Tuesday Morning Reads

Out with the fundamentals

Prior to the stock breakups, some were saying that splits are not impactful anymore as fractional shares are becoming widely available at brokerages, while market caps of the companies essentially stay the same. Regardless of the rationality, that doesn't seem to be the sentiment of the new trader, which has created frustration for the old guard. "Look at Tesla and Apple: Everybody understands that [stock] splits don't create value," said Leon Cooperman, who founded Omega Advisors. "My dad once told me if you gave me five singles for a $5 bill, I'm no better off."
Go Deeper: Are price targets now passé?

Cue the tech music

Overnight, S&P 500 and Dow futures rose 0.3% and 0.1%, respectively, though contracts tied to the Nasdaq powered ahead by 1.1%, led by outsized gains for Apple (AAPL) and Tesla (TSLA). Zoom Video (NASDAQ:ZM) also brought cocktails to the party, jumping 27% AH after quarterly revenue more than quadrupled due to stay-at-home trends, while the video-conferencing company raised its sales outlook. The results cemented the Nasdaq's best monthly performance since 2000, while the S&P recorded one of its best Augusts since the 1980s.

Increasing chances of a Trump win - JPMorgan

Position your portfolio for the rising odds of President Trump winning re-election, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co., which says the spread between him and challenger Joe Biden is now nearly even. That's largely due to the impact on public opinion of violence around protests, as well as potential bias in polls, said strategist Marko Kolanovic. "Implications could be significant for the performance of factors, sectors, COVID-19 winners/losers, as well as ESG, though certainly a lot can happen in the next ~60 days."

Phase 3 trials

AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN) is starting Phase 3 trials of its experimental coronavirus vaccine in the U.S., becoming the third company to start late-stage trials to prevent COVID-19. Trial centers across the nation are recruiting up to 30K adults aged 18 years or over. AstraZeneca's vaccine, known as AZD1222, was developed in partnership with Oxford University and has the backing of the U.S. government. Rivals Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) and Pfizer (NYSE:PFE)/BioNTec (NASDAQ:BNTX) already have Phase 3 trials under way, also with federal funding.

Pulling the plug on news sharing

Escalating tensions with Canberra, Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) said it will stop Australians sharing news content on its platforms if a proposal to make it pay local media outlets for their content becomes law. The country would become the first to make the giant social network and Google (GOOG, GOOGL) - which is also opposed to the legislation - pay for news sourced from local providers under a royalty-style system. "We don't respond to coercion or heavy handed threats wherever they come from," Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said in response, adding that the proposed law was in the national interest and followed 18 months of public inquiry.

Walmart announces membership service

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) is finally going head to head with Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) via a nationwide membership program, though the retailer says the new service is "really about doubling down with the customers we have and getting more share of wallet and more share of mind." The program, which costs $98 annually, or $12.95 a month, will launch on Sept. 15. Biggest difference: Walmart+ customers will have to spend a minimum of $35 for each online order to avoid fees, while rival Amazon Prime touts free two-day (and some same-day) shipping on every item.

Drone deliveries

Amazon (AMZN) has received approval from the FAA to operate its fleet of Prime Air delivery drones, allowing the e-commerce giant to expand autonomous packaged delivery. It's not alone. UPS (NYSE:UPS) and Wing, a unit of Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) have already gained clearance to operate unmanned air fleets in the U.S. While routine drone deliveries to American consumers are still years away, Amazon is targeting package delivery to customers in 30 minutes or less (it began testing in 2018).

What else is happening...

Eurozone inflation turns negative for first time since 2016.

J.C. Penney (OTCPK:JCPNQ) plans sale to lenders after talks hit stalemate.

Eastman Kodak (NYSE:KODK) up 20% premarket as D.E. Shaw takes stake.

Cowen sees big demand for Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) spaceflights.

Anthem (NYSE:ANTM), Cigna (NYSE:CI) can't collect damages over failed merger.

Delta (NYSE:DAL) and American (NASDAQ:AAL) follow United (NASDAQ:UAL) in dropping U.S. change fees.