Daily morninnig chai briefing

 

The S&P 500 futures trade eight points, or 0.2%, above fair value as the market welcomes a batch of better-than-expected earnings reports from retailers, highlighting the resiliency of the consumer during the pandemic. 

Walmart (WMT 136.90, +1.30, +1.0%) and Home Depot (HD 292.35, +4.11, +1.4%) both delivered strong results, with Home Depot growing revenue 23.4% yr/yr and Walmart increasing U.S. eCommerce sales by 97% in the second quarter. In addition, Advance Auto Parts (AAP 170.25, +9.25, +5.8%) and Kohl's (KSS 24.14, +0.69, +2.9%) beat top and bottom-line estimates. 

Note, WMT and HD shares are trading well off pre-market highs but are still on track to open at fresh all-time highs. Likewise, the S&P 500 has flirted with record highs over the past week and appears it'll have another shot today, although the pullback in Walmart and Home Depot has tempered enthusiasm. 

On the data front, investors will receive Housing Starts (Briefing.com consensus 1.230 million) and Building Permits (Briefing.com consensus 1.332 million) for July at 8:30 a.m. ET. 

U.S. Treasuries trade near their flat lines. The 2-yr yield is flat at 0.15%, and the 10-yr yield is flat at 0.68%. The U.S. Dollar Index is down 0.4% to 92.52. WTI crude is down 0.6%, or $0.26, to $42.63/bbl. 

In U.S. Corporate news: 

Stocks on the Move

  • Walmart (WMT 136.90, +1.30): +1.0% after beating top and bottom-line estimates. 
  • Home Depot (HD 292.35, +4.11): +1.4% after beating top and bottom-line estimates.
  • Oracle (ORCL 55.20, +1.21): +2.2% amid reports the company is interested in buying TikTok's U.S. operations.
  • Advance Auto Parts (AAP 170.25, +9.25): +5.8% after beating top and bottom-line estimates. 
  • Kohl's (KSS 24.14, +0.69): +2.9% after beating top and bottom-line estimates. 


Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (AAP), Kohl's Corporation (KSS) and Lowe`s Companies Inc (LOW) are moving higher this morning, while Southwest Airlines Co (LUV), Chevron Corporation (CVX) and Darden Restaurants, Inc. (DRI) are headed lower. Curaleaf Holdings Inc (CURLF), Best Buy Co Inc (BBY) and Barings BDC Inc (BBDC) were upgraded by analysts this morning, while Principia Biopharma Inc (PRNB), Liberty Broadband Corp Series A (LBRDA) and Howmet Aerospace Inc (HWM) were downgraded.

International Markets

Stocks in Asia are up. The Mumbai Sensex is up 1.26%, the Australia ASX All Ordinaries is up 0.81%, the Shanghai SE Composite Index is up 0.36% the Nikkei 225 is up 0.2% and the Hang Seng is up 0.08%. In Europe stocks are up. The DAX is up 0.81%, the Euro Stoxx 50 is up 0.62%, the CAC 40 is up 0.4% and the FTSE 100 is up 0.16%.

Futures and Currencies

Energy futures are mixed today. The price for West Texas Intermediate crude oil is down -0.26 at 42.63 per barrel. Brent crude is down -0.13 at 45.24 per barrel. Natural Gas is up 0.03 at 2.37. Precious metals are up this morning. Gold is up 22.39 at 2007.69 per ounce. Platinum is up 10.33 at 968.14 while silver is up 0.6 at 28.43. The dollar is down compared to the major currencies today. The greenback is down against the euro, down against the Yen and down against the Pound.

Put/Call Ratio

Yesterday, 1,503,746 call contracts traded on the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) compared to 743,585 put contracts. The single-session put/call ratio was 0.49.

Oracle in talks to acquire TikTok business, challenging Microsoft

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) has jumped into the fray to potentially acquire the North American and Australia/New Zealand business of TikTok (BDNCE) - squaring off against rival Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), which is thought to be in pole position for the acquisition. Oracle is reportedly working with some of TikTok's existing VC investors, including General Atlantic and Sequoia Capital, and CNBC says the talks are recent and ongoing.




Boeing deepens job cuts

For a second time this year, Boeing (NYSE:BA) is preparing to offer further voluntary buyouts to its employees, extending its workforce cuts beyond the original 10% target unveiled in April, Bloomberg reports, citing an internal message from CEO Dave Calhoun. The “voluntary layoffs” will be offered to workers in the planemaker’s commercial airplanes unit, services division, and corporate operation, Calhoun said in the message. Boeing began laying off 6,700 employees in late May, part of the 10% staff cuts outlined in April.


Robinhood valuation jumps to $11.2B after $200M funding round

Robinhood’s latest funding round comes from D1 Capital Holdings, boosting its valuation from $8.6B and marking its third major investment in five months. The news comes about a week after the stock-trading app company announced plans to hire hundreds of additional registered financial representatives to serve its growing number of customers. In June the company’s daily average revenue trades exceeded those of publicly traded brokerage firms. Last month, Robinhood got $320M of investment added to an earlier series of funding that was announced in April. And in May, it announced a $280M round of investment. It will use the latest funding to improve its core product and customer experience.


Today's Markets

In Asia, Japan -0.20%. Hong Kong +0.08%. China +0.36%. India +1.27%.
In Europe, at midday, London +0.10%. Paris +0.49%. Frankfurt +0.37%.
Futures at 6:20, Dow +0.13%. S&P +0.11%. Nasdaq +0.28%. Crude +0.42% to $43.07. Gold +0.86% to $2,015.75. Bitcoin +3.30% to $12,270.5.
Ten-year Treasury Yield -9 bps to 0.674%

Today's Economic Calendar

8:30 Housing Starts
8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
10:00 E-Commerce Retail Sales




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