After a mixed session yesterday, the picture remains the same today on Wall Street.The Nasdaq was down 0.4% in pre-market trading, as tech stocks are sensitive to interest rate fluctuations and remain under pressure after the recent rise in Treasury yields due to monetary tightening in the US.Investors are awaiting the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting due later today to get more clues about the Feds next moves.Concerns over the Omicron variant have eased, since studies suggest it is causing less severe symptoms than previous variants.Investors believe that the impact on economic recovery will be limited.
Omicron may not be the predicted cataclysm, and it may even be the beginning of the coronavirus’ gradual demise.Optimists point to the fact that infections are piling up like followers on Ariana Grande’s account, while resuscitation beds are filling up much more slowly.
Are we approaching the end of the tunnel or are we going to be disappointed for the umpteenth time?
Airline and motor vehicles stock were very popular yesterday.After all, the demise of Covid should allow auto sales to rebound from almost as depressed in 2021 as they were in 2020, but for different reasons.In 2020, dealerships were closed and people were scared.In 2021, dealerships were open but had no vehicles to sell because of a lack of electronic chips.
Toyota sold more vehicles in the United States than General Motors in 2021.GM had not been dethroned since 1931, when it overtook Ford.This is a bit anecdotal – 2021 was an atypical year because of shortages – but it still illustrates the evolution of a sector that is less inert than is generally thought.
Another sector news is Tesla becoming the world’s 15th largest carmaker.In 2017, it had delivered just over 101,000 vehicles.By 2021, that number had increased ninefold to 936,000 units, putting it in the global top 20, ahead of Volvo Car and behind Mitsubishi Motors, roughly speaking.Tesla is succeeding in its bid to become a mass-market carmaker, thanks to an explosive cocktail that is constantly reinforcing the brand’s desirability against the aristocrats of the automotive sector.
Today’s session looks like it’s going to be a bit more bumpy than yesterday: it seems that investors have just sobered up by remembering that monetary policies are tending towards more orthodoxy.
But will this be enough to shake their indecisive optimism? Nothing is less certain.
A bit of good news came today, with new data showing that the private sector in the United States created more than twice as many jobs as expected in December, a sign of the strength of the labor market, according to the ADP December employment survey.
Job creation totaled 807,000 last month, while economists polled by Reuters were expecting an average of 400,000.
Economic highlights of the day:
A bit of a busy session on the macroeconomic front, with the final services PMIs for December for the major economies.In the US, the release of the ADP December employment survey, the DOE weekly oil inventories and the minutes from the last Fed meeting are today’s main events.
The dollar is down to EUR 0.8825.The ounce of gold is up to USD 1826.Oil is up slightly to USD 81.13 a barrel of Brent and USD 78.03 a barrel of WTI.
Bitcoin is up above USD 46,500.
On markets:
Tesla – The U.S.
automaker’s stock is down more than 1% in pre-market trading after Sony Group announced plans to investigate a possible entry into the electric vehicle market, which could increase competition in the sector.
* The Boeing Company – U.S.low-cost airline Allegiant Air is close to ordering 50 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft worth $5 billion at list price, sources close to the matter told Reuters.Boeing shares are up 0.5 percent in premarket trading, while Allegiant Air is down 0.7 percent.
* Meta Platforms , the owner of Facebook, asked to appeal a decision by the British competition authority forcing it to sell the Giphy animated image platform.
* China’s market regulator said Wednesday it has fined divisions of Alibaba , Tencent and Bilibili groups for failing to properly report a dozen transactions.
Alibaba’s shares are down 1.5% in pre-market trading and Bilibili’s are down 4%.
* The owner of fast food chain KFC announced Tuesday night that it will offer Beyond Meat ‘s “veggie chicken” menu items in the U.S.starting Jan.10 for a limited time.Beyond Meat shares are up 10% in pre-market trading.
* AT&T announced Wednesday that it attracted 800,000 monthly paying subscribers to its phone services in the fourth quarter.
* Walmart announced Tuesday that it plans to hire more than 3,000 delivery drivers in the U.S.and build a fleet of electric vans to deliver food to homes.
* Deere & Co – The U.S.farm equipment maker unveiled on Tuesday an autonomous tractor it plans to market in North America this year, the result of years of efforts to automate farm work and dispense with an in-cab operator.
* Nikola gains 1.6% in pre-market trading after USA Truck agrees to buy 10 electric trucks from it.
Analyst recommendations:
American Tower : J.P.
Morgan downgrades to underweight from neutral.PT down 4.2% to $271 Applied Materials : Jefferies reinstated coverage with a recommendation of buy.PT rises 24% to $197 Chrysalis Investments : Jefferies upgrades from hold to buy targeting GBp 249.Crown Castle : J.P.Morgan cut the recommendation to neutral from overweight.
PT down 1.1% to $200 Ferguson : Berenberg upgrades from hold to buy targeting GBp 15,000.KLA Corp : Jefferies reinstated coverage with a recommendation of buy.PT up 19% to $515 Lam Research : Jefferies reinstated coverage with a recommendation of buy.PT rises 22% to $869 Lincoln National : Evercore ISI downgrades to inline from outperform.PT up 3.2% to $75.However, Piper Sandler upgraded the stock to overweight from neutral.London Stock Exchange : Citigroup upgrades from neutral to buy targeting GBp 9300.
Marks and Spencer : AlphaValue moves from sell to accumulate with a target of GBp 266.Morgan Stanley : Daiwa Securities cut its recommendation to neutral from outperform.PT inches up 0.7% to $105 Ocado : Berenberg upgrades from hold to buy targeting GBp 1990.Plug Power : KeyBanc Capital Markets initiated coverage with a recommendation of overweight.PT jumps 42% to $40 Roku : Atlantic Equities initiated coverage of Roku Inc.Class A with a recommendation of underweight.
PT set to $136 Ryder System : Baird downgrades to neutral from outperform.PT up 6.6% to $90 Spire : Mizuho Securities downgrades to neutral from buy.
PT up 4% to $68 Tesla : Mizuho Securities raises price target to $1,300 from $950, reiterates Buy rating Wells Fargo : Daiwa Securities reinstated coverage with a recommendation of outperform.PT set to $56 3M Company : RBC Capital Markets downgrades to underperform from sector perform.PT down 7.9% to $166
© MarketScreener.com 2022 Receive by email Stocks mentioned in the article Change Last 1st jan.3M COMPANY -0.50% 179.455 1.46% AB VOLVO -0.68% 218.5 4.94% ALIBABA GROUP HOLDING LIMITED 5.20% 125.38 0.65% APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.-1.05% 156.77 0.64% AT&T INC.3.71% 26.648 4.23% AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR / US DOLLAR (AUD/USD) 0.36% 0.7265 -0.89% BELIEVE -0.40% 17.3 2.79% BEYOND MEAT, INC.
2.14% 62.84 -5.43% BILIBILI INC.-2.35% 39.4 -12.89% BITCOIN (BTC/EUR) 1.13% 41118.319522 -0.34% BITCOIN (BTC/USD) 1.56% 46622 -1.09% CANADIAN DOLLAR / US DOLLAR (CAD/USD) 0.01% 0.7867 -0.87% CHRYSALIS INVESTMENTS LIMITED 0.02% 249.05 1.63% CITIGROUP INC.0.53% 63.875 5.30% CROWN CASTLE INTERNATIONAL CORP.-5.53% 191.56 -3.16% DEERE & COMPANY 2.08% 378.725 8.28% EURO / US DOLLAR (EUR/USD) 0.49% 1.13383 -0.60% EVERCORE INC.
0.01% 139.56 2.82% FEEDER CATTLE?FUTURES (GF) – CMG (ELECTRONIC)/C1 -0.05% 162.6 -0.37% FERGUSON PLC -0.11% 13285 1.53% INDIAN RUPEE / US DOLLAR (INR/USD) 0.32% 0.01346 0.14% KFC HOLDINGS JAPAN, LTD.0.62% 2929 1.17% KLA CORPORATION -0.38% 429.91 1.16% LAM RESEARCH CORPORATION -1.07% 704.18 -0.99% LINCOLN NATIONAL CORPORATION 0.37% 72.86 2.12% LIVE CATTLE (LE) – CMG (ELECTRONIC)/C1 -0.02% 137.8 -0.55% LONDON BRENT OIL 1.37% 81.2 1.30% LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE PLC 1.87% 7207.7693 1.99% META PLATFORMS, INC.-1.31% 331.8772 0.05% MORGAN STANLEY -0.42% 103.81 2.07% NASDAQ COMP.-0.84% 15493.224802 -0.14% NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR / US DOLLAR (NZD/USD) 0.23% 0.68299 -0.71% NIKOLA CORPORATION 5.04% 10.775 4.56% OCADO GROUP PLC 3.82% 1614 -7.27% PIPER SANDLER COMPANIES -3.12% 178.74 1.70% PLUG POWER INC.-2.42% 27.45 -0.28% ROKU, INC.-6.61% 207.91 -2.35% RYDER SYSTEM, INC.
-2.74% 82.13 2.41% S&P 500 -0.18% 4784.09 0.57% S&P GSCI CRUDE OIL INDEX 1.67% 428.9158 2.37% SONY GROUP CORPORATION 3.67% 15520 7.22% SPIRE INC.1.10% 66.15 0.28% TENCENT HOLDINGS LIMITED -4.31% 430.6 -5.74% TESLA, INC.0.32% 1154.25 8.78% THE BOEING COMPANY 1.54% 216.75 3.25% TOYOTA INDUSTRIES CORPORATION 4.21% 9890 7.62% USA TRUCK, INC.-2.10% 20.5 5.33% WALMART INC.
2.57% 145.69 -1.86% WELLS FARGO & COMPANY -0.55% 52.465 9.94% WTI 1.65% 78.24 0.78%.
