$SXT

U.S. equity futures extended gains, looking to build on the upward momentum Thursday as corporate earnings and improving sentiment offset persistent concerns that inflation will continue to weigh on markets over the months ahead. It was a stellar performance for U.S. stocks on Thursday as all eleven S&P 500 Index sectors advanced in a rally led by materials and technology following better-than-expected corporate earnings, slightly lower than expected inflation data and lower-than-forecast jobless claims, The easing in producer price inflation added to the market “risk-taking”, sending the yield on the 10-year Treasury as low as 1.505%. The dollar pared losses while commodities and precious metals gained. When it was all over, the S&P 500 closed up 1.7% for its biggest gain in 7-months (up about 18% in 2021, and it is down just over 2% from its Sept. 2 record high close) and on the verge of moving back above its 50-DMA (stands at 4,436). The Nasdaq Composite rose 1.73%, its largest % gain since May 20th and the Dow with its biggest % jump since July 20th (+1.56%). Fear continues to disappear as the CBOE volatility index (VIX) closed down 1.78 points at 16.86, for its lowest closing level since September 3rd. A busy morning ahead of for economic data with Empire manufacturing retail sales, import data and confidence readings all expected. Overseas, European stocks are on pace for their best week in seven months, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed at a two-week high. The Nikkei Index jumped 517 points (1.81%) to settle at 29,068, the Shanghai Index rose 14 points to 3,572, and the Hang Seng Index advanced 368 points to 25,330. In Europe, the German DAX gains 0.25% to move above 15,500, while the FTSE 100 rises 0.3% to 7,225. Bitcoin prices looking to end the week near its best levels since May, topping the $59,000 level, picking up momentum in October as prices are up roughly $18,000 in the first two-weeks of the month. Bloomberg reported overnight that the SEC is set to approve the first set of exchange traded funds linked to the world’s biggest cryptocurrency. Market Closing Prices Yesterday · The S&P 500 Index spiked 74.46 points, or 1.71%, to 4,438.26 · The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 534.75 points, or 1.56%, to 34,912.56 · The Nasdaq Composite surged 251.79 points, or 1.73%, to 14,823.43 · The Russell 2000 Index advanced 32.21 points, or 1.44% to 2,274.18 Events Calendar for Today · 8:30 AM ET Empire Manufacturing Index for October…est. 27.0 · 8:30 AM ET Import Prices MoM for September…est. +0.6% · 8:30 AM ET Retail Sales MoM for September…est. (-0.2%) · 8:30 AM ET Retail Sales Ex Autos MoM for September…est. +0.5% · 10:00 AM ET Business Inventories MoM for August…est. +0.6% · 10:00 AM ET University of Michigan Confidence, Oct-P…est. 73.1 · 1:00 PM EST Baker Hughes Weekly rig count data Earnings Calendar: · Earnings Before the Open: BMI, $GS, JBHT, PLD, $PNC, $SCHW, SXT, TFC Sector News Breakdown Consumer · Corsair Gaming ($CRSR) sees 3Q revs about $391Mm vs est. $484Mm, cuts FY revs to $1.825-1.925B from $1.9B-$2.1B and vs est. $2.04B · Del Taco Restaurants ($TACO) 3Q adj EPS $0.11 vs est. $0.10 on revs $124.3Mm vs est. $124.9Mm, system comps +1.8% vs est. +2.4% (company +1.6% vs est. +2.38%) · Duckhorn Portfolio ($NAPA) 12M share Secondary priced at $20.50 · Sun Country Airlines ($SNCY) 8.5M share Secondary priced at $32.50 Energy, Industrials & Materials · Alcoa Corp. ($AA) another record quarter for net income; announces initiation of a quarterly cash dividend and a new $500 mln share repurchase program; Q3 adj EPS $2.05 vs. est. $1.71; Q3 sales $3.11B vs. est. $2.93B; 2021 shipment outlook for alumina and aluminum segments remains unchanged; anticipates continued positive financial results in q4 of 2021 · Boeing ($BA) former chief technical pilot was charged with fraud on Thursday for deceiving federal regulators evaluating the company’s 737 MAX jet, hindering the ability to protect airline passengers and leaving “pilots in the lurch,” the U.S. Justice Department said – Reuters · EOG Resources ($EOG) says for Q3 of 2021, anticipates a net loss of $494 mln on mark-to-market of its financial commodity derivative contracts · Virgin Galactic ($SPCE) plunges over -20%; begins planned vehicle enhancement and modification period; Unity 23 test flight rescheduled to follow completion of this program; says enhancement period about 1-month later than anticipated, and commercial service is now expected to commence in Q4 · Kosmos ($KOS) 37.5M share Secondary priced at $3.30 Financials · Discover Financial Services ($DFS) said credit card charge-off rate 1.01% at September end vs 1.14% at august end; credit card delinquency rate 0.95% at September end vs 0.92% at august end · Truist ($TFC) Q3 EPS adj $1.42 vs. est. $1.19; qtrly net interest income was down 0.4% compared to Q2 2021 and 3.8% compared to Q3 2020; Q3 revs $5.6B vs. est. $5.53B; provision for credit losses was a benefit of $324M for Q3, primarily reflecting an improving economic outlook Healthcare · Moderna ($MRNA) adding to yesterday gains after a panel of expert advisers to the U.S. FDA unanimously voted on Thursday to recommend booster shots of its COVID-19 to those age 65 and older and those at high risk of severe illness or occupational exposure to the virus · Hologic ($HOLX) announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Bolder Surgical, a privately held, U.S.-based company that provides advanced energy vessel sealing surgical devices, for approximately $160M · Neurix Therapeutics ($NRIX) 3Q EPS ($0.65) vs est. ($0.63) on revs $10.3Mm vs est. $8.5Mm · Johnson & Johnson ($JNJ) announces that LTL Management LLC, a newly created and separate subsidiary, established to hold and manage claims in the cosmetic talc litigation, has filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection · MiNK Therapeutics ($INKT) 3.33M share IPO priced at $12.00 · Paragon 28 $(PNA) 7.813M share IPO priced at $16.00 Technology, Media & Telecom · Duck Creek Technologies ($DCT) Q4 non-GAAP EPS $0.02, in-line with ests; Q4 revs $70.9M vs. est. $69.1M; sees FY22 revs $292M-$300M vs. est. $303M; sees Q1 revs $68M-$70M vs. est. $68.7M · Adtran ($ADTN) guides Q3 revenue $138M below consensus of $148.9M; sees Q3 gross margin at 34.6 and operating loss of $2.6M · Paltalk ($PALT) 1.35M share Spot Secondary priced at $7.50

Friday, July 23, 2021 Futures Up/Down % Last Dow 169.00 0.49% 34,878 S&P 500 21.25 0.49% 4,381 Nasdaq 71.50 0.48% 15,000 Stocks looking to build on weekly gains, boosted overnight from strong results in the social media sector as both Twitter ($TWTR) and Snap ($SNAP) top expectations in what has been a generally strong week for quarterly earnings. After yesterday’s semiconductor weakness behind TXN guidance, Dow component Intel ($INTC) issues a beat and raise for the year last night, though conservative guidance for Q3 weighs on shares early. Major indexes rose for a third straight session on Thursday as investors looked past mixed weaker data showing a rise in first-time claims for unemployment benefits last week. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index rose 159 points to 27,548, the Shanghai Index fell -24 points to 3,550, and the Hang Seng Index drops over 400 points (1.45%) to settle at 27,321. In Europe, the German DAX is up over 150 points (about 1%) to 15,665, while the FTSE 100 gains over 50 to 7,025. While enthusiastic about the economic recovery, investors remained nervous about the spread of the delta variant of COVID-19 which had weighed on sentiment last week. Markets also prepare for the busiest week of quarterly earnings coming up with results from Apple, Alphabet, and Facebook among them,. Market Closing Prices Yesterday The S&P 500 Index gained 8.79 points, or 0.20%, to 4,367.48 The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 25.35 points, or 0.07%, to 34,823.35 The Nasdaq Composite gained 52.64 points, or 0.36%, to 14,684.60 The Russell 2000 Index declined -34.57 points, or 1.55% to 2,199.48 Events Calendar for Today 9:45 AM ET Markit Composite Flash PMI 9:45 AM ET Markit Manufacturing PMI for July 9:45 AM ET Markit Services Flash PMI 1:00 PM EST Baker Hughes Weekly rig count data Earnings Calendar: Earnings Before the Open: $ACBI, $AIMC, $AXP, $CIVB, $FHN, $GNTX, $HON, $KMB, $NEE, $NEP, $RF, $ROP, $SBSI, $SLB, $SXT Macro Up/Down Last Nymex -0.09 71.82 Brent -0.11 73.68 Gold -7.45 1,799.50 EUR/USD -0.0008 1.1763 JPY/USD 0.31 110.45 10-Year Note +0.026 1.293% World News Eurozone July Markit Mfg. PMI (flash) beat: 62.6 vs 62.5 consensus Eurozone July Markit Services PMI (flash) beat: 60.4 vs 59.5 consensus UK June Retail Sales Inc Auto Fuel YoY, actual 9.7%, est. 9.5%, prior 24.6% UK June Retail Sales Inc Auto Fuel MoM, actual 0.5%, est. -0.1%, prior -1.4%, revised -1.3% German July Markit/BME Germany Composite P, actual 62.5, est. 60.7, prior 60.1 German July Markit Germany Services PMI, actual 62.2, est. 59.5, prior 57.5 UK Markit/CIPS UK Services PMI, actual 57.8, est. 62.0, prior 62.4 UK July Markit UK PMI Manufacturing SA, actual 60.4, est. 62.3, prior 63.9 Sector News Breakdown Consumer Magna International Inc. ($MGA) to acquire Veoneer, Inc. ($VNE) for $ 31.25 per share in cash, representing a total value of $ 3.8 billion, and an enterprise value of $ 3.3 billion, inclusive of Veoneer’s cash, net of debt and other debt-like items as of March 31, 2021 Chinese education names getting crushed down over 40%: New oriental (EDU), TAL Education (TAL), and Gaotu Techedu ($GOTU) getting crushed on Bloomberg report that China is considering asking companies that offering tutoring on the school curriculum to go non-profit, according to people familiar with the matter. In rules currently being mulled, the platforms will likely no longer be allowed to raise capital or go public, the people said Boston Beer ($SAM) shares fall -15%; Q2 EPS $4.75 vs. est. $6.69; Q2 revs $602.8M vs. est. $657.6M; sees year EPS $18.00-$22.00 vs. est. $24.66; in 2021 and going forward, company has chosen not to report covid-19 related direct costs separately Del Taco ($TACO) Q2 adj EPS $0.16 vs. est. $0.11; Q2 revs $125M vs. est. $122.79M; Q2 system-wide comp store sales up 17.8%; Q2 company-operated comp sales up 18.3% and Q2 franchise comp sales up 17.2%; expects system-wide new unit growth to achieve 5% in 2023 led by franchising Skecher’s ($SKX) 2Q EPS $0.88 vs est. $0.52 on revs $1.66B vs es.t $1.49B; guides 3Q EPS $0.70-0.75 vs est. $0.63, sees 3Q revs $1.6-1.65B vs est. $1.52B; guides FY EPS $2.55-2.65 vs est. $2.13, sees FY revs $6.15-6.25B vs est. $5.93B Lamb Weston Holdings ($LW) announces $415 million capital investment in new French fry processing line in American falls, Idaho; declares quarterly dividend Robert Half ($RHI) 2Q EPS $1.33 vs est. $1.05 on revs $1.58B vs est. $1.48B Scholastic ($SCHL) 4Q adj EPS $0.90 on revs $401.4Mm; expects significant growth in FY22 revs yr/yr com ($GAMB) 5.25M share IPO priced at $8.00 Xponential Fitness ($XPOF) 10M share IPO priced at $12.00 Energy DMC Global (BOOM) 2Q EPS $0.10 vs est. $0.13 on sales $65.4Mm vs est. $69.5Mm; guides 3Q sales $46-48Mm vs est. $73.3Mm First Energy (FE) 2Q adj EPS $0.59 vs est. $0.57 on revs $2.6B vs est. $2.65B; guides 3Q adj EPS $0.70-0.80 vs est. $0.82; guides FY adj EPS $2.40-2.60 vs est. $2.50 Financials Capital One ($COF) Q2 adj EPS $7.71 vs. est. $4.61; Q2 revs $7.4B vs. est. $7.09B; NII $5.74B vs est. $5.58B, NIM 5.89% -10bps sequentially, common equity tier 1 capital ratio 14.5%, provision decreased $337Mm to ($1.2B) vs 1Q Bank OZK ($OZK) Q2 EPS $1.16 vs. est. $0.92; return on average assets 2.24% vs. 0.78% y/y; return on average equity 13.7% vs. 4.92% y/y; net interest income $240.7 million, +11% y/y; efficiency ratio 38.4% vs. 42.1% y/y Independent Bank ($INDB) Q2 EPS $1.17 vs. est. $1.08; Q2 revs $118.32M vs. est. $117.92M; total assets of $14.2B at June 30 increased by $420.3M, or 3.1%, from the prior quarter, and by $1.2B, or 9.0%, as compared to the year ago period; Q2 total loans at June 30 decreased by $307.7M, or 3.3%, when compared to the prior quarter RenaissanceRe ($RNR) 2Q adj EPS $5.64 vs est. $4.74 on revs $1.48B vs est. $1.28B, says net claims and claim expenses incurred associated with the covid pandemic were not significant in 2Q SVB Financial ($SIVB) Q2 GAAP EPS of $9.09 vs. est. $6.50; Q2 revs up 69% YoY to $1.49B (+69.0% Y/Y) beats by $350M; Q2 average loans of $49.8 billion, an increase of $3.5 billion; period-end loans of $50.8 billion, an increase of $3.1 billion; average total client funds increased $45.9 billion to $308.1 billion, which includes an increase in average on-balance sheet deposits of $23.2 billion R. Berkley ($WRB) Q2 EPS $1.27 vs. est. $0.94; Q2 revenue $2.30B vs. est. $2.16B; Q2 net premiums written $2.21B vs. $1.74M last year and consolidated combined ratio of 89.7% vs. 98.7% last year Future FinTech ($FTFT) files $200M mixed securities shelf S. Century Bank ($USCB) 4M share IPO priced at $10.00 Healthcare Caribou Biosciences (CRBU) 19M share IPO priced at $16.00 Cytek Biosciences (CTKB)7M share IPO priced at $17.00 Sophia Genetics (SOPH) 13M share IPO priced at $18.00 Industrials & Materials Honeywell ($HON) Q2 EPS $2.02 vs. est. $1.94; Q2 revs $8.81B vs. est. $8.63B; raises FY21 adj EPS view to $7.95-$8.10 from $7.75-$8.00 (est. $8.01) and boosts FY21 revenue view to $34.6B-$35.2B from $34B-$34.8B (est. $34.93B) Carlisle Corp. ($CSL) Q2 adj EPS $2.16 vs. est. $2.12; Q2 revs $1.2B vs. est. $1.15B; now sees full year sales to be up mid-teens Celanese ($CE) 2Q EPS $4.81 vs est. $4.44 on revs $2.2B vs est. $1.96B; guides 3Q adj EPS $4.50-4.75 vs est. $3.39; guides FY adj EPS $16.50-17.00 vs est. $13.98 S. Xpress Enterprises ($USX) Q2 adj EPS $0.08 vs. est. $0.16; Q2 revs $475M vs. est. $463.69M; continues to expect strong freight demand for balance of 2021; says expects total fleet size to begin growing in q3 Vicor ($VICR) reports Q2 EPS 43c vs. est. 33c; Q2 revs $95.4M vs. est. $93.98M Technology, Media & Telecom Intel Corp. ($INTC) 2Q adj EPS $1.28 vs est. $1.05 on revs $18.5B vs est. $17.8B; guides 3Q adj revs $18.2B vs est. $18.1B and adj EPS about $1.10 vs est. $1.08; guides FY adj revs $73.5B vs est. $72.8B, sees FY adj EPS $4.80 vs est. $4.62, sees FY adj gr mgn about 56.5% Twitter ($TWTR) Q2 EPS $0.20 vs. est. $0.07; Q2 revs $1.19B vs. est. $1.07B; Q2 Advertising revenue totaled $1.05 billion, an increase of 87% yoy, or 85% on a constant currency basis; Q2 cost per engagement (CPE) increased 42% yoy; reached 206 million average monetizable DUA in 2q, up 11%; Q2 international revenue $537m; had 11% year-over-year growth in monetizable daily active usage Snap inc. ($SNAP) 2Q adj EPS $0.10 vs est. ($0.01) on revs $982Mm vs est. $845.5Mm, DAU +23% to 293Mm; guides 3Q revs $1.07-1.085B vs est. $1.0B, sees 3Q adj EBITDA $100-120Mm vs est. $116.7Mm, says currently estimate DAU grow about 21% yr/yr to reach about 301Mm in 3Q, continues to invest heavily in video advertising, says the expected iOS platform policy changes did not materialize in 2Q to disrupt ad demand Verisign ($VRSN) Q2 EPS $1.31 vs. est. $1.32; Q2 revs $329M vs. est. $327.95M; ended 2q with cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $1.12B; ended Q2 with 170.6 million .com and .net domain name registrations in the domain name base, a 5.2% increase from the end of the second quarter of 2020, and a net increase of 2.59 million during the second quarter of 2021 Clearfield ($CLFD) 3Q EPS $0.44 on sales $38.7Mm; guides FY sales $150-160Mm above est. $122.9Mm Outbrain ($OB) 8M share IPO priced at $20.00