Hot News from NewsWare.com

MORNING NOTES:                                                                                                                              

S&P futures are higher this morning.   Trump sent a message indicating the news on a trade deal with China will be announced soon.  U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer is set to travel to Beijing the week of April 29, Chinese trade rep Liu He coming to Washington the week of May 6.Jobless Claims hit a 5 year low this morning. Sales from U.S. retailers showed a positive increase in March, up 1.6%. Futures bounced off of earlier lows and are now slightly positive. In Europe, activity in Germany’s manufacturing sector shrank for a fourth straight month in April. Asian stock markets were mostly lower on Thursday,

S&P’s Overnight          High  289.98     Low   288.07    %Change higher by 0.31%

Oil Prices:

Oil prices are lower this morning.   Oil prices are showing a decline this morning. U.S. crude oil inventories decreased by 1.4m last week according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration report that was released yesterday. On the supply side, it has been reported that Iranian oil exports dropped in April to the lowest level this year. The data is based on outbound tanker traffic from Iranian ports.  India is said to be contracting with other OPEC members and the U.S rather than Iran for its oil needs. On the demand side, the oil market will be watching President Trump’s 6-month waiver program which needs to be renewed in May.  It is likely that the U.S. will remove a few countries from the list but maintain the program for the major Asian countries.

WTI is at $63.65 a barrel, Brent Crude is at $71.52 barrel.     

 For news on oil type in  .OIL or “OPEC” into NewsWare.

 Economic:                         

The PMI data out of the Eurozone showed signs of weakening further in April as the slowdown in manufacturing seems to be spreading to service providers.  The Federal Reserve released its Beige Book yesterday which indicated that economic activity in the U.S continued to grow slowly across the U.S. in the spring and believes a pickup in business activity is likely to occur in the coming months. These sentiments were largely reiterated in the St Louis Fed President James Bullard speech yesterday. Herman Cain will not withdraw his name from consideration for the Fed Board seat, even though he does not have enough Senate support for a conformation. Economic Reports:  At 8:30 am Jobless Claims, Retail Sales and the Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook Survey. At 9:45am ET PMI Composite Flash  At 10:00 am ET Business Inventories & Leading Indicators.

  To access Economic news type   .Economic into NewsWare.

Options Activity:                                                                      

Bullish option activity in                CAT, RF, WTW 

Bearish option activity in              AXP. CTL &

To access news related to options type  .OPTIONS into NewsWare

Sector Update:

Retail      

AZO           .REC       BofA raised its target price to $1210 from $1065.

ULTA         .REC       Piper raises its price target to $378 from $362.

WGN          P/SGN    To allow online shoppers of other brands use their stores for pick up / returns.

Drug Makers:

MBRX       P/SGN      FDA gave Fast Track designation for Annamycin.

MYL           .REC       Citi lowers its price target to $38 from $44.

MDSO        .REC       Piper sees positive in MDSO from Cures Act.

Dow 30:

TRV         .ERN       Beat on EPS, A drop in catastrophe losses helped increase revenue last quarter

BA           P/SGN     News reports – 737 productions cuts likely to lead to a 5% drop in aircraft output.     

CVS         .REC       Raymond James lowered its price target to $75 from $90.        

FANG:

NFLZ    .Volatile        Plans to roll out a mobile only package in India.

FB          Peri.Fly       Said to be working on AI assistant technology to rival Siri & Alexia

FB          .REC           SunTrust says Instagram should add 23b in revenue by 2021.

Rumor:

SPY       SPX          Trump says that you will be hearing about a China deal shortly.

JPM      P/SGN       Marianne Lake to head Consumer Leading, She is the likely heir to Jamie Dimon

CRM      .MA           Agreed to acquire MapAnything – financial terms were not released.

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