US EARLY MORNING: Equity futures trade with slight gains; UoM in focus ahead, before focus shifts on to next week's Fed

TODAY’S AGENDA:

• It is quad witching today.


• Our interactive daily calendar is available here; a pdf version can be downloaded here.


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  EUROPEAN DAY AHEAD: The slate is thin; ECB President Lagarde will deliver remarks after the Eurogroup meeting. Separately, the ECB will publish TLTRO repayment details.


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  US DAY AHEAD: NY Fed manufacturing survey for September is expected to improve, and will be used as a gauge to set expectations of how the ISM data for the month may look when it is published in early October. US and Canadian trade data is due before the open. US industrial production and manufacturing output are both expected to post growth in August, though the pace is seen cooler vs July levels. The prelim University of Michigan survey will provide a glimpse of consumer inflation expectations, while the headlines are seen cooling amid high energy prices. Baker Hughes weekly rig count data is due in the afternoon. On the CRA slate, S&P may review Spain (A), while DBRS may review the Netherlands (AAA).

EQUITY NEWS:

CONSUMER:

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  Automakers - Ford CEO says no current talks with the UAW, have not received a counter-offer from UAW, says the union is not negotiating with it, and is busy planning a strike. Reiterates that Ford has not received a serious counteroffer from UAW in two weeks, adding that the union's +40% wage hike proposal would put the automaker out of business. UAW director Green said union and automakers are still too far apart and that wages are sticking points for talks. Later, reports said UAW was targeting transmission and engine plants at Detroit 3, CNBC said. US President Biden spoke with UAW president Fain and leaders of major automakers to discuss the status of ongoing negotiations, according to the White House. Fain said that workers will strike at Stellantis (STLA) Toledo Jeep plant, Ford's (F) Bronco assembly plant in Michigan and GM (GM) Wentzville mid-size truck plant at midnight if there is no deal. GM (GM) said it was disappointed by UAW strikes, will continue to bargain in good faith; Stellantis (STLA) said it is extremely disappointed, will take appropriate structural decisions to protect its North American operations.


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  Lennar (LEN) - Slipped slightly afterhours following results, where it beat on revenue beat amid rising new home orders. Q2 EPS 3.87 (exp. 3.51), Q2 revenue USD 8.73bln (exp. 8.45bln), Q2 net new orders 19,666 (exp. 18,644), Q2 gross margin on home sales 24.4% (exp. 23.7%), Q2 backlog 21,321 (exp. 20,615). Sees Q4 new orders between 16,200-17,200 (16,591).


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  Tesla (TSLA) - The automaker has begun sounding out potential investors for a new USD 1.8bln securitisation of its EV leases, according to MarketWatch.


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  Instacart - Instacart is set to raise its IPO price target after the successful debut of Arm, WSJ reports. At the high end of the new range, the grocery-delivery company would be valued at nearly USD 10bln on a fully diluted basis.

COMMUNICATIONS:

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  Meta Platforms (META) - WhatsApp may start showing ads in chats, but it's causing controversy at Meta, FT reports. They're also thinking about a subscription fee to remove ads, but many within the company do not like the idea. No final decisions have been made yet. Meta's WhatsApp chief came out and said the FT report on WhatsApp exploring ads was false.


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  Disney (DIS) - Disney is reportedly said to cut target its Disney+ streaming subscribers, Bloomberg reports, anticipates falling "tens of millions" short of its 2024 outlook for 215-245mln subscribers. Disney has also said it has made no decision with respect to the divestiture of ABC or any other property and any report to that effect is unfounded, but it is open to considering a variety of options for linear businesses.


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  Roblox (RBLX), Warner Media (WBD) - Roblox announced appointment of Jason Kilar to the company's board of directors. Kilar recently served as Chief Executive Officer of Warner Media.


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  T-Mobile (TMUS) - T-Mobile is in talks with Tilmann Global Holdings to make a major investment in building out fibre-optic network.


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  DoorDash (DASH) - DoorDash will transfer its stock listing to the Nasdaq Stock Market from the New York Stock Exchange; will continue to trade under the symbol "DASH."

TECH:

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  Adobe (ADBE) - Slipped 1.5% afterhours following Q3 results, which topped expectations, though the outlook was in line. Q3 EPS 4.09 (exp. 3.98), Q3 revenue USD 4.89bln (exp. 4.87bln); Q3 subscription revenue USD 4.63bln (exp. 4.57bln). Sees Q4 adj. EPS between USD 4.10-4.15 (exp. 4.06), and sees Q4 sales between USD 4.98bln-5.03bln (exp. 5.00bln). CEO expects launch of recent generative AI products like Firefly to accelerate subscriptions.


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  Alphabet (GOOG) - Google is nearing the release of Gemini AI, The Information reports. Separately, Google will pay USD 93mln to settle claims by the California Attorney General that it deceived users about collecting and using their location data for ads without consent. Google must also improve transparency and privacy protections as part of the settlement.


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  Oracle (ORCL), Microsoft (MSFT) - Microsoft and Oracle expand partnership to deliver Oracle database services on Oracle cloud infrastructure in Microsoft Azure.


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  Broadcom (AVGO) - Director Eddy Hartenstein sold 1.5K shares on September 12th for a total USD 1.28mln.


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  Salesforce (CRM) - The software maker is to hire 3,300 following layoffs earlier in the year.


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  Uber (UBER) - Uber and Deliverect agree a delivery partnership.

ENERGY:

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  ConocoPhillips (COP) - ConocoPhillips is getting more regasification capacity in Europe at the Gate LNG terminal in the Netherlands. This is part of their strategy to provide cleaner energy to Europe using liquefied natural gas.


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  TotalEnergies (TTE) - Total is said to be in talks to invest USD 700mln in Adani Green's (ADANIGR IS) projects.

INDUSTRIALS:

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  Copart (CPRT) - Q4 adj. EPS 0.34 (exp. 0.31), Q4 revenue USD 998mln (exp. 963mln).


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  J.B. Hunt (JBHT) - J.B. Hunt is buying the brokerage operations of BNSF Logistics, an affiliate of BNSF Railway; will helps it offer better logistics services and improve its transportation network in North America.

MATERIALS:

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  Nucor (NUE) - Sees Q3 EPS between 4.10-4.20 (exp. 4.65), notes the largest impact on earnings is expect to occur at its sheet mills. The announcement saw Nucor fall around 2.0% afterhours, also putting pressure on some of its peers, like US Steel (X).

FINANCIALS:

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  Citigroup (C) - The bank begins layoff talks after management overhaul, with cuts likely to affect support staff in compliance and risk, according to sources.


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  Robinhood (HOOD) - "Chief Creative Officer" Baiju Bhatt sold 80.7K shares on September 12th for USD 877K; General Counsel Daniel Gallagher sold 80K shares on September 12th for a total USD 867.8K.

15 Sep 2023 - 09:30- Data- Source: Newsquawk