Liveblog Archief vrijdag 18 december 2020

TOP NEWS
• U.S. Congress scrambles to agree on COVID-19 relief deal as shutdown deadline looms
The U.S. Congress faced a deadline to agree to a fresh round of COVID-19 aid as part of a sweeping government funding bill, pass a third stopgap spending bill so negotiations can continue, or let the government shut down at midnight.

• U.S adding China chipmaker SMIC to economic blacklist, Ross confirms
The United States is adding dozens of Chinese companies, including the country's top chipmaker SMIC, to a trade blacklist, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a broadcast interview, confirming a move first reported by Reuters.

• Tesla heads to the S&P after meteoric rise and some investors want more
Is it too late to join the Tesla party? Shares of the electric vehicle maker are up nearly 700% over the last year, a meteoric rise that has punished short-sellers and turned it into the world's most highly-valued automaker.

• Microsoft says it found malicious software in its systems
Microsoft said on Thursday it found malicious software in its systems related to a massive hacking campaign disclosed by U.S. officials this week, adding a top technology target to a growing list of attacked government agencies.

• ANALYSIS-U.S. retailers want shoppers to help Santa with curbside pickup
With homebound Americans making record numbers of online holiday purchases and snowy streets worsening a logjam for shipping companies, retailers are enticing shoppers to pick up orders in person to ensure their stockings are stuffed Christmas morning.


BEFORE THE BELL
Wall Street futures were flat, as major indexes appeared set to take a breather from a series of strong gains, while anticipation of the U.S. coronavirus stimulus package grew ahead of a weekend deadline. European shares were up following a surprise rise in German business morale as the region gets ready for the mass rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. Asian equities ended lower after Reuters reported that the U.S. is set to add dozens of Chinese companies to a trade blacklist later in the day. Gold slipped as the dollar ticked up with investors booking profits after a week of declines. Oil prices dipped.


STOCKS TO WATCH

Results
• BlackBerry Ltd (BB). The company missed Wall Street estimates for third-quarter revenue on Thursday, hit by poor demand for its cybersecurity products and QNX car software. BlackBerry, which also sells security software to companies and governments, widened its customer base during the quarter but revenue fell 18% to $218 million, compared with analysts' estimate of $219.7 million. Net loss widened to $130 million, or 23 cents per share, in the third quarter ended Nov. 30 from $32 million, or 7 cents per share, a year earlier, owing to fair-value adjustments to long-term debt.

• FedEx Corp (FDX). The delivery firm on Thursday said quarterly profit almost doubled after rate hikes and spiking volume helped lower the cost of delivering pandemic-fueled e-commerce purchases to residential addresses. Fiscal second quarter adjusted net income at FedEx jumped to $1.30 billion, or $4.83 per share, from $660 million, or $2.51 per share, a year earlier. Revenue grew 19% to $20.6 billion. Analysts expected earnings of $4.01 per share and revenue of $19.5 billion. Average daily package volume for FedEx Ground, which counts Walmart among its marquee e-commerce customers, jumped 29% to 12.3 million during the quarter ended Nov. 30. Revenue per package increased 7% to $9.42.

Deals Of The Day
• BioTelemetry Inc (BEAT) & Koninklijke Philips NV (PHG). Dutch health technology company Philips is set to buy U.S. cardiac diagnostics and monitoring firm BioTelemetry in a $2.8 billion deal that will strengthen its offering of remote care products. Philips said it would pay $72 per outstanding BioTelemetry share in cash, in an offer supported by the U.S. company's board at a 16.5% premium to the stock's closing price on Thursday. Philips said BioTelemetry was expected to deliver double-digit growth and improve its adjusted earnings before interest, tax and amortisation margin to more than 20% by 2025. The company, which expects to complete the purchase in the first quarter of 2021, said the acquisition would have boost its own sales growth and profit margin from next year.

In Other News
• Amazon.com Inc (AMZN). The company said it has secured exclusive rights to screen top European Champions League soccer matches in Italy on its Prime Video platform for the 2021-2024 seasons, in its first foray into broadcasting sports events in the country. Amazon will broadcast 16 Champions League games per season, including some featuring Italian teams, up to the semi-finals to be aired on Wednesdays. It has also secured the right to screen the UEFA Super Cup, a one-off fixture between the winners of the Champions League and the Europa League.

• Apple Inc (AAPL). An Indian labor office's preliminary investigation into violence last weekend at a factory run by Apple supplier Wistron found several violations by the Taiwanese firm and its vendors, according to its report reviewed by Reuters. An audit of the factory, hours after the rampage, found "several labor law violations", the labor department in Karnataka state's Kolar district, where the factory is located, said in its report. The labor office said Wistron did not maintain proper employment and appointment details of their workers and staff who worked in 12-hour shifts at the Kolar plant were not paid for overtime. The company did not keep up salary and attendance records as required by law, and contract staff were unhappy about non-payment of wages for extra work hours, the office said, adding that Wistron failed to submit these records on demand.

• Centene Corp (CNC). The health insurer forecast 2021 adjusted profit that missed Wall Street estimates, after it said membership in its Obamacare business fell short of expectations. The company expects adjusted 2021 profit between $5 and $5.30 per share, missing estimates of $5.44 per share. Total revenues are likely to be between $114.1 billion and $116.1 billion, Centene said, while it expected a health benefits ratio, which is the amount spent on medical claims compared to the income from premiums, of around 86.6% to 87.2%.

• General Motors Co (GM). The union representing workers for company in South Korea have voted in favour of a preliminary labour deal with the automaker, a union official told Reuters. About 54% of members approved the agreement while around 44% rejected the terms. The remaining votes were invalid. In the second deal, GM agreed to drop a damage suit filed against its union and offered the lump-sum payment worth 4 million won for each member by end of the year, an official at GM's South Korean operation told Reuters. The automaker also offered to raise discount rates on cars for employees and their families. GM rejected employee demands to raise the retirement age by five years to 65 and to build more vehicles at one of its South Korean plants.

• Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). The company said on Thursday it has enrolled about 45,000 participants for the first late-stage trial of its COVID-19 single-dose vaccine candidate and that it expects interim data by late-January. J&J's study, named Ensemble, is being conducted by its unit Janssen, the drugmaker said in a statement. J&J also said it plans to submit an emergency use authorization application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in February if the data from the study is safe and effective. A separate late-stage clinical trial of an investigational COVID-19 vaccine candidate by Janssen to explore a two-dose regimen was ongoing, J&J said.

• Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT). The maker of the F-35 jet will help Japan build a new stealth fighter plane its air force wants to field by the mid-2030s to keep pace with aircraft technology advances made by neighbouring China. Lockheed will partner with project leader Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Japan's Ministry of Defence said in press release. The new fighter, which is known as the F-3 or F-X and is expected to cost about $40 billion, will replace the F-2. Lockheed had proposed a hybrid design based on its F-35 and F-22 jets, but Japan rejected that in favour of a home-grown design.

• Microsoft Corp (MSFT). The company said on Thursday it found malicious software in its systems related to a massive hacking campaign disclosed by U.S. officials this week, adding a top technology target to a growing list of attacked government agencies. Microsoft also had its own products leveraged to attack victims, said people familiar with the matter. The U.S. National Security Agency issued a rare "cybersecurity advisory" Thursday detailing how certain Microsoft Azure cloud services may have been compromised by hackers and directing users to lock down their systems. "Like other SolarWinds customers, we have been actively looking for indicators of this actor and can confirm that we detected malicious Solar Winds binaries in our environment, which we isolated and removed," a Microsoft spokesperson said, adding that the company had found "no indications that our systems were used to attack others." One of the people familiar with the hacking spree said the hackers made use of Microsoft cloud offerings while avoiding Microsoft's corporate infrastructure.

• Moderna Inc (MRNA) & Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc (ARCT). The Philippines will be able to secure between four to 25 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna and Arcturus, the Southeast Asia country's ambassador to Washington said. The U.S. companies were ready to supply the vaccines from the third quarter of 2021, Philippine Ambassador Jose Manuel Romualdez said in a statement, if his government found their proposals acceptable. "We are hoping our government will consider the promising candidates of Moderna and Arcturus for inclusion in our country's pool of anti-COVID-19 vaccines," Romualdez said.

• Pfizer Inc (PFE). The drugmaker said it had applied for approval in Japan for its COVID-19 vaccine, which is already being administered in the United Kingdom and the United States. Pfizer said in a statement it had made the application to Japan's Health Ministry, along with providing information on tests it has carried out up to now. A final decision on approval would be made after authorities examine data due in February from Pfizer's trials in Japan, Health Minister Norihisa Tamura was quoted by Jiji News as saying. Japan has said it wants all its residents vaccinated in the first half of 2021, although Tamura said whether or not to get the vaccine was ultimately up to each individual, Jiji reported.

• Sony Corp (SNE). Sony said it is pulling CD Projekt SA's Cyberpunk 2077 from its PlayStation Store and offering full refunds after gamers complained that it was rife with bugs, knocking nearly 20% off the value of the Polish firm's shares. CD Projekt said on Twitter that it was working hard to bring Cyberpunk 2077 back to PlayStation Store as soon as possible. Kacper Kopron, an analyst at Trigon DM brokerage, said that Sony's move is one of the worst possible scenarios for CD Projekt and expects that expectations for consoles sales to drop by 30-40%.

• Tesla Inc (TSLA). The company’s grand entrance into the S&P 500 is expected to be preceded by a huge trade, with an unprecedented $80 billion of the electric car maker's stock changing hands by the end of the session. Elon Musk's Tesla on Monday will become the most valuable company ever admitted to Wall Street's main benchmark, accounting for over 1% of the index. Its addition to the S&P 500 will force index-tracking funds to buy over $80 billion worth of Tesla shares by the end of Friday's session so their portfolios correctly reflect the index, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. "Index managers will need to sell a large position across the other S&P 500 constituents in order to fund the addition of TSLA, which could lead to substantial impact across the entire index," Virtu ITG Canada's head of index research, Ivan Cajic, wrote in a report this week.

• Twitter Inc (TWTR). The company is planning to create a new type of account for bots next year that will identify them as automated, the company said in a blog post on Thursday finalizing plans for a reboot of its long-paused verification program. The company said bot accounts "can bring a lot of value to the service," but acknowledged that "it can be confusing to people if it's not clear that these accounts are automated." Twitter also said on Thursday that it would build a new "memoralized account" type in 2021 for people who have died.

• Unilever Plc (UL). The consumer goods company said it would resume advertising on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in the United States after pausing in June due to divisiveness and hate speech on the platforms during the U.S. election period. The company said on Thursday it plans to end the advertising pause next month and would continue to scrutinize the platforms in the post-election period. "We will closely assess the platforms' deliverables against their timelines and commitments, as well as polarization in the social media news feed environment post-election as the year progresses," Unilever said.

• Zoom Video Communications Inc (ZM). Friends and families kept apart by COVID this Christmas and New Year will not find their virtual gatherings over Zoom cut short by the usual 40-minute limit for free subscribers. Zoom said it was removing the time limit for its free accounts on all meetings globally for the holiday season. This covers the Christian celebrations of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the end of Hannukah for Jews and Kwanzaa marked by African-Americans, as well as New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.


ANALYSIS
Reopening rally? Speculative bubble? These days, it's hard to tell
Surging U.S. stocks are stretching equity valuations near their highest levels in years, leaving investors to determine whether the rally signals a coming economic rebound or an asset price bubble in the midst of a global pandemic.


ANALYSTS' RECOMMENDATION
• 3M Co (MMM). JPMorgan raises target price to $183 from $178, following the company's recent announcements around restructuring and November sales.

• Accenture Plc (ACN). JPMorgan raises target price to $283 from $265, reflecting strong first-quarter earnings.

• Fedex Corp (FDX). Cowen and Company raises target price to $335 from $328, citing upbeat second-quarter results, driven by record volume, revenue and margin improvement at Express & Ground.

• Lennar Corp (LEN). JPMorgan raises target price to $97 from $94, based on its better than expected fourth-quarter gross margins as well as FY21 guidance.

• Palantir Technologies Inc (PLTR). Credit Suisse raises target price to $17 from $13, reflecting the company's growth in the commercial sector by developing verticalized solutions, leveraging a more traditional sales force, and engaging with partners.


ECONOMIC EVENTS (All timings in U.S. Eastern Time)
0830 (approx.) Current account for Q3: Expected -$189.0 bln; Prior -$170.5 bln
1000 (approx.) Leading index change mm for Nov: Expected 0.5%; Prior 0.7%


COMPANIES REPORTING RESULTS
Nike Inc (NKE). Expected Q2 earnings of 62 cents per share
Progressive Corp (PGR). Expected No earnings of $1.45 cents per share


CORPORATE EVENTS (All timings in U.S. Eastern Time)
0830 Darden Restaurants Inc (DRI). Q2 earnings conference call
0830 Steelcase Inc (SCS). Q3 earnings conference call
0900 Thor Industries Inc (THO). Annual Shareholders Meeting
1000 Madison Square Garden Sports Corp (MSGS). Annual Shareholders Meeting
1000 Winnebago Industries Inc (WGO). Q1 earnings conference call
1700 Nike Inc (NKE). Q2 earnings conference call


EXDIVIDENDS
ADT Inc (ADT). Amount $0.03
Amerco (UHAL). Amount $2.00
American Financial Group Inc (AFG). Amount $2.00
Broadcom Inc (AVGO). Amount $3.60
Buckle Inc (BKE). Amount $0.30
DTE Energy Co (DTE). Amount $1.08
Erie Indemnity Co (ERIE). Amount $2.00
General Electric Co (GE). Amount $0.01
Hudson Pacific Properties Inc (HPP). Amount $0.25
J & J Snack Foods Corp (JJSF). Amount $0.57
Korn Ferry (KFY). Amount $0.10
Lamar Advertising Co (LAMR). Amount $0.50
Omega Flex Inc (OFLX). Amount $0.28
Omnicom Group Inc (OMC). Amount $0.65
Packaging Corp of America (PKG). Amount $1.00
PQ Group Holdings Inc (PQG). Amount $1.80
SEI Investments Co (SEIC). Amount $0.37
Tootsie Roll Industries Inc (TR). Amount $0.09
Utz Brands Inc (UTZ). Amount $0.01
Western Union Co (WU). Amount $0.22

Goedemorgen
De AEX kon gisteren weer wat hoger sluiten (3 punten) om zo dicht bij de 625 punten uit te komen, de DAX won 100 punten met een slot op 13.667 punten. Op Wall Street zien we ook weer een plus bij de Dow Jones, de index won 145 punten met een slot rond de 30.300 punten. De SP 500 won 21 punten en sluit op 3722 punten, de Nasdaq won gisteren 106 punten terwijl de Nasdaq 100 er met 84 punten op vooruit ging. Wel nieuwe records voor beide indices.

De beide Nasdaq indices sluiten samen met de brede S&P 500 index de sessie af met een nieuw record. Bij de tech aandelen vielen vooral Alphabet en Tesla op, Tesla pakt nog maar eens uit met een forse stijging (5,5%) om weer een nieuwe hoogste koers ooit neer te zetten. Alphabet verloor 1% door problemen door dat men het bedrijf verwijt van machtsmisbruik. Google weet alles zegt men vaak wel dat is ook zo en dan alles wat wij willen weten maar Google weet ook alles van ons door ons surfgedrag op het internet.

Wat we ook zien is dat beleggers blijven rekenden op het corona steunpakket dat eraan zit te komen, wel is het zo dat men eerst sprak over 2400 miljard, toen ging dat omlaag omdat Trump niet zoveel wou naar 2000 miljard. Wat er nu ligt te wachten is 900 miljard dollar hetgeen fors lager is dan waar men voor de verkiezingen op inzette. Wel is het zo dat de markten al wel 10 keer een positieve reactie door hoop dat het allemaal wel rond zal komen lieten zien. Nogmaals, het blijft vreemd allemaal, deze markt zit momenteel niet goed in elkaar. Als men er lucht uit zal laten vrees ik voor grote bewegingen omlaag, en zeker als al dat nieuws plots zal wegvallen.

Dan nog even een blik op de economische cijfers, die blijven negatief want het aantal werkloosheidsuitkeringen nam weer toe en dat al voor de 5e week na elkaar, er werden 890.000 nieuwe uitkeringen aangevraagd. Dat heeft effect op de dollar die oploopt tot 1,225 ten opzichte van de euro door het printen van geld (de FED) en de slechte cijfers. Verder zien we dat het in de VS met het virus heel slecht gaat, er werden in totaal sinds de start van de pandemie al 17 miljoen Amerikanen positief getest en het aantal sterfgevallen staat al op 310.000.

Vandaag dus de laatste dag van de laatste volle beursweek van 2020. Er staan in ieder geval nog genoeg punten op de agenda die de markt kunnen beïnvloeden zoals het steunpakket in de VS, de ontwikkelingen rondom de Brexit waar men maar niet uit geraakt en uiteraard de situatie rondom de pandemie waar er steeds meer landen in een harde lockdown zitten. Vanmorgen staan de futures wat lager dus we moeten rekening houden met een lagere start in Europa.

Nog een opvallend feit, de Bitcoin gaat door het dak met al even 24.000 dollar op de teller gisteren. Vanmorgen zien we de digitale munt op 23.000 dollar staan. Hoezo we leven in een markt waar alles kan, wat is er gaande momenteel ofwel wat weten we wel en wat weten we niet? Of is de bubbel zo extreem dat we echt rekening moeten gaan houden met een diepe val op alle gebied (beurzen, valuta, digitale munten). Wat ik amper begrijp is dat men de zaak maar blijft stuwen zonder dat ik maar iets van angst merk. Dat loopt in 99% van de gevallen niet goed af, zeker niet als je ook meekrijgt uit de markt dat men ook volop geld leent om mee te kunnen doen aan de grootste speculatiegolf die er ooit is geweest. We krijgen daar zo goed als zeker problemen mee later maar wanneer is later?

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 1.225 dollar, de prijs van een vat Brent olie komt uit op 51,3 dollar terwijl een troy ounce goud nu op 1886 dollar staat.

Posities en strategie:
We beginnen ons 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 and the European Union struck a pessimistic tone in trade talks on Thursday, with a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying it was "very likely" there would be no agreement unless the bloc changed its position "substantially".

Microsoft said on Thursday it found malicious software in its systems related to a massive hacking campaigndisclosed by U.S. officials this week, adding a top technology target to a growing list of attacked government agencies.

The Bank of England said it was ready to tolerate an inflation spike in the event of a no-deal Brexit in two weeks' time, but kept its stimulus unchanged as Britain and the European Union enter the end game of their trade deal talks.​


EUROPEAN COMPANY NEWS
Italy's Monte dei Paschi (MPS) said it would approve a plan to meet capital needs totalling up to 2.5 billion euros in mid-January, as Rome scrambles to find a merger partner for the state-owned bank.

Oxford University's COVID-19 vaccine candidate has a better immune response when a two full-dose regime is used rather than a full-dose followed by a half-dose booster, the university said on Thursday, citing data from early trials.

Unilever said it would resume advertising on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in the United States after pausing in June due to divisiveness and hate speech on the platforms during the U.S. election period.


TODAY'S COMPANY ANNOUNCEMENTS
BlackRock Throgmorton Trust plc Shareholders Meeting
Deutsche Konsum REIT AG Q4 2020 Earnings Call
Gfinity PLC Annual Shareholders Meeting
Hemogenyx Pharmaceuticals PLC Annual Shareholders Meeting
Humanoptics AG Annual Shareholders Meeting
Indoor and Outdoor Communication Holding SA Annual Shareholders Meeting
MTD Finance SA Annual Shareholders Meeting
Petroneft Resources PLC Annual Shareholders Meeting
Playtech PLC Shareholders Meeting
Weng Fine Art AG Annual Shareholders Meeting
Wey Education PLC Annual Shareholders Meeting​


ECONOMIC EVENTS (All times GMT)
0700 (approx.) Germany Producer Prices mm for Nov: Expected 0.1%; Prior 0.1%
0700 (approx.) Germany Producer Prices yy for Nov: Expected -0.6%; Prior -0.7%
0700 (approx.) United Kingdom Retail Sales mm for Nov: Expected -4.2%; Prior 1.2%
0700 (approx.) United Kingdom Retail Sales Ex-Fuel mm for Nov: Expected -3.3%; Prior 1.3%
0700 (approx.) United Kingdom Retail Sales yy for Nov: Expected 2.8%; Prior 5.8%
0700 (approx.) United Kingdom Retail Sales Ex-Fuel yy for Nov: Expected 4.1%; Prior 7.8%
0900 (approx.) Germany Ifo Business Climate New for Dec: Expected 90.0; Prior 90.7
0900 (approx.) Germany Ifo Current Conditions New for Dec: Expected 89.0; Prior 90.0
0900 (approx.) Germany Ifo Expectations New for Dec: Expected 92.5; Prior 91.5
0900 (approx.) Euro Zone Current Account NSA for Oct: Prior 33.5 bln EUR
0900 Euro Zone Current Account SA for Oct: Prior 25.180 bln EUR
1000 (approx.) Italy Producer Prices mm for Nov: Prior 0.6%
1000 (approx.) Italy Producer Prices yy for Nov: Prior -2.5%
1100 United Kingdom CBI Trends - Orders for Dec: Expected -34; Prior -40
1400 Belgium Leading Indicator for Dec: Expected -13.4; Prior -12.1​