The Market In 5 Minutes: Disney, Gilead Investors Not Too Pleased

Below is a tool used by the Benzinga News Desk each trading day — it's a look at everything happening in the market, in five minutes. Apply for daily AM access by clicking here or email minutes@benzinga.com.

Macro Focus

U.S. stock futures traded slightly higher in early pre-market trade. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 12 points to 20,030.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 1 point to 2,289. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 3.25 points to 5,180.00.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures declined 0.35 percent to trade at $54.86 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.63 percent to trade at $51.84 a barrel.

US MBA mortgage applications 2.3% vs -3.2% prior

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories is schedule for release 10:30 a.m. ET.
The Treasury will also auction 10-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

BZ News Desk Focus

Disney DIS Reports Q1 EPS $1.55 vs. Est. $1.50, Rev. $14.78B vs. Est. $15.26B
Gilead Sciences GILD Reports Q4 Adj EPS $2.70 vs $2.61 Est, Revenues $7.32B vs $7.15B Est
Twilio TWLO Reports Q4 Adj EPS Break-Even vs $(0.05) Est, Revenue $82M vs $74.2M Est
Buffalo Wild Wings BWLD Reports Q4 EPS $0.87 vs $1.27 Est, Revenue $494.2M vs $514.35M Est
Time Warner TWX Reports Q4 EPS $1.25 vs. Est. $1.19, Rev. $7.89B vs. Est. $7.72B
Allergan AGN Reports Q4 EPS $3.90 vs. Est. $3.76, Rev. $3.86B vs. Est. $3.77B
Mondelez MDLZ Reports Q4 Adj. EPS $0.47 vs $0.48 Est., Sales $6.77B vs $6.9B Est.
Panera Bread PNRA Reports Q4 EPS $2.05 vs. Est. $1.96, Rev. $727.1M vs. Est. $727
Take-Two TTWO Reports Q3 GAAP EPS $(0.33) vs $(0.51) in Same Qtr. Last Year, Sales $476.5M vs $414.2M YoY

Traders and investors who looked at comScore's SCOR price action Tuesday may have gotten a subtle trading idea: play the stock's possible February 8 delisting. Tuesday's volatility follows a nearly 30 percent decline in comScore on Monday as the company announced it notified the Nasdaq Hearings Panel it would be unable to regain compliance with the SEC's periodic reporting requirements by the February 23, 2017 deadline.

Sell-Side Themes

BTIG initiated coverage on several home-building stocks, with D.R. Horton DHI and Lennar LEN getting Buy ratings while KB Home KBH got a Sell rating.

Sell-Side's Most Noteworthy Calls

Citi downgraded Gilead to Neutral.
Raymond James downgraded NetGear NTGR to Market Perform.
BTIG upgraded Twitter TWTR to Buy.
Ladenburg Thalmann upgraded Myriad Genetics MYGN to Neutral.

Deal Talk

Shares of Macy's M fell on a report from DealReporter that private equity firms were unlikely to bid for the retailer, according to sources. Multiple reports have Canada's Hudson's Bay Co. with Macy's regarding an acquisition or perhaps a deal involving Macy's real estate.

Shares of Sarepta Therapeutics SRPT spiked higher following unconfirmed market chatter of takeover interest. "Sources" said Sarepta could get potential offers from multiple parties of $70 to $75 per share.

Swiss pesticides and seeds group Syngenta SYT said the bridge financing for ChemChina's agreed $43 billion takeover had been secured and that it was working with its prospective parent company on longer-term funding of the deal.

In The News

An appeals court pressed a Justice Department lawyer on whether President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration is discriminatory, while also pushing an attorney for the two states fighting the order to explain how it could be unconstitutional to bar entry of people from terror-prone countries. A ruling is expected within days.

There’s not much to say from an investing standpoint about a stock that has declined 99.6 percent in the past year. However, for day traders, the past year has been one of the most historic and memorable years in history for DryShips DRYS and its stock. DryShips reported Q4 earnings after the market close on Tuesday, and there’s absolutely no telling where the stock will head on Wednesday.

Blogosphere

Seth Klarman, the billionaire manager of hedge fund Baupost Group, recently penned a letter to investors that included his thoughts on President Donald Trump's potential impact on financial markets. Klarman typically avoids the media spotlight, but the registered independent publicly supported Hillary Clinton prior to the election.

The Bond Bashing Will Continue Until Morale Improves: "Europe's year of political turmoil is already stress-testing its bond market. While yields this month have been heading higher for the weaker peripheral nations and France, they're turning back down for Germany, as well as the U.S. and U.K. A flight to safety is a perturbing sign that a shift to risk off may have some legs to it."

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-