Tuesday, September 05, 2017

Bull Radar

Style Outperformer:
  • Large-Cap Growth -.7%
Sector Outperformers:
  • 1) Oil Service +1.4% 2) Gold & Silver +1.1% 3) Utilities +.3%
Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume:
  • INSM, CDZI, XOMA, COL, FUL, WATT, GKOS, MSG, PGTI, GNRC, PLAY, CEO, DBVT, RGNX, AAAP, CRY, ADMS, VERI, MOV, CPB, TS, INFO, WIFI, CISN and WIFI
Stocks With Unusual Call Option Activity:
  • 1) DWDP 2) HDS 3) FNSR 4) QCOM 5) OIH
Stocks With Most Positive News Mentions:
  • 1) INSM 2) XOMA 3) ORLY 4) SWKS 5) KR
Charts:

Morning Market Internals

NYSE Composite Index:

Monday, September 04, 2017

Tuesday Watch

Today's Headlines
Bloomberg:
  • China’s Oil Lifeline to North Korea Targeted After Nuclear Blast. (videoEven before North Korea detonated its most powerful nuclear bomb yet, Japan was calling for moves to cut off its oil supply. Afterward, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to halt all trade with any country that does business with Kim Jong Un’s regime. China, which supplies most of its food and fuel, on Monday called the warning “unacceptable.” Some sort of oil embargo is likely to come up as the international community discusses a response to the nuclear test, with the United Nations Security Council meeting overnight. China has resisted such a move in the past over fears that North Korea might collapse, but has grown increasingly frustrated with its rogue ally.
  • U.K. Retail Sales Tick Up as Food Prices Drive Faster Inflation. Shoppers are spending more, but retailers shouldn’t get too excited just yet. Retail sales climbed in August at the fastest rate since Easter, with the like-for-like gain increasing to 1.3 percent from a year earlier, the British Retail Consortium and KPMG said Tuesday. While that’s the third consecutive month of rising sales, growth has been mainly driven by higher food prices rather than because shoppers are buying more goods, according to the BRC. Purchases of non-food items picked up in the three months to August after a spell of weakness.
  • Stocks Fall as Korea Tensions Flare; Dollar Drops. S&P 500 Index futures retreated and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index declined after a report that Pyongyang is preparing to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile. Most European government bonds advanced and the yen and Swiss franc led currency gains. Gold rose to an 11-month high. Gasoline declined to the lowest in more than a week as some U.S. Gulf Coast refineries said they plan to resume operations following shutdowns forced by flooding from Hurricane Harvey. The MSCI All-Country World Index retreated 0.2 percent, the largest dip in more than two weeks.
  • Aramco Raises Oil Pricing to Asia in Sign of Greater Demand. Saudi Arabia raised oil pricing for October sales to Asia, increasing its lighter grades for a second consecutive month, in an indication the world’s largest crude exporter sees strengthening demand in its biggest market. State-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Co., known as Saudi Aramco, increased its official pricing for Arab Light crude to Asia by 55 cents to 30 cents a barrel more than the regional benchmark, it said Monday in an emailed statement. The company had been expected to raise pricing by less than that, according to a Bloomberg survey.
  • Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day.
  • United Technologies(UTX) Agrees to Buy Rockwell Collins(COL). United Technologies Corp. agreed to buy Rockwell Collins Inc. for about $23 billion, creating an aerospace behemoth that can outfit jetliners and warplanes from tip to tail. Rockwell Collins shareholders will receive $140 a share in cash and stock, the companies said in a statement Monday. Including net debt, the total deal value is about $30 billion.
Wall Street Journal:
MarketWatch.com:
Zero Hedge: 
Night Trading
  • Asian indices are -.25% to +.5% on average.
  • Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 77.50 +1.5 basis points.
  • Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 18.5 +.25 basis point.
  • Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 74.60 +.02%.
  • S&P 500 futures -.27%.
  • NASDAQ 100 futures -.22%.

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate
  • (CASY)/1.45
  • (PLAY)/.55
  • (HPE)/.26
Economic Releases
10:00 am EST
  • Factory Orders for July are estimated to fall -3.2% versus a +3.0% gain in June. 
  • Final Durable Goods Orders for July are estimated to rise +1.0% versus a prior estimate of a -6.8% decline.
Upcoming Splits
  • None of note
Other Potential Market Movers
  • The Fed's Kaplan speaking, Eurozone Retail Sales report, (MXIM) update call, (FLIR) update call, Citi Healthcare Conference, Piper Select Tech Conference, Barclays Consumer Staples Conference, Barclays Energy/Power conference and the Barclays Media/Telecom Forum could also impact trading today.
BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly higher, boosted by consumer and industrial shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly lower and to rally into the afternoon, finishing mixed. The Portfolio is 75% net long heading into the week.

Weekly Outlook

BOTTOM LINE: I expect US stocks to finish the week mixed as Hurricane Irma concerns, geopolitical worries and technical selling offsets more dovish global central bank commentary, oil strength and tax reform hopes. My intermediate-term trading indicators are giving neutral signals and the Portfolio is 75% net long heading into the week.

Sunday, September 03, 2017

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg: 
  • With Powerful Nuclear Bomb, Kim Dares Trump and Xi to Stop Him. In detonating North Korea’s most powerful nuclear bomb yet, Kim Jong Un is betting it’s too late for either U.S. President Donald Trump or Chinese leader Xi Jinping to be able to take away his atomic arsenal. Kim’s regime claimed on Sunday it successfully detonated a hydrogen bomb that can fit onto an intercontinental ballistic missile, advancing its quest to be able to hit the U.S. with a nuclear weapon. Earlier in the day it said it now had a bomb with a maximum force topping 100 kilotons -- more than six times the magnitude of what the U.S. detonated over Hiroshima. Regardless of whether it was actually a hydrogen bomb, the explosion was big enough to “pretty much end an American city” if strapped on an ICBM, according to Vipin Narang, an associate professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who focuses on nuclear issues. That makes it harder for either the U.S. or China to force Kim to back down, he said.
  • Russia Condemns North Korea's Nuclear Test, Urges Composure. Russia condemned North Korea’s test of a hydrogen bomb on Sunday, but said it was premature to discuss any new sanctions against the isolated country. “Actions of Pyongyang that it thinks will lead to recognizing its nuclear status are unacceptable for us,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said by telephone in Xiamen, where the leaders of Russia, China, Brazil, India and South Africa are meeting. “We are still convinced that the problem of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula can be solved only through dialog.”
  • Investors Can't Get Enough of China's Property Developer Bonds. Dollar bonds sold by China’s property developers are being lapped up by investors, lured by the companies’ stronger earnings and improving credit profiles. Notes sold in July and August by Chinese developers attracted orders 6.3 times the issue size, compared with 2.5 times in May and June, according to data compiled by Bloomberg where deal statistics are available. The firms are taking advantage of the better sentiment, with bond sales rising to a record $35.2 billion this year.
  • Yen Leads Haven Assets Higher as North Korea Tests Hydrogen Bomb. The yen and the Swiss franc strengthened after North Korea tested a nuclear bomb on Sunday, spurring demand for haven assets. The currencies were the best performers on Monday among the Group-of-10 exchange rates after the official Korean Central News Agency said it carried out the test in an act of “self-defense” against its enemies. President Donald Trump threatened to increase economic sanctions and halt trade with any nation doing business with North Korea. While the flight to safer assets was measured, any escalation of rhetoric may worsen investor sentiment, analysts said. The U.S., Japan, France, the U.K. and South Korea have called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Monday, UN Ambassador Nikki Haley said on Twitter. The yen gained 0.8 percent to 109.42 per dollar as of 6:01 a.m. in Sydney on Monday after advancing as much as 0.9 percent earlier. The currency dropped 0.8 percent last week amid speculation global economic growth is improving.
  • S&P 500 Index Futures Decline Following North Korea Nuclear Test. (video) September contracts on the S&P 500 Index were down 0.4 percent at 6:21 p.m. in New York, following five days of gains in the cash market. U.S. traders are using an overnight session of CME Group’s electronic platform to transact equity futures on a holiday weekend before exchanges reopen Tuesday.
Wall Street Journal:
Barron's:
  • Had bullish commentary on (ALL), (ANDV), (TRU), (COO), (NATH), (PCLN), (IT) and (PGR).
  • Had bearish commentary on .

Saturday, September 02, 2017

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg: 
  • EU Drafting Rules to Protect Technology From Foreign Takeovers. European Union regulators are drafting rules to protect European firms with “key technologies” from foreign takeovers, EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said. “We’ve heard concerns about foreign -- often state-owned -- investors taking over European companies that control key technologies," she said in a speech at the Ambrosetti Forum in Cernobbio, Italy. “This issue isn’t simple. It needs careful consideration before we decide how to act. We’re working on this issue now, and we plan to put forward concrete proposals in the autumn.”
  • Kushners’ China Deal Flop Was Part of Much Bigger Hunt for Cash. Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law and top adviser, wakes up each morning to a growing problem that will not go away. His family’s real estate business, Kushner Cos., owes hundreds of millions of dollars on a 41-story office building on Fifth Avenue. It has failed to secure foreign investors, despite an extensive search, and its resources are more limited than generally understood. As a result, the company faces significant challenges.
Wall Street Journal:
MarketWatch.com:
Zero Hedge: