Closing Market Summary: Equities Move Higher on Monday

The major U.S. indices ended Monday in positive territory with the S&P 500 (+0.5%) and the Nasdaq (+0.5%) eking out record closes. The Dow (+0.4%) finished at tick behind its peers while the Russell 2000 (+0.8%) ended in the lead.

Investors shook off concerns surrounding this weekend's cyber security attack from the jump, pushing the stock market higher at the opening bell. From there, the energy sector carried the S&P 500 to its best mark of the day as crude oil rallied on news that Saudi Arabia and Russia are in favor of extending the original OPEC/non-OPEC supply cut agreement, which was scheduled to end in June, by another nine months. The benchmark index hovered near its session high for a while, but crude oil, and the energy sector, started to fade in the late afternoon, leading to some backtracking in the stock market.

WTI crude finished its day 2.1% higher at $48.86/bbl while the energy group (+0.6%) settled with the materials (+0.8%) and financials (+0.8%) sectors atop the day's leaderboard. Financials' solid performance was a positive signal for the broader market in light of the sector's recent struggles; over the last two months the sector has declined around 5.0%. Other influential sectors like health care (+0.6%) and technology (+0.6%) finished a tick above the broader market.

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 126.99, +3.35) underpinned the health care group, jumping 2.7%, after the company's stock was upgraded to 'Overweight' from 'Neutral' at JP Morgan. In the tech group, chipmakers helped keep the sector ahead of the benchmark index, evidenced by the 1.5% increase in the PHLX Semiconductor Index. NVIDIA (NVDA 134.31, +6.42) led the semiconductor advance with a gain of 5.0%, extending its post-earnings rally to 30.5%.

The industrials (+0.5%), consumer staples (+0.4%), utilities (+0.4%), and real estate (+0.3%) sectors finished roughly in line with the broader market while the telecom services (-0.2%) and consumer discretionary (unch) groups lagged. Verizon (VZ 45.38, -0.46) weighed on the telecom services sector, losing 1.0%, amid reports that the company's network suffered outages in major U.S. metro areas on Monday. For its part, the consumer discretionary sector underperformed due to broad weakness within the sector.

Retailers deserve a mention given today's swing in the SPDR S&P 500 Retail ETF (XRT 42.07, -0.06). The XRT started the day solidly higher, adding as much as 1.0%, but sold off in the afternoon ahead of tomorrow morning's earnings reports from Home Depot (HD 157.33, +0.41) and TJX (TJX 76.90, -0.41). The XRT ended Monday with a slim loss of 0.1%

In the bond market, Treasuries ended slightly lower with the 10-yr yield climbing one basis point to 2.34%. Gold ($1,230.10/ozt) added 0.2% while the U.S. Dollar Index (98.81, -0.24) lost 0.2%.

On the data front, investors received May Empire Manufacturing and May Net Long-Term TIC Flows:

• The Empire Manufacturing Survey for May declined to -1.0 from the prior month's reading of 5.2. The consensus estimate was pegged at 7.5.
  • The key takeaway from this report is that manufacturing activity in the New York Fed region slowed in May, which will create a dent in some of the lofty second quarter growth expectations.
• Net Long-Term TIC Flows for May were $59.8 billion versus a revised $53.1 billion (from $53.4 billion) for April.

Tomorrow, investors will receive April Housing Starts (consensus 1.255 million) and April Industrial Production (consensus 0.3%). The two reports will cross the wires at 8:30 ET and 9:15 ET, respectively. 

• Nasdaq Composite +14.2% YTD
• S&P 500 +7.3% YTD
• Dow Jones Industrial Average +6.2% YTD
• Russell 2000 +2.7% YTD

UPDATE 1-Advent, Shanghai Pharma have not approached Stada -sources - Reuters News

15-May-2017 19:53:44

Recasts, changes sourcing, adds background

By Alexander Hübner and Pamela Barbaglia

FRANKFURT/LONDON, May 15 (Reuters) - German drug company Stada Arzneimittel AG STAGn.DE has not been approached by Advent International or Shanghai Pharmaceuticals Holding 601607.SS with a counter offer, two sources close to the matter told Reuters on Monday.

Rival buyout firms Bain and Cinven had offered to buy Stada in April, which seemed to end the contest to acquire the generic drug maker, but Bloomberg reported on Monday that Advent and Shanghai Pharmaceuticals are considering making an offer. (https://bloom.bg/2pPpTni).

Bain and Cinven's offer of 65.28 euros per share and a dividend of 0.72 euros per Stada share was a surprisingly large increase on a previous bid and valued the company at about 5.3 billion euros ($5.81 billion). (Full Story)

Bloomberg reported that Advent and Shanghai Pharmaceuticals are discussing a potential bid of about 70 euros a share, citing people familiar with the matter.

However, Reuters' sources said a fresh bid from the duo is unlikely.

"Shanghai Pharmaceuticals is expected to struggle to secure the financing for a possible counterbid," the sources said. "They don’t have much time left to challenge Bain and Cinven."

Advent and Stada declined to comment and Reuters was unable to contact Shanghai Pharmaceuticals outside business hours.

($1 = 0.9120 euros)

Kerrisdale Advisers discloses updated portfolio positions in 13F filing: Closed position in HAIN

Highlights from 2017 Q1 filing as compared to 2016 Q4 filing:

• New positions in: GIMO (~0.55 mln shares), PSTG (~0.05 mln)
• Increased positions in: CTSH (to ~0.32 mln shares from ~0.25 mln shares), PANW (to ~0.05 mln from ~0 mln), FRGI (to ~0.12 mln from ~0.1 mln)
• Closed positions in: HAIN (from ~0.16 mln shares), SPGI (from ~0.04 mln)
• Decreased positions in: LXFT (to ~0.28 mln shares from ~0.42 mln shares), CHKP (to ~0.03 mln from ~0.16 mln), EBAY (to ~0.23 mln from ~0.28 mln)

Maverick Capital discloses updated portfolio positions in 13F filing with new USFD EVHC KHC WBA WYNN STZ positions

 Highlights from 2017 Q1 filing as compared to 2016 Q4 filing:

• New positions in: USFD (~4.75 mln shares), EVHC (~3.07 mln), KHC (~1.15 mln), WBA (~1.01 mln), WYNN (~0.92 mln), STZ (~0.77 mln), SBAC (~0.62 mln), LVS (~0.51 mln), SLM (~0.24 mln), AXL (~0.14 mln), FCAU (~0.12 mln), CSFL (~0.11 mln), IPXL (~0.11 mln), TER (~0.1 mln)
• Increased positions in: TSO (to ~3.41 mln shares from ~0.04 mln shares), USB (to ~3.65 mln from ~0.87 mln), BUD (to ~1.63 mln from ~0.21 mln), DLTR (to ~4.36 mln from ~3.5 mln), VMC (to ~2.62 mln from ~2.05 mln), ADBE (to ~4.26 mln from ~3.79 mln), CI (to ~2.46 mln from ~2.01 mln) MLM (to ~0.77 mln from ~0.45 mln), SHPG (to ~1.62 mln from ~1.43 mln), GOOG (to ~0.37 mln from ~0.27 mln)
• Closed positions in: CNC (from ~1.4 mln shares), TMUS (from ~0.81 mln), TDG (from ~0.78 mln), INSY (from ~0.27 mln), SC (from ~0.24 mln), MYGN (from ~0.19 mln), EXPR (from ~0.11 mln), FTI (from ~0.09 mln), SEE (from ~0.07 mln)
• Decreased positions in: NWL (to ~3.26 mln shares from ~6.39 mln shares), PFE (to ~19.83 mln from ~22.85 mln), SABR (to ~18.21 mln from ~20.75 mln), AXP (to ~0.01 mln from ~2.34 mln), MYL (to ~1.55 mln from ~3.8 mln), LRCX (to ~0.02 mln from ~1.8 mln), FLT (to ~0.43 mln from ~1.74 mln), AET (to ~0.99 mln from ~2.23 mln), UHS (to ~4.95 mln from ~6.13 mln)

Sandell Asset discloses updated portfolio positions in 13F filing with new MGI WGL MJN WOOF positions

Highlights from 2017 Q1 filing as compared to 2016 Q4 filing:

• New positions in: MGI (~1.21 mln shares), WGL (~0.2 mln), MJN (~0.13 mln), WOOF (~0.12 mln)
• Increased positions in: BRCD (to ~2.04 mln shares from ~1.28 mln shares), NXPI (to ~0.26 mln from ~0.2 mln)
• Maintained positions in: YHOO (~1.08 mln shares), ALLY (~0.55 mln shares), CIT (~0.34 mln shares), CAG (~0.27 mln shares), LVLT (~0.18 mln shares)
• Decreased positions in: VIAV (to ~0.66 mln shares from ~2.53 mln shares), BOBE (to ~0.97 mln from ~1.26 mln)

Eton Park Capital (Eric Mindich) discloses updated portfolio positions in 13F filing: Closed out FITB, CMA positions

 Highlights from 2017 Q1 filing as compared to 2016 Q4 filing:

• New positions in: EA (~0.2 mln shares)
• Closed positions in: AWI (from ~2.31 mln shares; also previously had puts), FITB (from ~2.3 mln), CMA (from ~2.07 mln), CIE (from ~1.97 mln), MOMO (from ~1.4 mln), IMPV (from ~0.66 mln)
• Decreased positions in: BAC (to ~2.19 mln shares from ~6.23 mln shares; also previously had calls), MS (to ~0.7 mln from ~3.13 mln), DVMT (to ~0.15 mln from ~1.65 mln), NXPI (to ~2.02 mln from ~3.37 mln), RAI (to ~2.23 mln from ~3.46 mln), WR (to ~0.87 mln from ~2.02 mln), CDK (to ~0.99 mln from ~1.56 mln), KMI (to ~2.64 mln from ~3.21 mln; also previously had calls), V (to ~1.24 mln from ~1.49 mln)

Brahman Capital Corp discloses updated portfolio positions in 13F filing: new NRG CSX positions

Highlights from 2017 Q1 filing as compared to 2016 Q4 filing:

• New positions in: NRG (~9.99 mln shares), CSX (~5.53 mln), JELD (~2.17 mln), ARD (~1.34 mln)
• Increased positions in: TWX (to ~2.42 mln shares from ~1.77 mln shares)
• Maintained positions in: SIRI (~55.42 mln shares), INFO (~5.68 mln shares), Q (~5.25 mln shares), CHTR (~1.59 mln shares), EXPE (~1.29 mln shares), SPB (~1.03 mln shares)
• Closed positions in: LVLT (from ~3.95 mln shares), EBAY (from ~2.82 mln)
• Decreased positions in: HLT (to ~2.17 mln shares from ~6.51 mln shares)