: The company plans to return billions in cash from recent divestitures to shareholders while allowing a new chief executive to invest in research and development as the U.S. defense contractor aims for more Pentagon space sensor contracts, company officials said on Wednesday. The company is the market leader in tactical radios for the U.S. military and sees more international business on the horizon, current CEO Bill Brown said in a joint interview with President and Chief Operating Officer Chris Kubasik, who takes over the reigns on July 1. "With our free cash flow generation and nearly $2 billion in additional divestiture proceeds, we expect, between 2021 and 2022, returning over $7.5 billion to shareholders," Kubasik told investors the company's first post-merger presentation to investors on Wednesday. It expects to keep research and development funding at 4% of revenues, Kubasik said in the interview following the call adding, "we're not short changing the business." The company expects U.S. growth from prospects in its space, tactical radio, mission avionics, maritime and classified businesses.

• Lithia Motors Inc: The company's Chief Executive Bryan DeBoer on Wednesday said his company could lead a consolidation of some publicly listed auto dealer groups to compete with online-only upstarts catering to younger, more internet-savvy car buyers. DeBoer said mergers with three public companies would allow Lithia to expand more rapidly and turn its focus to building out its online sales platform. "If there's going to be consolidation in the industry, it's most likely going to come from us," DeBoer said. He declined to say whether talks were ongoing or name the companies he was interested in, but said they had good coverage of the central and southeastern parts of the United States. DeBoer said Lithia's online sales platform, Driveway, was still in the early stages, but said the company planned to make it available across the United States by the end of the year.

• Microsoft Corp & Total SE: French energy group Total and the U.S. software giant announced a partnership to work together on reaching net zero emissions, as companies around the world strive for more environmentally friendly policies. Total will sell some "green" electricity to Microsoft while Total will use more of Microsoft's cloud software and technology platforms, they said in a joint statement. Total said it would help Microsoft secure renewable energy through power purchase agreements (PPAs), and that a first such PPA of 47 MW had been agreed for Microsoft's Spanish operations.

• Moderna Inc & Pfizer Inc: Switzerland expects to get 1 million vaccine doses from Moderna and Pfizer this month, a senior Federal Health Ministry vaccine official said on Tuesday, after receiving some 1.1 million in January and February. "We have steadily rising delivery volumes every month, and we expect that will help us reach our targets," said Nora Kronig, who heads the health ministry's vaccine logistics effort, adding 900,000 shots have been administered, with some 320,000 people having gotten a second booster. The planned March deliveries exceed initial expectations, and Kronig said they'll be sufficient to make up for slightly lower volumes that arrived last month. Seperately, Moderna Inc said on Wednesday the first participants have been dosed in a study testing its COVID-19 booster vaccine candidates.

• Nokia Oyj: The company has struck a deal with Samsung to license patents covering its innovations in video standards, the Finnish telecom company said. While the companies did not disclose the financial terms of the agreement, Samsung will make royalty payments to Nokia. Nokia's patent portfolio is composed of around 20,000 patent families, including over 3,500 declared essential to 5G. The deal comes months after rival Ericsson filed a lawsuit in the United States against Samsung in a dispute over royalty payments and patent licenses.

• Pfizer Inc: The company will consider making its coronavirus vaccine outside the United States and Europe only after the "pandemic supply phase" is over, it said, adding it was not currently talking to India over local production. "At this time we are not in discussions for any additional local manufacturing for this vaccine," said a spokeswoman for Pfizer. "Once the pandemic supply phase is over and we enter a phase of regular supplies, Pfizer will certainly evaluate all additional opportunities available," she told Reuters. "We remain committed to working towards equitable and affordable access for our COVID-19 vaccine for people around the world including in India, and we welcome opportunities to collaborate with the government to fight COVID-19," the spokeswoman said in an email.

• Rio Tinto Plc: The company said it had signed an agreement to supply the first batch of its aluminium-scandium alloy produced in North America to additive manufacturer and developer Amaero, to be used to develop powder for 3D printing. The scandium oxide will be supplied from a new plant the global miner is building in Quebec, and will use a process that Rio's scientists have developed to extract scandium oxide from waste streams of titanium dioxide production. The alloy billets will come from its Fer et Titane metallurgical complex in Sorel-Tracy, Quebec, Rio said. The companies will also work together to develop the supply chain for Amaero's aluminium alloy, "Amaero HOT Al", with expectations of commercializing it for applications in the aerospace, defence and other industries.

• Royal Dutch Shell Plc: The company said its total greenhouse gas emissions dropped 16% in 2020 as oil and gas sales fell sharply due to the coronavirus pandemic. Shell said in its annual report that total emissions from its oil wells to forecourt fuel sales fell to 1.38 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent last year, from 1.65 billion in 2019. Net carbon intensity, the main measure the Anglo-Dutch focuses on in its energy transition strategy, dropped last year to 75 grams of CO2 equivalent per megajoules, a 4% reduction from 2019, Shell said.

• Tesla Inc: The company has increased price of its Model Y Long Range and Model S Plaid plus by $10,000, the electric-car maker's website showed. The price of its Model 3 Standard Range Plus has been increased to $37,490 from $36,990 earlier and Model 3 Long Range AWD was raised to $46,490 from $45,990, according to the website. Tesla, however, kept the price of its Performance Model Y at the same range, the website showed.

• Twitter Inc: Russia's state communications watchdog said it had offered discussions with the company after restricting access to the platform for Russian users, but that the company was not responding, the Interfax news agency reported. Roskomnadzor, the watchdog, said it was "absurd" of Twitter to accuse Russia of seeking to throttle online public conversation, Interfax reported.

• Vale SA: A nomination committee at the Brazilian miner approved a list of candidates to the board of directors for the 2021-2023 term, the company said in a securities filing on Wednesday. The company will send for shareholder vote the names of independent directors Clinton Dines, Elaine Dorward-King, José Luciano Penido, Maria Fernanda Teixeira, Murilo dos Santos Passos, Manuel Oliveira, Roger Downey and Sandra Guerra de Azevedo. Candidates for non-independent board members representing largest shareholders are Eduardo Rodrigues Filho, Fernando Buso Gomes, José Mauricio Pereira Coelho and Ken Yasuhara. Shareholders will vote on the new board in an assembly on April 30.

• Velodyne Lidar Inc: The sensor maker's board is fostering an "anti-stockholder" culture that is resulting in "troubling underperformance", its founder David Hall said in a letter sent to the company's board earlier this week. Velodyne, whose shares were down about 1% at $12.54 after the bell, said it disagreed with the assertions in Hall's letter. "I chose to resign from the board because I had numerous concerns about the strategic direction and current leadership of Velodyne Lidar," Hall said in the letter. Velodyne, one of several companies vying to supply automakers with lidar, said on Feb. 22 it had removed Hall as chairman and his wife Marta Thoma Hall as marketing chief, following the completion of an investigation by the board's audit committee.

• Vodafone Group Plc: Spanish telecom operator MasMovil has started talks over a possible merger with the Spanish unit of the U.K.-based telecom operator, newspaper Expansion reported, citing sources with knowledge of the process. MasMovil, which was taken over by three buyout funds including KKR last year, has set a first valuation of the Vodafone unit at $8.96 billion, the newspaper said. Expansion did not say who would control the merged entity if a merger proceeded. A MasMovil spokesman said he could not immediately comment, while a spokesman for Vodafone declined to comment.

• Walt Disney Co: The National Hockey League and the company said on Wednesday they reached what the NHL commissioner called a "groundbreaking" seven-year TV, streaming and media rights deal that will bring games to ABC, ESPN and streaming platforms. The partnership, which will begin with the NHL's 2021-22 season, is highlighted by exclusive coverage of the Stanley Cup Final on ABC in four of the seven years of the agreement. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed but was widely reported to be worth between $2 billion and $2.5 billion. ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro said that while the deal reinforced its commitment to its core linear networks, the streaming component was the key. "Streaming is at the heart of this deal and this is a reflection of its role as a critical part of our future," Pitaro said.


INSIGHT
Riding GameStop's resurgent rally: 'not for the faint of heart'
The latest resurgence in GameStop shares has reinvigorated true believers. Still, many analysts point to the rally in beaten-down “meme stocks” championed in forums such as Reddit’s WallStreetBets as evidence for speculative excess in stimulus-fueled markets.


ANALYSTS' RECOMMENDATION
• Bumble Inc: Jefferies raises price target to $82 from $80, citing positive fourth-quarter results that were mostly in-line with estimates, helped by the rollout of 2-tier subscriptions on iOS and 'Bumble Premium'.

• General Electric Co: RBC raises price target to $15 from $13, following the company's deal with AerCap that helped wind down capital, reaffirm guidance for 2021 and improve free cash flow.

• International Flavors & Fragrances Inc: Jefferies initiates coverage with a buy rating and price target of $155, stating that the company's recently closed merger with the nutrition & biosciences division of DuPont transforms its portfolio and capabilities while more than doubling revenue.

• Oracle Corp: JPMorgan raises price target to $73 from $68, after the company reported mixed results in the third quarter, while its recurring revenue stream with relatively low viability risk positions it well to outperform in a post-pandemic environment.

• Verizon Communications Inc: JPMorgan cuts price target to $64 from $65, following a lower-than-expected outlook for fixed wireless connections that was highlighted during an analysts call with the company to discuss its long-term strategy.


ECONOMIC EVENTS (All timings in U.S. Eastern Time)
0830 (approx.) Initial jobless claims: Expected 725,000; Prior 745,000
0830 (approx.) Jobless claims 4-week average: Prior 790,750
0830 (approx.) Continued jobless claims: Expected 4.220 mln; Prior 4.295 mln
1000 (approx.) JOLTS job openings for Jan: Expected 6.600 mln; Prior 6.646 mln


COMPANIES REPORTING RESULTS
Ulta Beauty Inc: Expected Q4 earnings of $2.35 per share


CORPORATE EVENTS (All timings in U.S. Eastern Time)
0800 Burning Rock Biotech Ltd: Q4 earnings conference call
0800 Hologic Inc: Annual Shareholders Meeting
0800 Orthopediatrics Corp: Q4 earnings conference call
0800 SecureWorks Corp: Q4 earnings conference call
0830 BioXcel Therapeutics Inc: Q4 earnings conference call
0830 Gogo Inc: Q4 earnings conference call
0830 Home Point Capital Inc: Q4 earnings conference call
0830 Option Care Health Inc: Q4 earnings conference call
0930 RMR Group Inc: Annual Shareholders Meeting
1000 Celsius Holdings Inc: Q4 earnings conference call
1000 S&P Global Inc: Shareholders Meeting
1000 Shyft Group Inc: Q4 earnings conference call
1000 Talos Energy Inc: Q4 earnings conference call
1100 National Fuel Gas Co: Annual Shareholders Meeting
1100 Xpel Inc: Q4 earnings conference call
1300 Cabot Corp: Annual Shareholders Meeting
1300 Sonos Inc: Annual Shareholders Meeting
1400 Applied Materials Inc: Annual Shareholders Meeting
1400 F5 Networks Inc: Annual Shareholders Meeting
1500 Amerisourcebergen Corp: Annual Shareholders Meeting
1630 ChargePoint Holdings Inc: Q4 earnings conference call
1630 DocuSign Inc: Q4 earnings conference call
1630 Ocular Therapeutix Inc: Q4 earnings conference call
1645 Poshmark Inc: Q4 earnings conference call
1700 Brp Group Inc: Q4 earnings conference call
1700 Datto Holding Corp: Q4 earnings conference call
1700 Domo Inc: Q4 earnings conference call
1700 Energy Recovery Inc: Q4 earnings conference call
1700 eXp World Holdings Inc: Q4 earnings conference call
1700 Goodrx Holdings Inc: Q4 earnings conference call
1700 MediaAlpha Inc: Q4 earnings conference call
1700 MicroVision Inc: Q4 earnings conference call
1700 StoneCo Ltd: Q4 earnings conference call
1700 Ulta Beauty Inc: Q4 earnings conference call
1700 Vail Resorts Inc: Q2 earnings conference call
1700 Zumiez Inc: Q4 earnings conference call
1700 Zuora Inc: Q4 earnings conference call
2000 Cango Inc: Q4 earnings conference call


EX-DIVIDENDS
Albemarle Corp: Amount $0.39
American Eagle Outfitters Inc: Amount $0.13
Automatic Data Processing Inc: Amount $0.93
Belden Inc: Amount $0.05
Citrix Systems Inc: Amount $0.37
Comfort Systems USA Inc: Amount $0.11
EnerSys: Amount $0.17
Fidelity National Information Services Inc: Amount $0.39
First Horizon Corp (Tennessee): Amount $0.15
Hanover Insurance Group Inc: Amount $0.70
L3harris Technologies Inc: Amount $1.02
Lithia Motors Inc: Amount $0.31
Pultegroup Inc: Amount $0.14
Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co: Amount $0.68
Schweitzer-Mauduit International Inc: Amount $0.44
Sturm Ruger & Company Inc: Amount $0.71
Textron Inc: Amount $0.02
Waste Management Inc: Amount $0.57
Williams Companies Inc: Amount $0.41

In Europa opnieuw winst woensdag, de AEX 3 punten hoger en de DAX 100 punten omhoog, de DAX met een nieuw record terwijl de AEX met 678 op de borden weer wat dichter kruipt richting de recordstand die op 702 punten uitkomt. Ook Wall Street gaat weer wat hoger, de Dow Jones in ieder geval met opnieuw een record op de borden, de SP 500 klimt dan weer dicht bij de 3900 punten en is zo ook op zoek naar de recordstand. De Nasdaq daarentegen verloor wat, het bleef bij 4 punten maar de Nasdaq 100 liet 42 punten liggen.

De markt blijft sterk liggen op nieuws dat eigenlijk al oud nieuws is maar er nu door geraakt, het gaat om het steunpakket dat nu definitief is en de komende goedkeuring van het Janssen vaccin dat voor vandaag op het programma staat. Er zit al een behoorlijke portie hoop in de markt momenteel, ik kan moeilijk inschatten hoeveel dat is maar het is enorm en dat al sinds pakweg de zomer vorig jaar. Denk eraan dat alles wat men verwacht ook nog moet uitkomen. En wat zal al dat geld met de inflatie doen? We zien nu al de rente enorm oplopen in de VS, de afgelopen 2 sessies wat correctie erop maar de trend is overduidelijk omhoog bij de rente dus het zal niet zomaar ophouden denk ik.

Verder nogmaals de reden waarom we die grote en snelle bewegingen zien met divergenties tussen de sectoren, de tech aandelen zijn niet zo blij met een rente stijging, dat komt deels door dat ze amper of geen dividend opleveren en men het vooral moet hebben van de koers stijging. Als men dan plots weer op een veilige manier rente kan behalen op een belegging dan neemt men winst bij deze tech aandelen en pakt men rente op staatspapier. Verder zien we ook dat de achtergebleven aandelen oplopen en er daar ook bedrijven tussen zitten die een goed dividend uitkeren.

Aan de andere kant is het ook zo dat de waarderingen verder omhoog schieten en is het dus van groot belang dat de bedrijven de winst verwachtingen kunnen halen. Zoals ik al aangaf hoopt men daarop maar het moet ook nog gebeuren straks. Na het corona tijdperk kan men "het paard wel naar de waterbak brengen maar men kan het NIET verplichten om te drinken !!! Wat ik zie in deze markt is onzekerheid op alle vlakken, iedereen is bang om de boot te missen maar aan de andere kant loopt men ook op eieren. Hoe dan ook, blijf opletten want er zit teveel makkelijk geld in de markt nu.

Nog iets om op te letten, de euro begint al een tijdje met ten opzichte van de dollar grotere uitslagen te maken. Dat is iets wat nu ook mee speelt, we komen vanaf de 1.225 dollar met de euro en nu staat de euro al rond de 1,19 dollar. De rente en valuta markt zijn moeilijk in te schatten momenteel en dat zorgt ervoor dat de markten extreem volatiel blijven.

Ook vandaag zal het wel weer een volatiele sessie worden want voorbeurs zien we via de futures al de nodige uitslagen. Er kan snel weer onrust komen met sector rotatie zodra de rente weer in beweging komt, dat zal dan dichter bij de opening van Wall Street wel duidelijk worden. Bekijken we de indices technisch dan blijven de Nasdaq, Nasdaq 100 en de SOX index duidelijk in de gevarenzone, ik zie daar nog niet zo snel een duurzaam herstel op gang komen. De tech indices staan onder hun 50-daags gemiddelde momenteel en het lijkt erop dat ze het 200-MA willen gaan opzoeken later.

Aan de andere kant zie ik dat de meer traditionele indices ook in hun gevarenzone terecht kunnen komen nu ze hun top weer testen of zelfs doorbreken. In ieder geval opletten nu, deze markt toont veel gevaar op meerdere vlakken.

Euro, olie en goud:
De euro zien we nu rond de 1.192 dollar, de prijs van een vat Brent olie komt uit op 68,3 dollar terwijl een troy ounce goud nu op 1732 dollar staat.

Opletten op dat soort dagen belangrijk:
Soms moet je op een bepaald moment keuzes maken en dat heb ik al gedaan en let wel, op enkele indices waar ik denk dat het kan. Dus er lopen wat short posities, als u lid wordt dan kunt u nog mee met de posities die open staan. U kunt op de site dan alles inzien via de Tradershop ...

Als coach is het niet alleen mijn taak om signalen te versturen, te handelen, het is ook mijn taak om voorzichtig te blijven en daarom hou ik het bij kleine posities voorlopig, door de volatiliteit kunnen die ook op een redelijke winst geraken als we de juiste richting te pakken hebben.

Eerste posities maart met winst gesloten:
Onderaan deze update ziet u nog een overzicht wat betreft Trading en een aanbieding om mee te doen met onze signalen tot 1 MEI. Via de site en dan de Tradershop kunt u de posities met alle details zien staan. https://www.usmarkets.nl/tradershop

De LIVEBLOG en Twitter:
Via de LIVEBLOG en tussendoor ook via mijn Twitter account laat ik gedurende de dag ook wat grafiekjes met korte uitleg voorbij komen over de markt. Op Twitter kunt u mij volgen via @USMarkets dan kunt u deze snelle informatie die ik deel uiteraard ook inzien .... https://twitter.com/USMarkets , ook opvallende beursfeiten komen er vaak langs !

Inter Market overzicht op slotbasis ...

Nu lid worden tot 1 MEI voor €39?
Blijven schakelen tussen long en short blijft belangrijk de komende weken. Ook deze maand (maart) krijgen we genoeg kansen. Doe nu in ieder geval mee met de proef aanbieding voor nieuwe leden, die loopt tot 1 MEI en dat met een mooie korting !! ... €39 tot 1 MEI 2021 ... en voor Polleke €49 tot 1 MEI 2021 !!! https://www.usmarkets.nl/tradershop

Schrijf u in voor Systeem Trading (€39 tot 1 MEI)

Schrijf u in voor Index Trading (€39 tot 1 MEI)

Schrijf u in voor Guy Trading (€39 tot 1 MEI)

Schrijf u in voor Polleke Trading (€49 tot 1 MEI)

Schrijf u in voor de Aandelen portefeuille (€30 tot 1 MEI)

Schrijf u in voor COMBI TRADING (€79 tot 1 MEI)

Hieronder het resultaat maand Maart (2021) ...

Hieronder het resultaat tot nu toe dit jaar (2021) ...

Met vriendelijke groet,
Guy Boscart

GLOBAL TOP NEWS
The U.S. House of Representatives gave final approval on Wednesday to one of the largest economic stimulus measures in American history, a sweeping $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill that gives President Joe Biden his first major victory in office.

The European Central Bank is likely to signal faster money printing on Thursday to keep a lid on borrowing costs but it will stop short of adding firepower to its already aggressive pandemic-fighting package.

Japan's wholesale prices fell at a slower pace in February for a third straight month, offering an encouraging sign a recent rebound in fuel costs and pick-up in domestic demand will ease deflationary pressures across the economy.


EUROPEAN COMPANY NEWS
The world's two largest aircraft leasing companies are combining to create a new financing giant after Ireland's AerCap finalised a deal worth more than $30 billion to buy the leasing business of General Electric.

Credit Suisse faces questions from regulators and insurers as it grapples with the fallout from the collapse of $10 billion worth of funds linked to British financial services firm Greensill Capital.

HSBC will phase out its support for the coal industry in the developed world by 2030 and in the developing world by 2040, the bank said, bowing to investor pressure to toughen its stance on fossil fuel financing.


TODAY'S COMPANY ANNOUNCEMENTS
Adecoagro SA Q4 2020 Earnings Release
Altisource Portfolio Solutions SA Q4 2020 Earnings Call
Assicurazioni Generali SpA FY 2020 Earnings Release
d'Amico International Shipping SA FY 2020 Earnings Call
DBV Technologies SA FY 2020 Earnings Call
Derwent London PLC FY 2020 Earnings Release
DiaSorin SpA Q4 2020 Earnings Call
Eurazeo SE FY 2020 Earnings Call
Ferratum Oyj Preliminary 2020 Earnings Call
Fiskars Oyj Abp Annual Shareholders Meeting
ForFarmers NV FY 2020 Earnings Call
Gem Diamonds Ltd FY 2020 Earnings Call
Groep Brussel Lambert NV Q4 2020 Earnings Release
Hannover Rueck SE FY 2020 Earnings Release
Havyard Group ASA Q4 2020 Earnings Release
Helios Towers PLC FY 2020 Earnings Call
Hugo Boss AG FY 2020 Earnings Release
Hunter Douglas NV Q4 2020 Earnings Release
Italgas SpA FY 2020 Earnings Call
James Fisher and Sons plc FY 2020 Earnings Release
JCDecaux SA FY 2020 Earnings Call
K&S AG FY 2020 Earnings Release
Knot Offshore Partners LP Q4 2020 Earnings Call
Lanxess AG FY 2020 Earnings Release
Lenzing AG FY 2020 Earnings Release
Mersen SA FY 2020 Earnings Call
Meyer Burger Technology AG FY 2020 Earnings Release
Mitchells & Butlers PLC Shareholders Meeting
Nabriva Therapeutics PLC Q4 2020 Earnings Release
NOS SGPS SA FY 2020 Earnings Call
Novozymes A/S Annual Shareholders Meeting
Pandora A/S Annual Shareholders Meeting
Playtech PLC FY 2020 Earnings Release
Rubis SCA FY 2020 Earnings Release
Safilo Group SpA FY 2020 Earnings Call
Secure Income REIT Plc FY 2020 Earnings Call
SeSa SpA Shareholders Meeting
Societe de la Tour Eiffel SA FY 2020 Earnings Release
Spirent Communications plc FY 2020 Earnings Call
Systemair AB Q3 2021 Earnings Release
Technicolor SA FY 2020 Earnings Release
TX Group AG FY 2020 Earnings Call
Vela Technologies PLC Shareholders Meeting
Volution Group PLC HY 2021 Earnings Call
WM Morrison Supermarkets PLC FY 2021 Earnings Call
WPP PLC Preliminary Q4 2020 Earnings Release
Zealand Pharma A/S FY 2020 Earnings Call


ECONOMIC EVENTS (All times GMT)
0700 Austria Trade Balance for Dec: Prior -117.8 mln EUR
0830 Sweden House Prices for Feb: Prior 3%
1100 Germany Refinitiv IPSOS PCSI for Mar: Prior 51.31
1100 France Refinitiv IPSOS PCSI for Mar: Prior 39.75
1100 United Kingdom Refinitiv IPSOS PCSI for Mar: Prior 45.85
1100 Italy Refinitiv IPSOS PCSI for Mar: Prior 38.52
1100 Spain Refinitiv IPSOS PCSI for Mar: Prior 34.22
1100 Sweden Refinitiv IPSOS PCSI for Mar: Prior 55.30
1100 Belgium Refinitiv IPSOS PCSI for Mar: Prior 40.40
1245 Euro Zone ECB Refinancing Rate for Mar: Expected 0.00%; Prior 0.00%
1245 Euro Zone ECB Deposit Rate for Mar: Expected -0.50%; Prior -0.50%