From Briefing.com: 4:40 pm Samsung announces that over 500k new Galaxy Note7 replacement devices have arrived in the U.S. and have been shipped to carrier and retail stores (SSNLF) : New Galaxy Note7 devices will be available for exchange at retail locations nationwide tomorrow.
4:24 pm FedEx beats by $0.12, beats on revs; raises FY17 EPS guidance (FDX) :
Reports Q1 (Aug) earnings of $2.90 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.12 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $2.78; revenues rose 19.5% year/year to $14.7 bln vs the $14.44 bln Capital IQ Consensus.Express revenue increased slightly as improved base yields, higher package volume and increased freight pounds more than offset lower fuel surcharges and unfavorable currency exchange rates.
U.S. domestic package volume increased 1% due to growth in overnight box and envelope volumes. FedEx International Economy volume grew 1%, while FedEx International Priority volume decreased 1%. Average daily freight pounds increased 8% due to higher U.S. Postal Service volume.
Freight revenue increased as less-than-truckload average daily shipment growth of 8% more than offset the impact of lower fuel surcharges and weight per shipment.
Ground revenue increased due to higher volume and revenue per package. FedEx Ground average daily volume grew 10% in the first quarter, driven by e--commerce and commercial package growth. FedEx Ground yield increased 2% due to higher base yields partially offset by lower fuel surcharges.
Co raises guidance for FY17, raises EPS to $11.85-12.35 from $11.75-12.25, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $11.88 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; guideance calls for EPS of $10.85-11.35 including TNT Express.The capital spending forecast for the fiscal year, which includes TNT Express, remains $5.6 bln
"The integration of TNT Express is proceeding smoothly, and the level of team members' engagement is outstanding," said Frederick W. Smith, FedEx Corp. chairman, president and chief executive officer. "Managing our operating companies as a portfolio of customer solutions helped FedEx achieve strong financial and operating results in the quarter, especially given the global economy's continued low growth."
4:24 pm Microsoft announces $40 bln share buyback; increases dividend 8% to $0.39 (MSFT) :
Co announced that its board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.39 per share, reflecting a 3 cent or 8 percent increase over the previous quarter's dividend. The board of directors also approved a new share repurchase program authorizing up to $40 billion in share repurchases. The new share repurchase program, which has no expiration date, may be terminated at any time. The company reaffirmed that it is on track to complete its current $40 billion stock repurchase program by December 31, 2016.
4:15 pm Adobe Systems beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS above consensus, revs in-line; reaffirms digital media, marketing cloud targets (ADBE) :
Reports Q3 (Aug) earnings of $0.75 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.72; revenues rose 20.2% year/year to $1.46 bln vs the $1.45 bln Capital IQ Consensus. Digital Media segment revenue was a record $990 million, with Creative revenue growing 39 percent year-over-year to a record $803 million. Strong Creative Cloud and Document Cloud adoption drove Digital Media Annualized Recurring Revenue to $3.70 billion exiting the quarter, a quarter-over-quarter increase of $285 million, in-line with guidance. Adobe Marketing Cloud achieved record revenue of $404 million.Co issues guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.83-0.89, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.78 Capital IQ Consensus; sees Q4 revs of $1.55-1.60 bln vs. $1.58 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Raises FY16 EPS to $2.94-3.00 from $2.80 vs. $2.87 consensus; raises rev to $5.80-5.85 bln from $5.8 bln.
Expect to add slightly more than $300 million of net new Digital Media ARR during Q4 to achieve full year target of ~$4 billion of Digital Media ARR exiting the year.
Expect to achieve Adobe Marketing Cloud year-over-year revenue growth of ~30% in Q4 to achieve Adobe Marketing Cloud annual growth target of ~20% for the year.Reaffirms FY16 marketing cloud rev +20% bookings +30%
4:15 pm : The stock market ended the Tuesday affair on a flat note as investors favored a cautious approach ahead of policy statements from the Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan. The Nasdaq Composite (+0.1%) settled in-line with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.1%) and slightly ahead of the S&P 500 (UNCH).
Equity indices advanced at the start of the session as investors mulled the potential rate hike implications of some weaker-than-expected housing data. Housing starts for August came in at a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.142 million (Briefing.com consensus 1.186 million) while building permits fell to 1.139 million (Briefing.com consensus 1.160 million). The data follows yesterday's above-consensus reading of the NAHB Housing Market Index for September (65; Briefing.com consensus 59).
The fed funds futures market ticked higher following the negative data, however, the move was likely related to some last-minute positioning. The implied probability of a rate hike at the September meeting rose to 18.0% from 12.0% in the prior session. Participants have heavily discounted the potential for a rate hike at this meeting, hoping to hear clues about the path of interest rate normalization in the central bank's guidance. Looking down the road, the odds of a rate hike at the December meeting rose to 60.7% from 53.9% on Monday.
The U.S. Dollar Index (96.00, +0.16, +0.17%) also enjoyed a modest bid as participants eyed the potential for a policy divergence trade. The Bank of Japan is scheduled to release its latest policy decision and a comprehensive assessment of its monetary policy this evening. It remains unclear how the central bank will proceed, but reports indicated earlier in the week that the BoJ may favor expanding its negative interest rate policy. The central bank will release its policy decision around 23:00 ET.
The benchmark index settled near the bottom of today's trading range after failing to clear resistance near the 2150/2153 price level. Five sectors finished in the green with financials (+0.1%), consumer staples (+0.2%), and health care (+0.4%) leading the advance. On the flipside, defensively-oriented real estate (-0.2%), telecom services (-0.2%) and utilities (-0.2%) led energy (-0.8%) on the bottom of the board.
The health care sector (+0.4%) outperformed as drug manufacturers and biotechnology names displayed relative strength. Biotechnology rallied after Allergan (AGN 238.67, -6.62) agreed to acquire Tobira Therapeutics (TBRA 38.91, +34.17) for an upfront payment of $28.35 per share. This constitutes a 498.0% premium from Tobira's prior closing price. The agreement also contains Contingent Value Rights that could increase total considerations up to $49.84 per share.
In the financial sector (+0.1%), banking names outperformed as Wells Fargo (WFC 46.56, +0.55) jumped 1.2%. The stock rallied after being upgraded to "Overweight" from "Equal-Weight" at Morgan Stanley. However, Wells Fargo finished off its best level of the day (47.20) as participants weighed heated commentary from the Senate Banking Committee. Senator Elizabeth Warren called for a more stringent investigation into the bank's sales practices.
Crude oil finished the session modestly higher after shaking early weakness. The energy component erased an early loss after reports indicated that Russia may back a one-year agreement to stabilize oil prices. WTI crude settled higher by 0.4% ($44.08/bbl; +$0.18). On a side note, the American Petroleum Institute is scheduled to release its weekly inventory report this evening while the Department of Energy will release its more influential inventory report tomorrow morning at 10:30 ET.
Treasuries ended on a higher note with the long end of the curve outperforming. The yield on the 2-yr note fell one basis point (0.77%) while the yield on the 10-yr note declined three basis points (1.69%).
Today's participation was below the recent average as fewer than 741 million shares changed hands on the NYSE floor.
Today's economic data was limited to Housing Starts and Building Permits for August:
Housing starts in August declined 5.8% from July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.142 million (Briefing.com consensus 1.186 million).
Building permits fell 0.4% from July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.139 million (Briefing.com consensus 1.160 million) due entirely to a 7.2% decline in permits for multi-unit dwellings.
For more on these economic releases, be sure to visit Briefing.com's Economic Calendar page.
Tomorrow's economic data will be limited to the weekly MBA Mortgage Index, which will be released at 7:00 ET. Meanwhile, the FOMC will release its September policy statement and rate decision at 14:00 ET.
Russell 2000: +8.2% YTD
S&P 500: +4.7% YTD
Nasdaq: +4.7% YTD
Dow Jones +4.1% YTD
DJ30 +9.79 NASDAQ +6.33 SP500 +0.64 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1347/1.548 bln/1494 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1296/740.9 mln/1668
3:30 pm :
The dollar index was +0.2% around the 95.98 level ahead of tomorrow's FOMC meeting
Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, +0.8% around the 84.29 level
Crude oil reversed initial morning losses to end near session highs ahead of tonight's API data
November crude oil futures rose $0.18 (+0.4%) to $44.08/barrel
Factors affecting the price of oil include:
Shipments originally expected to resume at the ports of Ras Lanuf & Sidra last week in Libya have now been delayed by ongoing conflict in the region.
Statements from Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro that OPEC & non-OPEC members are nearing a potential deal to restrict output.
However, comments from OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo over the weekend conflict with what was said by Maduro, as Barkindo suggested that no deal to freeze output will be reached at next week's meeting as the talks are informal and will not be a decision-making meeting.
Data reminders:
The next OPEC meeting will take place in Algiers, Algeria from Sept 26-28
API data will be released today after the bell
Weekly EIA data will be released tomorrow at 10:30 am ET
China will release oil trade data tomorrow
Rig count data will be released Friday at 1 pm ET
Natural gas futures closed at 1.5-year highs ahead of Thursday's inventory data
October natural gas closed $0.12 higher (+4.1%) at $3.05/MMBtu
EIA natural gas storage data will be released Thursday at 10:30 am ET
In precious metals, gold & silver ended nearly flat as the dollar index remained directionless ahead of tomorrow's FOMC meeting
December gold ended today's session up $0.30 (+0.1%) to $1318.00/oz
December silver closed today's session $0.01 lower (-0.1%) at $19.27/oz
The major averages began the day on a higher note as some weaker-than-expected housing data further diminished expectations for a rate hike at tomorrow's FOMC policy meeting. Housing starts for August came in at a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.142 million in August while building permits fell to 1.139 million.
The broader market collapsed into the close ahead of tonight's Bank of Japan meeting and statements from the Federal Reserve. The bank stated in its July meeting that it was undertaking an in-depth review of its policy decision making. The BoJ is slated to release a comprehensive assessment of its monetary policy which could entail changes to overnight lending rates and/or its asset purchase program. Markets fell from a would-be strong session to only modest gains with the Nasdaq Composite narrowly edging higher by 6.33 points (+0.12%) to 5241.35. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also barely managed to stave off the selling pressure, ending up 9.79 points (+0.05%) to 18129.96, and the S&P 500 added less than a point (+0.03%) to 2139.76.
Again posting a modest decline yesterday, the Technology (XLK 47.09, -0.03 -0.06%) sector was higher into the close when a last minute sell-off took the heavily weighted sector from green to red. Component Broadcom (AVGO 168.23, -2.50 -1.46%) was weaker today despite a premarket initiation at Susquehanna with a Positive rating. Other sectors as measured by the S&P ended Tuesday IYZ -1.15%, XLE -0.80%, XLB -0.30%, XLU -0.22%, XLRE -0.19%, XLF +0.05%, XLY +0.08%, XLI +0.11%, XLFS +0.17%, XLP +0.27%, XLV +0.35%.
In the S&P 500 Information Technology (790.01, -0.14 -0.02%) sector, trading collapsed into the close as the broader market sold off. Component Autodesk (ADSK 68.79, +0.66 +0.97%) resisted the selling pressure in the broader market today following the authorization of a share repurchase program of up to 30 million shares of common stock. Other names in the space which slightly under-performed today included QRVO -2.80%, NTAP -1.85%, AVGO -1.46%, JNPR -1.32%, FSLR -1.22%, STX -1.17%, ADS -1.06%, XLNX -1.05%, CSRA -0.95%.
Other notable news items among sector components:
Intel (INTC 37.14, -0.02 -0.05%) appointed Robert Swan as EVP and CFO effective October 10, 2016.
Autodesk (ADSK) authorized a share repurchase program of up to 30 million shares of common stock.
Hortonworks (HDP 8.04, +0.35 +4.55%) and IBM (IBM 154.45, -0.42 -0.27%) announced the planned availability of Hortonworks Data Platform for IBM Power Systems enabling POWER8 clients.
IBM also announced an extended Red Hat (RHT 75.78, -0.16 -0.21%) collaboration for next-generation cloud platforms and plans for new facility in Boston expected to open in mid-2017.
Epsilon, an Alliance Data (ADS 213.74, -2.30 -1.06%) company, signed a new multi-year agreement with Amica Mutual Insurance Company, a national writer of auto, home, marine and umbrella insurance.
Alphabet's (GOOG 771.41, +5.71 +0.75%) Google acquired speech recognition startup company Api.ai.
Analog Devices (ADI 62.34, -0.12 -0.19%) voluntarily withdraws, then resubmits filing under the HSR Act relating to its proposed acquisition of Linear (LLTC 58.48, -0.18 -0.31%) in order to provide the FTC with additional time to review the proposed deal.
Xilinx (XLNX 52.93, -0.56 -1.05%) was awarded a single phase $9,000,000 technology investment agreement for the Analog Mixed Signal (AMS) Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) System on Chip (SoC) program.
T-Mobile US (TMUS 44.50, -1.43 -3.11%) reiterated its current financial guidance and full year outlook and announced 'the strongest iPhone pre-order in Company history'.
Accenture (ACN 110.70, +0.20 +0.18%) was awarded a contract from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to support the National Service Desk (NSD) -- a key component of the Department's MyVA strategy for improving VA employee experience across the enterprise. The contract has a nine-month, $36.5 million base period with three, one-year options. The contract value is capped at $286 million.
ACN also created a prototype of a new capability that enables blockchain technology to be edited under extraordinary circumstances to resolve human errors, accommodate legal and regulatory requirements, and address mischief and other issues, while preserving key cryptographic features. The prototype represents a significant breakthrough for enterprise uses of blockchain technology particularly in banking, insurance and capital markets.
Computer Sciences' (CSC 49.31, -0.48 -0.96%) pending acquisition of Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Services (HPE 22.62, -0.06 -0.26%) was cleared by the EU.
Elsewhere in the tech space:
Broadridge Financial (BR 68.72, +0.13 +0.19%) acquired tech and assets of Inveshare for about $95 million plus a deferred payment of $40 million upon delivery of blockchain applications.
DTS (DTSI 42.24, +7.91 +23.04%) to be acquired by Tessera Technologies (TSRA 35.28, +1.80 +5.38%) for $42.50 per share in cash, or about $850 million.
Inteliquent (IQNT 15.34, -1.37 -8.20%) announced that Kurt Abkemeier has resigned as CFO to pursue another career opportunity, effective Sept 23.
Oclaro (OCLR 8.62, -0.48 -5.27%) announced a 13 million share underwritten public offering of common stock.
SunPower (SPWR 8.17, +0.34 +4.34%) acquired AUO's (AUO) stake in Malaysian JV for $170 million.
MGT Capital Investments (MGT 1.89, -0.63 -25.00%) announced that the New York Stock Exchange informed the company that it will not approve the listing on the Exchange of the 43.8 million shares that the company is required to issue in order to complete the closing of the D-Vassive merger.
Analyst actions:
TECD was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Stifel, to Buy at CLSA, and to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill, AMD was upgraded to Mkt Perform from Underperform at Bernstein,
BLOX was upgraded to Hold from Sell at Deutsche Bank,
FLEX and APH were upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman,
JBL was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman,
BCOM was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Chardan Capital Markets;
AVT was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel,
ARW was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman,
IQNT was downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at Raymond James,
FIVN was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at BofA/Merrill,
AVT was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Cross Research,
BLOX was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Guggenheim,
DTSI was downgraded to Market Perform at William Blair;
NOW was initiated with a Market Perform at BMO Capital,
MBLY was initiated with a Buy at SunTrust,
VSM was initiated with an Outperform at Oppenheimer,
NVDA was initiated with a Neutral at SunTrust,
COMM was initiated with an Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley,
ARRS was initiated with an Overweight at Morgan Stanley,
PCTY was initiated with a Sector Weight at Pacific Crest,
INTC, AVGO, MXIM, MSCC, LSCC, CAVM were initiated with a Positive at Susquehanna,
NVDA, MRVL, AMD, AMCC were initiated with a Neutral at Susquehanna,
KN was initiated with a Negative at Susquehanna,
ULTI was initiated with an Overweight at Pacific Crest,
VOD was initiated with a Hold at Argus
