Thursday Morning Reads
Reads:
- Four-Year Low as Economy Falters
- Oil Highest Since September
- $100 Billion Buyer Is Here to Stay
- Gold Makes Headway Above $1,500
- Putting Christmas In a Brand New Light
- Record Online Sales
- ‘Everyday Supercar’
- There’s None So Blind As Those Who Will Not See
- Biggest Analytical Mistake People Make?
News:
- Spectrum Pharma -38% after poziotinib misses endpoing
- U.S. holiday shopping hits new record
- AWS head sees Alibaba growing in cloud
- Hexo in pact for $25M direct offering
- KKR, AIMCo to buy majority stake in Coastal GasLink pipeline
- Microbot -23.5% on direct offering pricing
- Bull boosts Accenture target
- IQiyi receives dual ISO certifications
- Oil, gold rise ahead of US-China signing
- FDA accepts Immunomedics' refiled sacituzumab govitecan application
- Halo enters into binding LOI to acquire Canmart
- TC Energy sees C$600M gain from Coastal GasLink stake sale
Premium:
Morning Movers:
- up: TREE +5.8%, PIR +5.2%, ACB +4.0%, PRVB +2.9%, VIPS +2.4%, PTI +1.3%, AMD +1.1%, ROKU +0.8%
- down: QGEN -27.6%, MBOT -22.8%, LPL -4.1%, NIO -2.3%, TEVA -1.0%
Charts:
U.S., China closer to trade deal
China’s commerce ministry spokesman said the parties are close to signing the Phase 1 trade deal agreement. The parties are working through the necessary procedures while remaining in communication. Earlier this week, President Trump said there would be a signing ceremony with President Xi Jinping.
Oil, gold gain on trade optimism
Oil and gold prices gained in early hours after the positive comments on the U.S.-China trade deal. Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate both gained 0.4%, with the commodity also benefiting from an OPEC-led supply constriction. Gold crossed the $1,500 per ounce level, marking the strongest performance in nearly two months.
AWS head sees continued Alibaba strength
Amazon Web Services (AMZN) CEO Andy Jassy told Nikkei he expects Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) to continue to grow into a dominant cloud player, but sees Alibaba somewhat limited to China. Jassy said enterprise and public sector cloud adoption is in the early stages, with the U.S. as much as 36 months ahead of other countries in adoption.
Go Deeper: Tech Is Just Getting Started Going Into 2020.
Allergan signs $750M Namenda settlement
Purchasers of Allergan’s (NYSE:AGN) Namenda asked a federal judge to approve a $750M settlement regarding claims the company conspired to keep generics for the Alzheimer’s drug off the market. Allergan signed the settlement on December 20 but denied any wrongdoing.
Go Deeper: Allergan's Near Billion-Dollar Charge.
What else is happening...
Blackstone (NYSE:BX) to replace CEO Calhoun in coming months.
Greece may tap bond markets despite cash buffer.
China shows surging imports of U.S. soy.
Investors not concerned about profit-stock disconnect.
In Asia, Japan +0.60%. Hong Kong closed. China +0.85%. India -0.72%.
In Europe, at midday, London closed. Paris closed. Frankfurt closed.
Futures at 6:20, Dow +0.13%. S&P +0.16%. Nasdaq +0.13%. Crude +0.33% to $61.31. Gold +0.26% to $1,508.80. Bitcoin -0.24% to $7,241.1.
Ten-year Treasury Yield flat at 1.91%
Today's Economic Calendar
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
10:00 State Street Investor Confidence Index
1:00 PM Results of $32B, 7-Year Note Auction
4:30 PM Money Supply
4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet