Liveblog Archief woensdag 25 augustus 2021

TOP NEWS
• U.S. House advances Biden's multi-trillion-dollar domestic agenda
The Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to advance key parts of President Joe Biden's agenda, after moderates and progressives reached a compromise allowing them to move forward on the multitrillion-dollar plans.

• South Korea parliament committee votes to curb Google, Apple commission dominance
A South Korean parliamentary committee voted to recommend amending a law, a key step toward banning Google and Apple from forcibly charging software developers commissions on in-app purchases, the first such curb by a major economy.

• U.S. approves licenses for Huawei to buy auto chips - sources
U.S. officials have approved license applications worth hundreds of millions of dollars for China's blacklisted telecom company Huawei to buy chips for its growing auto component business, two people familiar with the matter said.

• J&J says booster dose increased antibodies in early-stage studies
A booster dose of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine sharply increased levels of antibodies, according to interim data from two early-stage trials, the company said.

• U.S. to restart oil leasing with offshore auction this year
The Biden administration said on Tuesday it would take steps to restart the federal oil and gas leasing program in the next week and plans to hold a Gulf of Mexico auction as soon as October, court papers showed.


BEFORE THE BELL
Wall Street futures traded with slighter gains, with investors’ focus set on Fed chair Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole symposium scheduled later this week. Asian shares ended higher, anchored by overnight gains in U.S. stock indexes. European markets were subdued as data showed weaker business morale in Germany during August. The dollar strengthened amid fears of Delta coronavirus variant derailing a global economic recovery, while gold slipped. Oil prices edged up. Data on orders for durable goods for July is due for release later during the day.


STOCKS TO WATCH

Results
• Nordstrom Inc: The company's quarterly revenue declined 6% from pre-pandemic levels, sending the department store chain's shares down 7% aftermarket as investors pitted the lackluster result against strong growth at rivals Macy's and Kohl's. Nordstrom also raised its annual revenue forecast, but that did little to lift the mood after the company flagged supply chain issues and faced stiff competition from Gen-Z favorites ThredUp, T.J. Maxx and Target. Nordstrom expects fiscal 2021 revenue to rise more than 35%, compared with an over 25% forecast earlier. Analysts on average expected revenue to jump 29%, according to Refinitiv IBES data. The chain also beat estimates for profit and revenue in the second quarter.

In Other News
• Alphabet Inc & Apple Inc: A South Korean parliamentary committee voted to recommend amending a law, a key step toward banning Google and Apple from forcibly charging software developers commissions on in-app purchases, the first such curb by a major economy. Apple Alphabet's Google have faced global criticism because they require software developers using their app stores to use proprietary payment systems that charge commissions of up to 30%. In a statement on Tuesday, Apple said the bill "will put users who purchase digital goods from other sources at risk of fraud, undermine their privacy protections", hurt user trust in App Store purchases and lead to fewer opportunities for South Korean developers. Wilson White, senior director of public policy at Google, said "the rushed process hasn't allowed for enough analysis of the negative impact of this legislation on Korean consumers and app developers".

• AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc & GameStop Corp: Shares of several retail trading darlings, including AMC Entertainment and GameStop, surged in heavy volume late on Tuesday, on no apparent news, dealing over $1 billion in losses to short sellers. "When you get a move that big it almost makes you think there is some big hedge fund or something out there that decided to do some trades," said Randy Frederick, managing director of trading and derivatives at Schwab Center for Financial Research. Frederick, however, said he had seen little in the way of news to spur the large share price moves on Tuesday. The jump in the share price on Tuesday also dealt large losses to investors with bearish bets on some of these stocks, according to analytics company ORTEX.

• BioNTech SE: Taiwan could get its first delivery of the drugmaker's COVID-19 vaccines one month ahead of schedule as a delay in regulatory approval of the shot for use in mainland China made a surplus available for the island, a source told Reuters. Taiwan's tortured bid for the vaccine, jointly developed with Pfizer, has become an issue of high political and diplomatic drama, after Taiwan accused China of blocking a deal earlier this year, which Beijing denied. China claims democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory. More than 1 million doses, which had been originally destined for China, are expected to arrive in Taiwan between the end of August and early September, around one month earlier than initially planned, the person who has direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

• Blackstone Inc, Brookfield Asset Management Inc & KKR & Co Inc: Toshiba is in talks with at least four global private equity firms including KKR and Blackstone to seek their ideas for its new strategy, according to three sources with knowledge of the matter. Bain Capital and Canadian investment firm Brookfield have also been tapped by the scandal-hit Japanese conglomerate's strategic review committee to put together and submit their ideas for Toshiba, the sources said. The latest process is not meant to formally solicit buyout bids for the overall company or some of its assets, and it's not immediately clear whether the engagement with buyout firms will result in formal offers in the future. "As announced, Toshiba's strategic review committee is considering and discussing a wide range of initiatives without delay," Toshiba said in a statement to Reuters.

• Credit Suisse Group AG: The Swiss bank has asked all non-vaccinated staff in the United States to work from home beginning Sept. 7, as it pushes back its return-to-office plans over concerns about the spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant. A full return to the office has been delayed until Oct. 18, Switzerland's second-largest lender told U.S. employees last week, while those without the COVID-19 shot have been told to stay home until receiving the vaccination or new guidance. "As concerns increase around the country regarding the Delta variant, we continue to strongly encourage all staff to get a COVID-19 vaccination and keep apprised of the latest updates to mask and physical distancing requirements in your area," the bank told U.S. employees in a memo seen by Reuters and confirmed by the company. "This is especially important given the Delta variant's higher contagion rate," it said.

• Emergent BioSolutions Inc: The National Institutes of Health has initiated a late-stage study to test plasma-derived COVID-19 therapies including the company's candidate for those at high risk of disease progression, the drug developer said. Emergent said the study will evaluate the safety and efficacy of polyclonal antibodies derived from plasma of individuals who have recovered from COVID-19. The trial will include immunocompromised adults and those above 55 years. Emergent is one of the two companies providing plasma-derived products for the trial, which will enroll approximately 800 patients across the United States and international clinical trial sites.​

• Goldman Sachs Group Inc: The bank told employees that from Tuesday anyone entering its offices in the United States must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters. The bank will also require that masks be worn in offices regardless of vaccination status from Wednesday, while fully vaccinated employees will receive weekly COVID-19 tests starting on Sept. 7, the memo said. A Goldman Sachs spokesperson confirmed the contents of the memo. Goldman's new policy is in line with rival banks Morgan Stanley and Citigroup, which also require vaccines at their U.S. headquarters.

• Johnson & Johnson: A booster dose of J&J's COVID-19 vaccine sharply increased levels of antibodies, according to interim data from two early-stage trials, the company said on Wednesday. A second dose of the J&J single-dose vaccine resulted in binding antibody levels nine times higher than the levels 28 days after people received their first dose, the company said in a press release. According to J&J, the studies showed significant increases in binding antibody responses in participants aged 18-55 and in those 65 years and older who received a lower booster dose. The study summaries are being submitted to the preprint server MedRxiv in advance of peer review.

• Phillips 66: The fourth-largest U.S. refiner on Tuesday said it has put the smaller of its two Louisiana refineries up for sale amid continued losses and an uncertain future for motor fuels. The company is holding talks with a potential buyer on the sale of its 255,600 barrel-per-day (bpd) Alliance refinery in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, according to two people familiar with the matter. The identity of the potential buyer could not immediately be learned. "The U.S. refining business in the future is going to be smaller, not bigger," Chief Executive Officer Greg Garland said earlier this month while laying out Phillips 66's plans to expand its supply of lower-carbon fuels and components for electric car batteries.

• Walt Disney Co: The company's cruise division said on Tuesday it will require vaccination proof from all passengers above the age of 12 traveling from Florida to the Bahamas, as the COVID-19 Delta variant sweeps across the United States. For sailings beginning Sept. 3, travelers under the age of 12 will have to provide a negative COVID-19 test, the cruise operator said in a blog. It also plans to cancel the Sept. 4 "Disney Fantasy" sailing. Disney's cruise line had earlier said it did not insist on vaccinations, but the change in stance comes after the U.S. health regulator asked people at a high risk of severe COVID-19 illness to avoid cruises irrespective of vaccination status.


ANALYSIS
Inflation vs jobs hole: A tradeoff the Fed still hopes to skirt
The Federal Reserve's year-old promise to drive U.S. employment to new heights came at a wrenching moment last August, with 12 million jobs still missing due to the pandemic, inflation cratering to half the central bank's target, and no clear endgame for the worst health crisis in a century.​


ANALYSTS' RECOMMENDATION
• Advance Auto Parts Inc: Credit Suisse raises target price to $235 from $230, citing significant gross margin improvement in the second quarter.

• Campbell Soup Co: Piper Sandler cuts rating to neutral from overweight, on a view that broad exposure to rising commodity prices, especially steel, is becoming a significant risk to the company’s FY2022 outlook.

• Medtronic Plc: BTIG raises target price to $140 from $137, after the company reported strong first-quarter results and lifted profit forecast.

• Trillium Therapeutics Inc: JonesTrading cuts rating to hold from buy, following Pfizer’s proposal to acquire the company at $18.50/share.

• Victoria's Secret & Co: Barclays initiates coverage with overweight rating, believing that the company has multiple levers available to reposition and grow, supported by an attractive risk/reward with a compelling valuation.


ECONOMIC EVENTS (All timings in U.S. Eastern Time)
0830 (approx) Durable goods for July: Expected -0.3%; Prior 0.9%
0830 (approx) Durables ex-transport for July: Expected 0.5%; Prior 0.5%
0830 (approx) Durables ex-defense mm for July: Prior 1.1%
0830 (approx) Nondefense capital goods ex-aircraft for July: Expected 0.5%; Prior 0.7%


COMPANIES REPORTING RESULTS
Autodesk Inc: Expected Q2 earnings of $1.13 cents per share
NetApp Inc: Expected Q1 earnings of 95 cents per share
Salesforce.Com Inc: Expected Q2 earnings of 92 cents per share
Ulta Beauty Inc: Expected Q2 earnings of $2.59 cents per share


CORPORATE EVENTS (All timings in U.S. Eastern Time)
0800 EHang Holdings Ltd: Q1 earnings conference call
0800 Kingsoft Cloud Holdings Ltd: Q2 earnings conference call
0830 Shoe Carnival Inc: Q2 earnings conference call
0830 Toll Brothers Inc: Q3 earnings conference call
0900 HEICO Corp: Q3 earnings conference call
1000 CSW Industrials Inc: Annual Shareholders Meeting
1000 Dick's Sporting Goods Inc: Q2 earnings conference call
1100 Prospect Capital Corp: Q4 earnings conference call
1200 Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc: Annual Shareholders Meeting
1630 Splunk Inc: Q2 earnings conference call
1630 Pure Storage Inc: Q2 earnings conference call
1630 Ulta Beauty Inc: Q2 earnings conference call
1645 Guess? Inc: Q2 earnings conference call
1700 Williams-Sonoma Inc: Q2 earnings conference call
1700 Autodesk Inc: Q2 earnings conference call
1700 Salesforce.Com Inc: Q2 earnings conference call
1700 Box Inc: Q2 earnings conference call
1700 Zuora Inc: Q2 earnings conference call
1700 Snowflake Inc.: Q2 earnings conference call
1700 Elastic NV: Q1 earnings conference call
1700 SelectQuote Inc: Q4 earnings conference call
1730 NetApp Inc: Q1 earnings conference call


EX-DIVIDENDS
Applied Materials Inc: Amount $0.24
Barnes Group Inc: Amount $0.16
Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc: Amount $0.12
LeMaitre Vascular Inc: Amount $0.11
S&P Global Inc: Amount $0.77
SBA Communications Corp: Amount $0.58
Voya Financial Inc: Amount $0.16
Xylem Inc: Amount $0.28

Goedemorgen,

Een vrij rustig verloop met zo opnieuw records voor de AEX, de SP 500 en beide tech indices de Nasdaq en de Nasdaq 100. Veel kwam er niet bij maar aangezien dat maandag al zo was kon elke plus voor een nieuwe mijlpaal zorgen. De S&P 500 komt er dus bij aangezien de index maandag amper op 0.12 punt van het record afsloot.

Update woensdag 25 augustus:
Europa en Wall Street sluiten dinsdag opnieuw hoger, de AEX zet op 783,15 punten een nieuw record neer terwijl de DAX op 15.906 punten sluit en zo weer richting de topzone oploopt. Op Wall Street zien we dat de Nasdaq met een nieuw recordslot voor het eerst de grens van de 15.000 punten doorbreekt. De S&P 500 index steeg met 0,15% tot 4.486,23 en de Nasdaq Composite Index won 0,5% tot 15.019,80 punten. De Dow Jones-index won 0,1% tot 35.366,26 punten. Opvallend is dat de S&P 500 hierdoor voor de 50e keer dit jaar een nieuw record neerzet.

De positieve sessie kwam er mede door het optimisme van de volledige goedkeuring van het Pfizer BioNTech vaccin door het FDA samen met de hoop dat de FED toch het opkoop programma zal verlengen door dat de pandemie weer voor de nodige problemen zorgt. Wat moeilijk te begrijpen is momenteel voor beursvolgers is dat het slechter moet gaan om de beurzen verder omhoog te sturen. Alles draait blijkbaar over het opzuigen van het nieuw gedrukte geld dat door de FED de markt wordt gestuurd. Dat blijft een moeilijke situatie en zeker voor beursvolgers die al een lange tijd meelopen.

Aan de andere kant zou het kunnen dat door de goedkeuring van het vaccin ongevaccineerden nu alsnog hun prik gaan halen waardoor de deltavariant van het coronavirus een minder grote bedreiging kan gaan vormen voor de economie.

Verder profiteren de energie aandelen (oliesector) van de fors oplopende olieprijs door de grotere vraag uit China terwijl er ook enkele tropische stormen op komst zijn in de VS wat altijd al invloed op de olieprijs kan hebben.

Waar beleggers nu op wachten is de toespraak van FED-voorzitter Jerome Powell, wat zal hij vertellen over de economie en vooral over de plannen om het programma al dan niet terug te schroeven. Vorige week stond er nog in de notulen dat de FED dit jaar nog zou kunnen beginnen met het afbouwen nu het tijd aan het worden is om de economie niet meer monetair te stimuleren, maar juist af te remmen door de fors oplopende inflatie. We zijn zeer benieuwd naar wat hij zal melden vrijdag.

Marktoverzicht:
Via het overzicht zien we het sterke verloop van de indices duidelijk, vooral de AEX, de S&P 500 en de Nasdaq vallen op met een nieuwe hoogste stand ooit. Bij de S&P 500 is dat al de 50-ste keer dit jaar. Verder zien we ook het herstel bij de andere indices maar dan nog niet tot hun records.

Dow Jones:
De Dow Jones herpakt zich na de test van de steunlijn onder de bodems vorige week, de index won 30 punten dinsdag. We zien nu weerstand rond de topzone die uitkomt op 35.620 punten. Later weerstand rond de 35.750 en de 35.850 punten.

Steun nu eerst de 35.150 en de 35.000 punten. Later de 34.750 punten waar het 50-daags gemiddelde samen met de lijn onder de bodems nu uitkomen.

AEX index:
Bij de AEX een record op slotbasis dat uitkomt op 783,15 punten, de hoogste stand ooit zien we nu op 785,61 punten uitkomen en die werd gedurende de sessie bereikt.

Een nieuw record voor de AEX en we zien wat verder de 785 en de 788 punten als weerstand door de lijn over de toppen vanaf begin dit jaar. Steun nu eerst de 773-775 punten, later de 760 en de bodem van afgelopen donderdag rond de 755 punten. Verder steun rond de 748 en de 736-738 punten.

DAX index:
De DAX index sluit nu een eindje boven de bekende 15.810 punten en sluit rond de 15.906 punten. Weerstand wordt nu de top rond de 16.020 punten, later zien we rond de 16.050 punten weerstand.

Steun nu uiteraard weer die 15.810 punten, later de 15.600 en de bekende zone 15.500-15.550 punten.

Nasdaq Composite:
De tech indices doen het goed de afgelopen 4 sessies na de bodem van donderdag. De Nasdaq zet een record neer op 15.019,8 punten terwijl de index even op 15.034,89 punten stond wat dan ook meteen de hoogste stand ooit werd. De index komt nu wel weer tegen de rode lijn over de toppen terecht en daar mogen we normaal gezien weerstand verwachten al blijft zoiets relatief in deze markt.

Weerstand nu dus die lijn over de toppen rond de 15.030-15.050 punten, later de 15.150 en de 15.250 punten. Steun zien we nu rond de 14.750 punten, later rond de 14.600 en de 14.400 punten steun. Verder kennen we de 14.210 punten als een stevige steun mocht het snel gaan dalen via een grotere correctie. Vergeet niet dat we vorige week donderdag intraday al even op 14.400 punten terecht kwamen, zo snel kan het gaan.

Overzicht resultaat 2021 blijft goed:
Er lopen nu wat kleine posities op enkele indices en ik zoek nog naar wat andere kansen de komende sessies. Zorg in ieder geval dat u net als ons het meest gunstige momentum kunt pakken om in de markt te stappen of wordt lid zodat u de signalen ontvangt op de indexen. Gisteren werd er al winst genomen op de CAC 40 positie in ieder geval en die werd later vervangen door een andere index.

Meedoen kan meteen als u lid wordt, de posities kunt u nog opnemen daarna want de details ziet u dan in onze Tradershop op de website. Schrijf u nu in via de nieuwe aanbieding tot 1 NOVEMBER voor €35 via de aanbieding., ga naar https://www.usmarkets.nl/trade... en doe meteen mee met de nieuwe posities ...

Met vriendelijke groet,
Guy Boscart

US Markets Trading