Here is what you need to know on Friday, December 17:
Equity markets retreated on Thursday as renewed fears over Omicron hit sentiment and Build Back Better looks unlikely to pass this year if at all. Infrastructure and green stocks were disproportionally knocked down a peg, and Tesla (TSLA) nearly reached our $910 target. President Biden and Senator Manchin are reportedly still miles away from reaching an agreement on the plan. This will hit stocks further in the new year if not sorted soon.
The Nasdaq was the big loser, index wise, on Thursday, as rate hike probabilities fed through to institutional investor positioning. Yield sensitive, unprofitable names will likely struggle, but so-called new defensives also struggled. The poster child for this new breed of cash-rich, defensive stocks, Apple (AAPL) fell 4% on Thursday.
The dollar, meanwhile, has reset and is stronger this morning at 1.1310 versus the euro. Bitcoin is $47,100, and oil is at $71.19, despite Goldman forecasting record demand for 2022 and 2023.
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European markets are lower: Eurostoxx -0.85, FTSE +0.2% and Dax -15.
US futures are lower: S&P -0.6%, Dow -0.45 and Nasdaq -1%.
Wall Street (SPY) (QQQ) news
Record high for UK covid cases on Thursday.
Rivian (RIVN): Q3 earnings and production shortfall see stock fall 9%.
Tesla (TSLA): Elon sells more stock.
Apple (AAPL) slides 4% on Thursday.
FedEx (FDX) up 5% on reinstating 2022 forecasts.
Darden Restaurants (DRI) earnings beat on the top and bottom lines. CEO to retire in May.
Freshpet (FRPT) down 11% on lower guidance.
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Moderna (MRNA), Pfizer (PFE), BioNTech (BNTX): US FDA recommends booster shots use only Moderna or Pfizer. JNJ down 2% premarket.
Novavax (NVAX): WHO issues emergency use listing.
US Steel (X) issues lower guidance than forecast, falls 4%.
Affirm (AFRM) down 2% as US launches probe into Buy Now Pay Later credit.
Cerner (CERN) up 18% on WSJ article that Oracle (ORCL) is in talks to buy it.
Upgrades and downgrades
Source: Benzinga Pro
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