Liveblog Archief woensdag 16 december 2020

TOP NEWS
• Fed faces tricky act balancing impact of vaccines against economic pain
The Federal Reserve will offer its first glimpse of how a coronavirus vaccine has changed the U.S. economic outlook, and whether businesses, workers and families need more help from the central bank until inoculations and immunity are widespread.

• Biden to introduce Buttigieg as latest nominee to diverse U.S. Cabinet
President-elect Joe Biden plans to formally introduce former rival Pete Buttigieg as his pick for U.S. secretary of transportation, adding to what is shaping up to be the most diverse Cabinet in U.S. history.

• MSCI chops Chinese firms from global indexes, but will keep them elsewhere
MSCI will cut seven Chinese firms from some of its global indexes, it said on Tuesday, the third major index publisher to do so following U.S. restrictions on owning the companies.

• Australia sues Facebook over user data, echoing U.S. antitrust case
An Australian regulator sued Facebook accusing it of collecting user data without permission, building on government efforts around the world to rein in the social network.

• FOCUS-European tech firms seek to share in U.S. IPO bonanza
Some of Europe's tech companies are preparing to speed up listing plans early next year to grab some of the billions of dollars of investor cash that has already fuelled a record-breaking run of tech IPOs in the United States this year.


BEFORE THE BELL
Wall Street futures rose ahead of the Federal Reserve policy decision, as investors awaited further fiscal support for the U.S. economy. European stocks were up on upbeat business activity data, rising hopes of a Brexit trade deal and the possible roll-out of a COVID-19 vaccine in the continent before the new year. Asian equities ended the day higher. Increased appetite for riskier assets weakened the dollar, whereas gold gained. Oil prices advanced, but gains were capped by a surprise rise in U.S. crude inventories. U.S. retail sales data for November is due for release later in the day.


STOCKS TO WATCH

IPOs
• ContextLogic Inc (WISH). The e-commerce firm sold shares in its initial public offering (IPO) on Tuesday at $24 apiece, the top of its target range, to raise $1.1 billion, the company said in a statement. The IPO gives ContextLogic, which does business as Wish, a market capitalization of $14.1 billion. Wish had planned to sell 46 million shares within a targeted range of $22 and $24 per share. Wish reported revenue of $1.7 billion for nine months ended in September, up 32% from $1.3 billion last year. The company's net losses, however, widened to $176 million compared with $5 million last year. Wish shares are due to begin trading on Nasdaq on Wednesday under the symbol "Wish."

In Other News
• Alphabet Inc (GOOGL). A coalition of U.S. states was expected to file an antitrust lawsuit against Google alleging that it altered the designs of its search engine to the disadvantage of rivals that offer specialized search results, Politico reported on Tuesday. The lawsuit could be filed as soon as Thursday and was different from the one that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed against Google in October, the report said, citing two people close to the probe. The Politico report said the states pursuing the new lawsuit expect to file it in the same federal court in Washington, D.C., as the Justice Department case, where the two can be consolidated. The new allegations focus on specialized search.

• Amazon.com Inc (AMZN) & Microsoft Corp (MSFT). Amazon urged a U.S. judge to toss out the Pentagon's $10 billion JEDI cloud computing contract award after the Defense Department said in September a court-ordered re-evaluation had determined Microsoft's proposal still represented the best value for the government. The company's Amazon Web Services (AWS) unit said in a redacted Oct. 23 court filing unsealed on Tuesday that the award to Microsoft must "be invalidated because it is the product of systematic bias, bad faith, and undue influence exerted by President Trump to steer the award away from" the company. It called it a "flawed and politically corrupted decision." Microsoft said in a statement Tuesday "career procurement officials at the DoD decided that given the superior technical advantages and overall value, we continued to offer the best solution."

• BioNTech SE (BNTX). Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical said it will buy at least 100 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine from Germany's BioNTech for use in mainland China next year, if the vaccine receives approval. Fosun said it will be entitled to 60% of annual gross profit from sales of doses that it will make from imported bulk ingredients, and 65% of profit from sales of doses imported ready for use. For the initial supply of 50 million doses, Fosun will make an advance payment to BioNTech of 250 million euros ($303.80 million) - half by Dec. 30 and the remainder after regulatory approval - the firm said in a Hong Kong stock exchange filing.

• BP PLC (BP). The company has acquired a majority stake in the largest U.S. carbon offset developer, Finite Carbon, the oil major said, as part of its climate goals and to develop a new revenue stream. Finite pays landowners to manage forests, generating carbon offset credits which can be sold to polluters. The firm expects to generate $1 billion for landowners over the next 10 years, after a 20-40% cut of the proceeds, its chief executive Sean Carney told Reuters earlier this month.

• Brinker International Inc (EAT). The Chili's Grill & Bar operator said it was withdrawing its second-quarter outlook, citing the impact of the recent dining room restrictions introduced to quell a second wave of coronavirus infections. Same-store sales at Chili's restaurants declined 12.3% in the week ended Dec. 9, compared with a 3.9% decline in the week ended Nov. 4, while weekly comparable sales decline at Maggiano's ranged from 39.4% to 63.9% over a six-week period ended Dec. 9. About 77% of Chili's and 69% of Maggiano's restaurants were operating with dining rooms open, as of Dec. 9, following fresh government mandates, Brinker said.

• British American Tobacco PLC (BTI). A COVID-19 vaccine being developed by the company from tobacco leaves has been approved for human trials by the U.S. health regulator, the maker of Dunhill and Lucky Strike cigarettes said. The enrolment for the study is expected to start shortly, with results likely by mid-2021, the company said. "Moving into human trials with both our COVID-19 and seasonal flu vaccine candidates is a significant milestone," BAT's Director of Scientific Research David O'Reilly said. The COVID-19 vaccine is being developed by the company's biotech arm Kentucky BioProcessing.

• Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL). The carrier is in early talks with governments to add more quarantine-free flights overseas, a company executive said on Tuesday, as the aviation industry turns to such testing-backed programs to revive demand battered by COVID-19. "This is the first step," Perry Cantarutti, Delta’s senior vice president, alliances and international, told reporters on a call. "Our focus is not just across the Atlantic. I think we’d like to see a similar program across the Pacific," he added. “It’s a combination of certainly identifying the need and then finding an opportunity where you’ve got government authorities that are willing to have that conversation,” he added, without specifying the governments involved in the talks.

• Facebook Inc (FB). An Australian regulator sued the company accusing it of collecting user data without permission, building on government efforts around the world to rein in the social network. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said it was seeking an unspecified fine from Facebook for promoting a virtual private network as a way for people to protect their data, while secretly using the information to pick targets for commercial acquisitions. "There is a link to what the FTC is saying, but they're looking at a competition issue," ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said at a televised news conference. "We're looking at the consumer."

• Gilead Sciences Inc (GILD). The company said on Tuesday it had decided not to pursue the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval for its experimental rheumatoid arthritis treatment, filgotinib, following a meeting with the health regulator. Gilead said it had concluded that the 200 mg dose of the drug was unlikely to receive a U.S. approval without conducting additional clinical studies. The Belgo-Dutch biotech firm Galapagos will also assume all rights for filgotinib in Europe, with Gilead agreeing to pay 160 million euros to the company, they said in a joint statement.

• MSCI Inc (MSCI). The company will cut seven Chinese firms from some of its global indexes, it said on Tuesday, the third major index publisher to do so following U.S. restrictions on owning the companies. Companies to be deleted include SMIC, China Communications Construction and Hangzhou Hikvision, though MSCI said it will launch new parallel indexes that retain the securities. MSCI said it decided to cut the companies after consulting customers following a ban on U.S. investors buying stocks that the U.S. Defense Department regards as backed by the Chinese military.

• Tilray Inc (TLRY). Canadian pot producer Aphria and Tilray have agreed to combine their operations, Bloomberg News reported. The all-stock deal will create a new company with an equity value of about C$4.8 billion, the report said, citing a statement from the companies and interviews of the heads of Aphria and Tilray. Aphria will pay a 23% premium to Tilray stock's last closing price on Tuesday and its shareholders will own 62% of Tilray's stock under the terms of the deal, Bloomberg News said. The new company will trade under Tilray's ticker on the Nasdaq.

• Twitter Inc (TWTR). The company on Tuesday said it would shut down live-streaming app Periscope, which it bought in 2015, due to declining usage over the past couple of years and high supporting costs. The mobile app has been in "an unsustainable maintenance-mode state" for a while, Twitter said in a blog post. Broadcasts that were shared to Twitter will stay on as replays and users will be able to download an archive of their Periscope broadcasts and data before the app is removed, the company said.

• Zoom Video Communications Inc (ZM). The video-conferencing services provider said it would expand its presence in Singapore by opening a research and development centre and will immediately hire hundreds of engineering staff for the new operations. The company said in a statement that is also doubling its data centre capacity in the country. "We plan to immediately hire employees," Velchamy Sankarlingam, president of product and engineering for Zoom, said while floating the company's expansion plans. Zoom said it would select the location for its new centre as pandemic-related remote-work mode subsides, adding to its existing R&D centers in the United States, India, and China.


ANALYSIS
Federal Reserve 'boneheads' emerge from Trump era unscathed
“Boneheads.” “Pathetic.” An “enemy” of the United States. President Donald Trump was often vicious in his critique of the U.S. Federal Reserve, bashing the central bank governors’ monetary policy decisions with tweets and verbal barbs, while trying to stack its board with cronies.


ANALYSTS' RECOMMENDATION
• Alphabet Inc (GOOGL). JPMorgan raises target price to $2050 from $1870, saying its fundamentals are strong and that the company will remain a primary beneficiary of the secular shift to online spending.

• Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL). JPMorgan raises target price to $51 from $50, saying the company is viewed as the industry leader, that generates highest margins of the legacy airlines and has a strong balance sheet.

• Flowserve Corp (FLS). Cowen and Company raises target price to $35 from $30, reflecting improved sentiment in the energy sector.

• Moderna Inc (MRNA). Jefferies raises target price to $150 from $90, based on significant appreciation of the stock during 2020 and high investor appreciation for the positive results for their leading COVID-19 vaccine, mRNA-1273.

• Twitter Inc (TWTR). JPMorgan raises target price to $65 from $52, saying the company is uniquely positioned as the real-time broadcast and communications network, making it complementary to all other forms of media, including TV.


ECONOMIC EVENTS (All timings in U.S. Eastern Time)
0830 (approx.) Retail sales ex-autos mm for Nov: Expected 0.1%; Prior 0.2%
0830 (approx.) Retail sales mm for Nov: Expected -0.3%; Prior 0.3%
0830 (approx.) Retail ex-gas/autos for Nov: Prior 0.2%
0830 (approx.) Retail control for Nov: Expected 0.2%; Prior 0.1%
0830 (approx.) Retail sales YoY for Nov: Prior 5.68%
0945 Markit Composite Flash PMI for Dec: Prior 58.6
0945 Markit Manufacturing Flash PMI for Dec: Expected 55.7; Prior 56.7
0945 Markit Services Flash PMI for Dec: Expected 55.9; Prior 58.4
1000 (approx.) Business inventories mm for Oct: Expected 0.7%; Prior 0.7%
1000 (approx.) Retail inventories ex-auto revised for Oct: Prior 0.7%
1000 NAHB Housing Market Index for Dec: Expected 88; Prior 90
1400 Fed funds target rate: Prior 0-0.25%
1400 Fed interest on excess reserves: Prior 0.10%


COMPANIES REPORTING RESULTS
Lennar Corp (LEN). Expected Q4 earnings of $2.37 cents per share


CORPORATE EVENTS (All timings in U.S. Eastern Time)
0830 Nordson Corp (NDSN). Q4 earnings conference call
0900 Autozone Inc (AZO). Annual Shareholders Meeting
0930 Cantel Medical Corp (CMD). Annual Shareholders Meeting
1100 Toro Co (TTC). Q4 earnings conference call
1630 Stitch Fix Inc (SFIX). Annual Shareholders Meeting


EXDIVIDENDS
Ares Management Corp (ARES). Amount $0.40
Fidelity National Financial Inc (FNF). Amount $0.36
Global Payments Inc (GPN). Amount $0.19
Hillenbrand Inc (HI). Amount $0.21
Rayonier Inc (RYN). Amount $0.27
Smith & Wesson Brands Inc (SWBI). Amount $0.05
Synovus Financial Corp (SNV). Amount $0.33
Vector Group Ltd (VGR). Amount $0.20

Goedemorgen
Gisteren een stevige stijging op Wall Street waar de Dow Jones 300 punten hoger uitkwam terwijl de Nasdaq 155 punten in de plus weet te sluiten. Verder zien we herstel bij de SP 500 waar de brede index 47 punten hoger de sessie afsloot en de Dow Transport herpakt zich met 103 punten na de terugval van maandag. Vooral betere berichten over het stimuleringspakket in de VS samen met de eerste vaccinaties daar doet de markt weer goed zo te zien. Het is op en af momenteel, de ene dag is alles dik in orde terwijl de andere dag men opnieuw gaat twijfelen.

Europa ging er ook goed op vooruit, vooral de DAX deed het goed met een plus van 140 punten (1,05%), de AEX won 4,5 punten (0,7%) terwijl de Franse CAC40 het veel minder goed deed met een winst van 2 punten (0,04%). Vanmorgen zien we in Azië ook wat hogere standen, de Nikkei wint 70 punten terwijl de Hang Seng er met 240 punten op vooruit gaat. De futures staan vanmorgen vlak, de DAX en de Dow Jones iets lager terwijl de Nasdaq future wat hoger staat.

Binnen de AEX denk ik dat het Biotech bedrijf Galapagos een tik kan krijgen door dat de belangrijkste partner Gilead Sciences in de VS voorlopig geen goedkeuring krijgt voor het middel Filgotinib. Verder zie ik dat het aandeel als ASML alweer boven de €380 staat na een sterke sessie. Verder deden Shell en de banken (ING en ABN Amro) het goed met rond de 2,5% winst dinsdag. Heineken en Unilever verloren wat.

Op Wall Street zien we dat Apple 5% hoger wist te sluiten omdat er geruchten kwamen dat er een productie verhoging zou zijn voor de nieuwe iPhones waardoor beleggers ervan uit gaan dat de consument blijft uitgeven, zelfs in deze onzekere tijden. Als Apple met 5% omhoog gaat dan zien we dat meteen terug bij de indices omdat Apple nu eenmaal zeer zwaar weegt op Wall Street. Vooral bij de SP 500 en de beide Nasdaq indices zien we dat duidelijk terug. De rest ging ook wat omhoog maar de grote drager van de stijging was toch Apple aangezien de rest van de TOP-5 nog geen procent winst of zelfs verlies laten zien. Netflix, Microsoft en Tesla verloren gisteren wat terwijl de andere grote spelers Facebook (0,5%), Amazon (0,2%) en Alphabet (0,4%) amper vooruit gingen op zo'n sterke sessie bij de Nasdaq.

Euro, olie en goud:
De euro zien we nu rond de 1.216 dollar, de prijs van een vat Brent olie komt uit op 50,6 dollar terwijl een troy ounce goud nu op 1860 dollar staat.

Posities en strategie:
We hebben nog altijd wat posities open staan bij de signaaldiensten, die kunt u nog opnemen door lid te worden. De posities hebben we voor als de markt de grote draai maakt die eraan zit te komen. Waar dat kan of moet zal ik snel schakelen, de posities wisselen of waar nodig uitbreiden. Wat betreft 2021 zie ik zeker genoeg mooie kansen om met het handelen er een mooi jaar van te maken ...

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 !

Maak nu gebruik van de aanbieding op US Markets Trading:
Zoals ik al aangaf sta hoe dan ook klaar om goed uit te pakken in 2021 wat betreft Trading, lid worden is nu dus belangrijk om alles optimaal te volgen.

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
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson repeated on Tuesday that the most likely outcome of post-Brexit trade talks with the European Union was no deal despite EU officials pointing to some, albeit slow, progress.

Hours after speaking with Republican Senator Mitch McConnell and vowing to try to work together, President-elect Joe Biden urged Georgians on Tuesday to oust McConnell as majority leader by electing the two Democratic candidates in Jan. 5 Senate runoffs.​

Facebook will shift all its users in the United Kingdom into user agreements with the corporate headquarters in California, moving them out of their current relationship with Facebook's Irish unit and out of reach of Europe's privacy laws.​


EUROPEAN COMPANY NEWS
French pharmaceutical firm Valneva will start the first clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate at four sites in England, Britain's business ministry said.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI are investigating SEB, Swedbank and Danske Bank over possible breaches of U.S. anti-money laundering regulations and fraud, Swedish newspaper Dagens Industri reported on Tuesday, sending the banks' shares lower.

Italy's communications watchdog AGCOM said on Tuesday it had opened an inquiry into French media giant Vivendi's stakes in commercial broadcaster Mediaset and the country's biggest phone group Telecom Italia(TIM).​


TODAY'S COMPANY ANNOUNCEMENTS
B+S Banksysteme AG Annual Shareholders Meeting
Brilliant AG Annual Shareholders Meeting
Dixons Carphone PLC HY 2021 Earnings Release
EVN AG FY 2020 Earnings Release
L-KONZEPT Holding AG Annual Shareholders Meeting
Mastrad SA Annual Shareholders Meeting
NR 21 SA Annual Shareholders Meeting
OVS SpA Q3 2020 Earnings Call
Primag AG Annual Shareholders Meeting
Recylex SA Shareholders Meeting
Soc Centrale Bois Scieries Manche SA Annual Shareholders Meeting
Tavistock Investments PLC Shareholders Meeting
Telecom Plus PLC Shareholders Meeting​


ECONOMIC EVENTS (All times GMT)
0700 (approx.) United Kingdom Core CPI mm for Nov: Expected 0.2%; Prior 0.2%
0700 (approx.) United Kingdom Core CPI yy for Nov: Expected 1.4%; Prior 1.5%
0700 (approx.) United Kingdom CPI mm for Nov: Expected 0.1%; Prior 0.0%
0700 (approx.) United Kingdom CPI yy for Nov: Expected 0.6%; Prior 0.7%
0700 (approx.) United Kingdom RPI mm for Nov: Expected 0.2%; Prior 0.0%
0700 (approx.) United Kingdom RPI yy for Nov: Expected 1.3%; Prior 1.3%
0700 (approx.) United Kingdom CPI NSA for Nov: Prior 109.1
0700 (approx.) United Kingdom PPI Input Prices mm NSA for Nov: Expected 0.4%; Prior 0.2%
0700 (approx.) United Kingdom PPI Input Prices yy NSA for Nov: Prior -1.3%
0700 (approx.) United Kingdom PPI Output Prices mm NSA for Nov: Expected 0.1%; Prior 0.0%
0700 (approx.) United Kingdom PPI Output Prices yy NSA for Nov: Expected -0.9%; Prior -1.4%
0700 (approx.) United Kingdom PPI Core Output mm NSA for Nov: Prior 0.1%
0700 (approx.) United Kingdom PPI Core Output yy NSA for Nov: Prior 0.5%
0815 France Markit Manufacturing Flash PMI for Dec: Expected 50.1; Prior 49.6
0815 France Markit Services Flash PMI for Dec: Expected 40.0; Prior 38.8
0815 France Markit Composite Flash PMI for Dec: Expected 42.9; Prior 40.6
0830 Germany Markit Manufacturing Flash PMI for Dec: Expected 56.4; Prior 57.8
0830 Germany Markit Services Flash PMI for Dec: Expected 44.0; Prior 46.0
0830 Germany Markit Composite Flash PMI for Dec: Expected 50.4; Prior 51.7
0900 (approx.) Italy Industrial Orders mm SA for Oct: Prior -6.4%
0900 (approx.) Italy Industrial Orders yy NSA for Oct: Prior 3.2%
0900 (approx.) Italy Industrial Sales mm SA for Oct: Prior -3.2%
0900 (approx.) Italy Industrial Sales yy WDA for Oct: Prior -4.6%
0900 Euro Zone Markit Manufacturing Flash PMI for Dec: Expected 53.0; Prior 53.8
0900 Euro Zone Markit Services Flash PMI for Dec: Expected 41.9; Prior 41.7
0900 Euro Zone Markit Composite Flash PMI for Dec: Expected 45.8; Prior 45.3
0930 United Kingdom Flash Composite PMI for Dec: Expected 51.3; Prior 49.0
0930 United Kingdom Flash Manufacturing PMI for Dec: Expected 55.9; Prior 55.6
0930 United Kingdom Flash Services PMI for Dec: Expected 50.5; Prior 47.6
1000 (approx.) Euro Zone Construction Output mm for Oct: Prior -2.93%
1000 (approx.) Euro Zone Total Trade Balance SA for Oct: Prior 24.00 bln EUR​