Here are five things you need to know this morning:
Giving back: Markets are looking to give back some of the gains from yesterday. Tech stocks carried the day. However, NASDAQ futures are under pressure today even with Nvidia looking to add to yesterday’s record close. BMO initiated on a bunch of tech names, with notable tech analyst Brian Pitz saying he’s looking for winners at the intersection of content creation and artificial intelligence. He prefers Alphabet, Snap and Pinterest over Meta right now. On the U.S. Federal Reserve, the market continues to price in about 150 basis points of rate cuts over the next 12 months. Jim Reid at Deutsche Bank points out that while everything points to a soft landing, history does not. He notes typically when we’ve seen 150 basis points of rate cuts within a year, it’s been because of a recession. But maybe … this time is different? Elsewhere, Boeing is still under pressure this morning and the sell-off in oil prices yesterday has nearly reversed this morning.
Fact check: First Quantum is rebutting a report from Reuters last week that said it is in talks to sell a stake in its operations in Zambia. A company spokesperson told Bloomberg News there is no truth to that report and they are fully committed to their Zambian operations. Analysts viewed the probability of the sale as low, but still acknowledged that it could go a long way to solving the mining company’s liquidity issues that have emerged since it halted production in Panama. Speaking of Panama, there are no signs that the turbulent political climate is abating. Protestors are reportedly blocking the roads near First Quantum’s mine in Panama.
They said, he said: The war of words continues between Gildan and its ousted CEO Glenn Chamandy. One day after Gildan said that Chamandy was losing focus and had no vision for the company, he penned his response in an open letter. He called yesterday’s statement a “premeditated effort to publicly undermine my record.” Chamandy went on to say he presented a comprehensive plan for organic growth at the end of October. Shares have plunged nearly 17 per cent since his ouster.
Pot news: Shares of Canopy Growth are under pressure after announcing a US$30 million private placement this morning. The embattled marijuana producer needs the liquidity, but had to sell shares at a 17 per cent discount to yesterday’s close to help fill the coffers. Meanwhile, shares of Tilray are popping after reporting that revenue hit a record high in their second quarter. While adjusted profitability fell more than expected, its full-year outlook for profit came in above expectations.
Year of the deal: 2024 is shaping up to quite busy on the M&A front. Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise are under pressure as the Wall Street Journal reports they are close to a deal to buy Juniper Networks. The price tag would be around US$13 billion, according to the WSJ, and shares of Juniper were up 25 per cent in the pre-market. Juniper makes routers and switchers, competes with Cisco and counts Amazon and Microsoft as customers. A deal like this could help HPE, which has struggled with top line growth.