From Briefing.com: 4:15 pm : The stock market ended Wednesday on a higher note, ending just below its session high. The S&P 500 finished higher by 0.6%, while the Nasdaq (+0.9%) outperformed the benchmark index. The Dow (+0.3%) will begin Thursday's session within striking distance of the 20k mark.
Nine out of eleven sectors finished the day in positive territory, with materials (+1.4%) claiming the top spot on the leaderboard. Consumer discretionary (+1.3%) held the lead for most of the day after automakers reported better-than-expected sales for the month of December. On a year-over-year basis, General Motors (GM 37.09, +1.94)reported a 10.0% increase (consensus +0.7%), while Ford Motor (F 13.17, +0.58)saw a 0.3% gain (consensus -1.6%). The two names finished up by 5.5% and 4.6%, respectively.
Real estate (+1.2%), financials (+0.9%), and health care (+0.7%) also performed better than the broader market. The health care sector received a big bump from biotechnology, evidenced by the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF's (IBB 277.53, +7.24) 2.7% gain. Information technology (+0.4%) also finished in the green, despite losses from top components like Apple (AAPL 116.02, -0.13), Microsoft (MSFT 62.30, -0.28), and Alphabet (GOOGL 807.77, -0.24).
After finishing at the top of the leaderboard on Tuesday, telecom services (-0.3%) finished at the bottom on Wednesday. Energy (-0.3%) performed only modestly better as the sector failed to capitalize on crude oil's positive performance. The commodity ended its trading day up 1.8% at $52.28/bbl amid a weaker U.S. dollar. The U.S. Dollar Index (102.58, -0.66) finished lower by 0.6%.
On the data front, the Federal Reserve released the minutes from its December meeting, showing a discussion about the recent surge in the dollar that lifted the U.S. Dollar Index (102.72, -0.49) to a fresh 14-year high. Members of the committee discussed the potential headwinds stemming from dollar strength, but hedged that discussion by noting that continued dollar strength might keep down inflation. The minutes showed uncertainty over possible changes in fiscal policies, but members agreed that near-term risks to the economic outlook appear roughly balanced.
Treasuries climbed to new highs immediately after the release, but finished the day near their flat lines. The 10-yr yield ended Wednesday unchanged at 2.45%.
Thursday's economic data will include December Challenger Job Cuts at 7:30 ET, December ADP Employment Change (Briefing.com consensus 170,000) at 8:15 ET, Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 265,000) at 8:30 ET, and the December ISM Services Index (Briefing.com consensus 56.6) at 10:00 ET.
On the earning front, several companies are scheduled to report before Thursday's opening bell with Monsanto (MON 105.05, +0.28) and Walgreens Boot Alliance (WBA 82.98, +0.02) being the most notable.
Russell 2000 +2.2% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +0.9% YTD
S&P 500 +1.4% YTD
Nasdaq Composite +1.7% YTD
DJ30 +60.40 NASDAQ +47.92 SP500 +12.92 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2501/1.72 bln/674 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2590/1.19 bln/445
3:30 pm :
In precious metals, gold broke out to its highest level in 3 weeks on notable dollar index weakness
Feb 2017 gold ended today's session up $3.20 (+0.3%) to $1165.20/oz
Mar 2017 silver closed today's session $0.11 higher (+0.7%) at $16.53/oz
The dollar index was -0.6% around the 102.66 level after hitting 14-year highs yesterday, supported precious metals
Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, were +1.3% around the 87.17 level
Natural gas extended yesterday's losses ahead of tomorrow's EIA
Feb Natural Gas closed $0.07 lower (-2.1%) at $3.25/MMBtu
EIA natural gas data will be released at 10:30 am ET on Thursday.
Crude oil ended a volatile day at session highs ahead of tonight's API & tomorrow's official petroleum inventory data
Feb crude oil futures rose $0.92 (+1.8%) to $53.28/barrel
Baker Hughes rig count data will be released Friday at 1 pm ET.
Due to Monday's holiday, EIA petroleum data will be released on Thursday at 11:00 am ET.
API will be released today after the bell.
Base metal copper erased all of yesterday's losses & closed at a session high
Mar 2017 copper closed $0.07 higher (+2.8%) at $2.56/lb
After a strong start to 2017 yesterday, the broader market backed it up with an equally solid Wednesday. Pushing higher today, the Nasdaq Composite gained 47.92 points (+0.88%) to 5477.00. The S&P 500 was up 12.92 points (+0.57%) to 2270.75, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 60.40 (+0.30%) to 19942.16.
As far as action in the Technology (XLK 48.96, +0.17 +0.35%) space, trading mirrored broader market strength, ending near highs. Component Red Hat (RHT 73.10, +2.98 +4.25%) was the best performer following some positive analyst commentary. Other sectors as measured by the S&P closed Wednesday XLB +1.46%, IYZ +1.42%, XLY +1.33%, XLRE +1.26%, XLF +0.81%, XLV +0.79%, XLI +0.59%, XLU +0.37%, XLP +0.00%, XLE -0.21%.
In the S&P 500 Information Technology (818.01, +2.89 +0.35%) space, trading advanced further into the +800 level. Component Seagate Tech (STX 39.12, -0.50 -1.26%) bucked the broader sector trend higher following a premarket initiation at Guggenheim with a Neutral rating. Other names in the space which performed well today included TDC +3.84%, XRX +3.77%, GPN +3.73%, CRM +3.20%, QRVO +3.04%, YHOO +2.98%, NVDA +2.33%, VRSN +2.13%, ADS +2.05%, WU +2.00%.
Other notable news items among sector components:
According to the WSJ, Apple (AAPL 116.02, -0.13 -0.11%) confirmed a $1 billion investment in Softbank's (SFTBY 34.18, +0.96 +2.89%) Vision Fund. The Financial Times also detailed a planned investment by
Oracle (ORCL 38.74, +0.19 +0.49%) in the same fund.
Panasonic (PCRFY 10.49, +0.20 +1.94%) announced a strategic alliance with Walt Disney World Resort (DIS 107.44, +1.36 +1.28%), working with Qualcomm (QCOM 65.47, +0.07 +0.11%) on android-based in-vehicle infotainment system, and partnered with IBM (IBM 169.26, +2.07 +1.24%) to develop cognitive vehicle infotainment system. Financial terms of these deals were not disclosed.
Alliance Data Systems's (ADS 237.78, +4.77 +2.05%) board of directors approved a new stock repurchase program to acquire up to $500 million of ADS's common stock during 2017. The new repurchase program replaces the existing program, which expired at the end of 2016.
Mobileye N.V. (MBLY 41.98, +0.83 +2.02%), BMW (BMWYY 31.44, -0.12 -0.38%), and Intel (INTC 36.41, -0.19 -0.52%) announced that a fleet of about 40 autonomous BMW vehicles will be on the roads by the second half of 2017.
Monotype Imaging (TYPE 20.55, +0.25 +1.23%) appointed Anthony Callini as CFO.
Ebix (EBIX 59.30, +1.55 +2.68%) appointed Sean Donaghy as CFO effective January 3, 2017.
Amazon (AMZN 757.18, +3.51 +0.47%) announced plans to open a second fulfillment center in Jacksonville, Florida. The facility will add more than 1,000 full-time jobs with benefits starting on day one. Also, according to Re/Code, AMZN is planning to sell its own branded workout clothing.
NXP Semi (NXPI 98.30, +0.64 +0.66%) released new test bed for enabling a broad range of secure services on wearables and other connected devices. NXPI announced the SAF4000 -- the world's first fully integrated software defined radio solution capable of covering all global broadcast audio standards, including AM/FM, DAB+, DRM(+) and HD.
IDT Corp's (IDT 19.62, +0.33 +1.71%) net2phone acquired LiveNinja, provider of an innovative customer-facing messaging and live chat management service. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
TiVo (TIVO 21.15, +0.60 +2.92%) signed a long-term intellectual property license with HBO (TWX 96.71, -0.05 -0.05%). Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
Analyst actions:
A was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays,
ON was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman,
NTES was upgraded to Buy from Outperform at CLSA;
ZBRA was downgraded to In-Line from Outperform at Imperial Capital,
TEL was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman,
MSCC was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman,
STM was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley,
A was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Cowen;
AAPL, GLW, NTGR, TSLA, WDC were initiated with Buy ratings at Guggenheim,
IBM, STX, HPE and HPQ were initiated with Neutral ratings at Guggenheim,
PCLN and EXPE were initiated with Buy ratings at Needham,
FSNN was initiated with a Buy at Craig Hallum
3:37 pm ZF and NVIDIA at CES announce artificial intelligence system for autonomous cars, trucks and industrial applications (NVDA) :
ZF, one of the world's largest automotive suppliers and a global leader in active and passive safety technology, announced it is working with NVIDIA to develop artificial intelligence (AI) systems for the transportation industry, including automated and autonomous driving systems for passenger cars, commercial trucks, and industrial applications.
Note Tesla (TSLA) already uses NVDA's DRI
