Liveblog Archief maandag 21 december 2020

TOP NEWS• 'Sick man of Europe': UK cut off over fears about new COVID strain
The United Kingdom stood shut off from the rest of Europe after allies cut transport ties over fears of a new coronavirus strain, sowing chaos for families, truckers and supermarkets just days before the Brexit cliff edge. • After months of delay, Congress to vote on massive coronavirus aid package
After months of inaction, the U.S. Congress was poised to vote on a $900 billion stimulus package that would provide new assistance for individuals and businesses battered by the surging coronavirus pandemic. • Tesla debuts into S&P after frantic Friday trading
Tesla will make its much anticipated debut into the benchmark S&P 500 index, after rising to a record high on Friday in a frantic day of trading. • Thoma Bravo to buy property tech firm RealPage in $10.2 billion deal
RealPage said it would be bought by private-equity firm Thoma Bravo in an all-cash transaction that valued the property management software provider at about $10.2 billion, including debt. • Shell to write down assets again, taking cuts to more than $22 billion
Royal Dutch Shell said it will write down the value of oil and gas assets by $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion following a string of impairments this year as it adjusts to a weaker outlook.

BEFORE THE BELL
U.S. stock futures fell, with world stocks tumbling, as a fast-spreading new coronavirus strain in Britain threatened to torpedo markets' optimism over a vaccine-fuelled rebound in economic growth. The dollar index rose while gold prices reversed earlier gains as investors looked for safer assets. Oil prices tumbled on worries about a slower recovery in fuel demand.


STOCKS TO WATCH
Deals Of The Day
• Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT) & Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc (AJRD). The company said on Sunday it has agreed to buy U.S. rocket engine manufacturer Aerojet for $4.4 billion, including debt and net cash. The deal is Lockheed's biggest acquisition since Jim Taiclet took over as chief executive in June. Lockheed said it will pay $56 per share for Aerojet Rocketdyne, a 33 percent premium to Friday's closing price. The purchase price will be reduced to $51 per share after the payment of a pre-closing special dividend, Lockheed added. Lockheed said the transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2021.

• RealPage Inc (RP). The company said it would be bought by private-equity firm Thoma Bravo in an all-cash transaction that valued the property management software provider at about $10.2 billion, including debt. Thoma Bravo is paying $88.75 per share for RealPage, representing a premium of 30.8% over RealPage's closing stock price on Friday, U.S.-based RealPage said in a statement. Upon completion of the deal, RealPage expects to continue operating under the leadership of chairman and Chief Executive Officer Steve Winn. The transaction is expected to be competed in the second quarter of 2021, after which RealPage will become privately held, the company said.

• Rent-A-Center Inc (RCII). The company said on Sunday it would buy Acima Holdings for $1.65 billion in a cash-and-stock deal as it looks to build out its fintech platform across traditional and online lease-to-own businesses. The deal includes $1.27 billion in cash and about 10.8 million Rent-A-Center common shares currently valued at $377 million, the company said in a statement. Acima is expected to generate about $1.25 billion in 2020 revenue and $225 million in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, Rent-A-Center said. Rent-A-Center said it had received $1.83 billion in debt financing from J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Credit Suisse and HSBC Securities Inc to fund the deal.​

In Other News
• Alphabet Inc (GOOGL) & Facebook Inc (FB). Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Chairman (ACCC) Rod Sims said proposed laws that will make Australia the first country in the world to force Google and Facebook to pay for news were fair and critical for the survival of the media industry. Sims said he was surprised to hear criticisms from Google about the draft legislation unveiled by the Australian government earlier this month. "We thought they were comfortable with that ... so we were very surprised that they're still complaining about that," Sims said. Separately, Facebook has taken down content that spread lies in Israel against coronavirus vaccinations as the government seeks to drum up support for the programme, the Justice Ministry said on Sunday.

• Amazon.com Inc (AMZN). An Indian court on Monday dismissed a plea from India's Future Group that sought to restrain U.S. partner Amazon.com from interfering in its $3.4 billion asset sale to Reliance Industries. Justice Mukta Gupta noted in the verdict that Amazon cannot be barred from writing to regulators on account of potentially irreparable damage. Amazon did not immediately respond to email seeking comment while Future Group said in an exchange filing that they are in process of reviewing the verdict and would submit a brief summary after consultation with legal advisors. Separately, the company said on Sunday it had closed one of its warehouses in New Jersey out of caution till Dec. 26, after seeing an increase in asymptomatic positive cases amongst workers.

• Apple Inc (AAPL). The company has temporarily shut all of its 53 stores in California because of a coronavirus outbreak and 16 stores in the United Kingdom following restrictions introduced by the government in London, a spokesman said on Saturday. The company said on Friday it was temporarily shutting some stores in California following a surge in COVID-19 cases, sending the iPhone maker's shares down in trading after the bell. That announcement covered at least 12 stores. Customers would still be able to pick up existing orders for the next few days, the spokesman said. The statement did not mention when Apple expects the stores to reopen. Separately, Apple has placed supplier Wistron Corp on probation, saying on Saturday it would not award the Taiwanese contract manufacturer new business until it addressed the way workers were treated at its southern India plant.

• Blackstone Group Inc (BX). The Private equity firm is in talks to merge U.S. benefits services provider Alight Solutions with a blank-check acquisition firm backed by veteran investor Bill Foley, according to people familiar with the matter. The merger with Foley Trasimene Acquisition would result in Alight becoming a publicly-listed company at a valuation of more than $8 billion, including debt, the sources said. The deal talks come more than a year after Blackstone canceled an initial public offering of Alight as it was about to raise up to $800 million, amid concerns that it would not fetch the terms it was seeking. A deal with Foley's blank-check acquisition firm would underscore the growing popularity of these vehicles as an alternative route to the stock market.

• Charles Schwab (SCHW). Britain's financial watchdog has fined U.S.-listed Charles Schwab's UK business $11.88 million for failing to protect client assets, likening it to missteps taken by Lehman Brothers before the 2008 financial crisis. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said the penalty was for Charles Schwab UK Ltd (CSUK) carrying out a regulated activity without permission and making a false statement to the watchdog. It added that the breaches, which occurred between August 2017 and April 2019, affected retail customers. The regulator said CSUK neither had the right records and accounts to identify its customers' client assets, nor did it have adequate organisational arrangements to safeguard them.

• Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (FCAU). The company and French rival PSA gained EU antitrust approval for their $38 billion merger to create the world's No.4 carmaker after pledging to boost Japanese rival Toyota Motor. The two carmakers are looking to the deal to help them tackle the industry's dual challenges of funding cleaner vehicles and the global pandemic. The European Commission said PSA will extend its small van agreement with Toyota Motor by increasing capacity for Toyota and cutting transfer prices for the vehicles, spare parts and accessories to address EU competition concerns, confirming a Reuters story in October.

• Moderna Inc (MRNA). U.S. distribution of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine began on Saturday, with more than 3,700 sites due to start receiving and administering shots as soon as Monday, vastly widening the rollout started last week by Pfizer. Workers on Saturday were packing vaccines into containers and loading them on trucks, U.S. Army General Gustave Perna said during a news conference. Trucks will set out on Sunday and shipments will start reaching healthcare providers as soon as Monday, he said. Doses of vaccine must travel with security guards, including U.S. Marshals, and will be stored in locked refrigerators. U.S. plans call for at-risk groups such as elderly people in nursing homes and medical workers to receive injections first.

• Pfizer Inc (PFE). The European Union has agreed to pay 15.50 euros per dose for the COVID-19 vaccine developed by the company and BioNTech, an internal EU document reviewed by Reuters shows. The price, which is confidential and was negotiated for a total of 300 million doses, is slightly lower than the $19.50 per shot the United States agreed to pay for a first shipment of 100 million doses of the same vaccine, in line with what Reuters reported in November. The EU document dated Nov. 18 was circulated internally after the EU announced its supply deal with Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech on Nov. 11.

• Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa). The company said it will write down the value of oil and gas assets by $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion following a string of impairments this year as it adjusts to a weaker outlook. In an update ahead of its fourth quarter results on February 4, Shell said the post-tax charge was due in part to impairments on its Appomattox field in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, the closure of refineries and liquefied natural gas (LNG) contracts. It said some charges involved in its restructuring would be recognised in 2021. The company also said it expects oil and gas production in its upstream division to be around 2.275 to 2.350 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, slightly higher than in the third quarter.

• Tesla Inc (TSLA). The company will make its much anticipated debut into the benchmark S&P 500 index, after rising to a record high on Friday in a frantic day of trading. The company will become the most valuable ever admitted to Wall Street's main benchmark and will account for 1.69% of the index, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices' analyst Howard Silverblatt. Tesla's addition to the S&P 500 meant index-tracking funds bought $90.3 billion of shares by the end of Friday's session so that their portfolios reflected the index, according to Silverblatt.​


INSIGHT
Big Tech's stealth push to influence the Biden administration
Silicon Valley is working behind the scenes to secure senior roles for tech allies in lesser-known but still vital parts of president-elect Joe Biden's administration, even as the pushback against Big Tech from progressive groups and regulators grows.


ANALYSTS' RECOMMENDATION
• Darden Restaurants Inc (DRI). Credit Suisse raises price target to $136 from $112, following second-quarter results that reiterated the company's committment to its long-term strategy, which focuses on generating high quality sales across all channels.

• Nike Inc (NKE). Barclays raises price target $174 from $150, citing strong second-quarter results that beat estimates across the board while demonstrating consistency in execution and the competitive advatages of its global scale and customer loyalty.

• Solarwinds Corp (SWI). Jefferies cuts price target to $18 from $25, citing reputational damage to the company following a recent breach in security that impacted its 'Orion' network monitoring product.

• Walmart Inc (WMT). RBC raises price target to $170 from $153, stating that the company's size, rapidly growing e-commerce platform and consumer value proposition makes it one of the best positioned stocks to handle the myriad of possible outcomes in 2021​.


ECONOMIC EVENTS (All timings in U.S. Eastern Time)
0830 (approx.) National Activity Index for Nov: Prior 0.83​


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)
0900 Leslie's Inc (LESL). Q4 earnings conference call
1100 Enerpac Tool Group Corp (EPAC). Q1 earnings conference call
1100 Factset Research Systems Inc (FDS). Q1 earnings conference call
1700 Calavo Growers Inc (CVGW). Q4 earnings conference call​


EXDIVIDENDS
Albany International Corp (AIN). Amount $0.20
CMC Materials Inc (CCMP). Amount $0.44
Eversource Energy (ES). Amount $0.56
Medifast Inc (MED). Amount $1.13
ProAssurance Corp (PRA). Amount $0.05
Toro Co (TTC). Amount $0.26
Weingarten Realty Investors (WRI). Amount $0.36​

Goedemorgen
Een korte week breekt aan en toch wordt de markt nog steeds van het nodige nieuws voorzien, sinds gisteren zit het VK op slot en kwam er dan toch een akkoord voor het steunpakket in de VS. In het VK is er een mutatie van het virus behoorlijk actief en men wil er alles aan doen om dat buiten Europa te houden zodat de grenzen dicht gaan voor alles wat vanuit het VK komt. Dat zorgt vanmorgen meteen voor de nodige druk op de markten en dan vooral in Europa waar we behoorlijk wat lagere koersen verwachten.

Zo staat de AEX voorbeurs al 9 punten in het rood, de DAX staat zo'n 230 punten lager. Ook de CAC 40 staat zo'n 125 in de min voorbeurs via de futures. Op Wall Street staan de futures vlak tot iets lager omdat daar juist iets positiefs werd gemeld, een akkoord bereikt tussen de Democraten en de Republikeinen over het corona steunpakket van 900 miljard dollar om de economie te helpen werd een feit. Dat is behoorlijk wat minder waar men eerst op rekende en meteen ook veel minder dan het eerste pakket van april dit jaar toen het 2300 miljard groot was. Men zette eerst al in op wederom zo'n bedrag, het werd dus 900 miljard dollar.

Verder is er in de VS toestemming gegeven door de FED zodat de grote banken weer aandelen mogen inkopen, dat zette de banken vrijdag fors hoger.

Zo hebben we meteen aan de start van deze korte week al heel wat nieuwsfeiten, het ene komt een beetje uit de lucht vallen en het zal zeker ook niet in het voordeel werken om een deal te krijgen tussen de EU en het VK over de Brexit. Dat de steun er kwam in de VS was al lang duidelijk, dus ook dat nieuws zal niet zoveel extra brengen voor de markten die al behoorlijk veel overwaarde ingeprijsd hebben de afgelopen weken.

We letten uiteraard ook op de tech-sector vandaag want daar zie ik vanmorgen opnieuw kooplust, na de berichten rondom het VK denkt men meteen weer dat het thuiswerken zal toenemen en dus de grote tech bedrijven weer in trek komen. Vergeet hierbij vooral niet hoe duur deze aandelen momenteel al zijn, dat alles op sentiment draait weten we alleen dat moet nog doordringen tot veel nieuwe spelers op de markt. De hoge waarderingen worden echt snel op de weegschaal gelegd en dan wil ik nog wel eens zien welke reële waarde sommige van deze hoogvliegers verdienen op de beurs ...

Afgelopen week:
Op Wall Street zien we dat de Dow Jones vrijdag wat verloor, de Dow verloor vrijdag 125 punten ofwel een verlies van 0,4%, de index sluit de week wel af boven de 30.000 punten (30.188). De S&P 500 verloor 0,3% met een slot op 3709 punten terwijl de Nasdaq en de Nasdaq 100 iets lager sluiten (-0,1%). Wel is het zo dat de er geen nieuwe records werden neergezet op Wall Street vrijdag.

Het viel op dat vrijdag na 22:00 de futures op Wall Street verder omhoog wisten te geraken, de Dow future ging zelfs naar +70 punten, de S&P future naar +4 punten. De Nasdaq 100 future deed amper mee nabeurs. Die forse stijging kwam door het bericht dat de Federal Reserve de beperkingen versoepelt op het terugkopen van eigen aandelen bij de grote banken. Vooral de banken gingen daardoor aan de loop nabeurs, ik zie dat er in de nabeurs handel stijgingen waren van rond de 6% bij onder andere JP Morgan, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs en Morgan Stanley. Wel is het zo dat de waarde van de terugkoop in ieder geval niet hoger mag uitkomen dan het totaal uitbetaalde dividend plus het gemiddelde nettoresultaat van het bedrijf over de afgelopen 4 kwartalen.

Belangrijke indices vorige week:
De AEX wist op weekbasis 10,8 punten hoger te sluiten (1,75%), de DAX kende een zeer sterke week, de index won 516 punten (3,95%) terwijl de Franse CAC40 er met slechts 20 punten (0,4%) op vooruit ging en achterbleef deze keer. Op Wall Street zien we op weekbasis ook wat vooruitgang, de Dow Jones won 132 punten (0,4%). De bredere S&P 500 won de afgelopen week 46 punten (1,25%), kijken we naar de technologie dan zien we dat de Nasdaq 378 punten winst boekt (3%) terwijl de Nasdaq 100 er met 363 punten op vooruit ging (2,9%). De semi conductor index won 60 punten (2,25%).

Een verlies was er dan wel weer voor de Dow Transport index, de index sluit de week 106 punten lager af (-0,85%). In Azië zien we op weekbasis een kleine winst bij de Nikkei, de index won 110 punten terwijl de Hang Seng index een heel klein verlies van 7 punten liet zien.

U kunt mij en dus @USMarkets uiteraard ook volgen via onze Twitter account, ga naar ... https://twitter.com/USMarkets waar ik tussentijds wat charts over de markt en sentiment plaats, ook opvallende beursfeiten komen er vaak langs !

Euro, olie en goud:
De euro zien we nu rond de 1.22 dollar, de prijs van een vat Brent olie komt uit op 50,6 dollar terwijl een troy ounce goud nu op 1905 dollar staat.

Posities en strategie:
We beginnen ons vooral te richten op het nieuwe jaar, zorg dat u meteen bij de start mee kunt doen door lid te worden. Het lopende jaar moeten we snel vergeten en het in 2021 vooral beter doen en die uitdaging ga ik uiteraard aan met iedereen en dus vooral de leden. Het mooie momenteel is dat de markten wel uitdagend hoog staan en we daar zeker wat mee gaan kunnen doen. Kortom, laten we er een mooi jaar van maken en wordt meteen lid zodat u de start niet mist. In januari kunnen we meteen al een hele mooie start maken ...

Doe nu mee via de nieuwe proef aanbieding voor €39 tot 1 MAART. Dan pakt u december en de eerste 2 maanden van het nieuwe jaar meteen mee als lid en ontvangt u alle updates en signalen. Voor Polleke Trading is dat dan €49 tot 1 maart 2021 ...

Schrijf u vandaag nog in via de link https://www.usmarkets.nl/tradershop en dan staat u meteen op de lijst.

Met vriendelijke groet,
Guy Boscart

GLOBAL TOP NEWS
Britain insisted on Sunday that the European Union should shift position to open the way to a post-Brexit trade pact, drawing a swift response from the bloc's negotiator defending the union's right to protect its interests.

U.S. congressional leaders reached agreement on Sunday on a $900 billion package to provide the first new aid in months to an economy and individuals battered by the surging coronavirus pandemic, with votes likely on Monday.

London and southeast England may stay under tighter curbs for some time to stem a fast-spreading new coronavirus strain, Britain's health minister suggested on Sunday, as COVID-19 cases surged by a record number for one day.​


EUROPEAN COMPANY NEWS
Shell said it has agreed to sell a 26.25% stake in its Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG) facilities to Global Infrastructure Partners Australia for $2.5 billion, helping the oil major meet its annual target for divestments.

Japan's Sosei Group said late on Sunday it agreed with GlaxoSmithKline to collaborate on developing treatments for some digestive tract illnesses caused by immune disorders.

Bahrain-based Investcorp said on Sunday it has agreed to sell its indirect stake in Banque Paris Bertrand to Rothschild, which last week announced that it is buying the Swiss private bank.​


TODAY'S COMPANY ANNOUNCEMENTS
Audience Labs SA Annual Shareholders Meeting
Fonciere Paris Nord SA Shareholders Meeting
Fope SpA Shareholders Meeting
Groupe Parot SA Shareholders Meeting
Health Italia SpA Shareholders Meeting
Makheia Group SA Shareholders Meeting
Manitou BF SA Shareholders Meeting
NAK Stoffe AG Annual Shareholders Meeting
Panamax AG Annual Shareholders Meeting
Parkmead Group PLC Annual Shareholders Meeting
Roche Bobois SA Shareholders Meeting
Westminster Group PLC Annual Shareholders Meeting​


ECONOMIC EVENTS (All times GMT)
0530 Netherlands Consumer confidence adjusted for Dec: Prior -26
0530 Netherlands Consumer spending volume for Oct: Prior -3.5%
0800 (approx.) Switzerland M3 for Nov: Prior 1,134,773 mln CHF
0900 (approx.) Italy Trade balance Non-EU flash for Nov: Prior 7.09 bln EUR
1100 United Kingdom CBI distributive trades for Dec: Expected 0; Prior -25
1500 Euro Zone Consumer confidence flash for Dec: Expected -16.8; Prior -17.6​