The Market In 5 Minutes: Redbook Retail Sales Higher Across The Board
Macro Focus
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 30 points to 19,906.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 4.75 points to 2,265.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 13.25 points to 4,975.00.
Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures gained 0.71 percent to trade at $56.49 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also rose 0.54 percent to trade at $54.19 a barrel.
Redbook U.S. Retail Sales Up 2.1% Week Ended Dec. 24th YoY, U.S. Retail Sales First 4 Weeks Sales Up 1.3% YoY and Up 0.8% MoM
The pending home sales index for November is schedule for release at 10:00 a.m. ET.
The Treasury is set to auction 5-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.
BZ News Desk Focus
It's little surprise that there are virtually no earnings reports of note due out during the quiet week between Christmas and New Year's. But looking ahead, more reports will begin popping up on the schedule right after the turn of the calendar page. Among the most anticipated are the latest results from PepsiCo, Yum Brands and Walgreens Boots Alliance.
Sell-Side Themes
Though it's tough to replicate the performance of 2016, given the tougher comparisons and the uncertainty around policies amid the political leadership transition, Wall Street does see some opportunities that are compelling. Here is a compilation of some top picks recommended by Wall Street analyst for the year 2017.
Sell-Side's Most Noteworthy Calls
Raymond James upgraded Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE: BK) from Outperform to Strong Buy and raises the price target from $50 to $57.
Janney Capital initiated coverage on Impax Laboratories (NASDAQ: IPXL) with a Neutral rating and a $15 price target.
H.C. Wainwright initiated coverage on Ocera Therapeutics (NASDAQ: OCRX) with a Buy rating and a $10 price target.
Deal Talk
Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) has agreed to divest two medical device businesses to settle FTC charges that its proposed $25 billion acquisition of St. Jude Medical (NYSE: STJ) would likely be anti-competitive. The proposed consent order requires the parties to divest to Tokyo-based medical device maker Terumo Corporation all rights and assets related to St. Jude’s vascular closure device business and Abbott’s steerable sheath business, and to assist Terumo with establishing its manufacturing capabilities.
In The News
The number of investors who flipped a house in the first nine months of 2016 reached the highest level since 2007, and about one-third of the deals were financed with debt, a percentage not seen in eight years.
Three Chinese traders earned more than $4 million in illegal profits after hacking into the computer systems of two prominent U.S. law firms to obtain nonpublic information about merger and acquisition deals, according to a federal indictment.
Blogosphere
Time is all you have: "I'll take an earnest person over a hip person every time, because hip is short-term. Earnest is long-term. Earnestness is highly underestimated. It comes from the core, while hip is trying to impress you with the surface."
Trending
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Donald Trump tweeted, "The U.S. Consumer Confidence Index for December surged nearly four points to 113.7, THE HIGHEST LEVEL IN MORE THAN 15 YEARS! Thanks Donald!" Check out #ThanksDonald for what people are saying.
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