The Market In 5 Minutes: Ebola, Icahn, NAFTA, Semis And More

IN THE NEWS

Brokerage expert Theresa Carey took the temperature of top executives from the sector at the 2018 Benzinga Global Fintech Awards on emerging trends in a sector that’s rapidly shifting to mobile platforms and intersecting with new instruments such as cryptocurrencies: Link

Cowen analyst Matthew Ramsay initiated bullish coverage on several companies in the semiconductor space in a note late Thursday afternoon: Link

Mortgage rates this week jumped to their highest level since 2011, signaling a shift from a period of ultracheap loans to a higher-rate environment that could slow home price appreciation and squeeze first-time buyers: Link $

China denied on Friday that it had offered a package to slash the U.S. trade deficit by up to $200 billion, hours after it dropped an anti-dumping probe into U.S. sorghum imports in a conciliatory gesture as top negotiators meet in Washington: Link

An experimental Ebola vaccine to be deployed in an outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo has conquered some major scientific hurdles in giving high protection, but it now faces extreme real-world tests including heat, humidity, language barriers and lack of roads: Link

President Donald Trump’s chief Nafta negotiator said the U.S., Canada and Mexico are "nowhere near close to a deal" to update the region’s 24-year-old free-trade pact as U.S. lawmakers warn that time is almost up to reach a agreement that can pass the current Congress: Link

Carl Icahn fired off a letter to the board of AmTrust Financial Services AFSI Thursday, blasting the firm for pursuing an “opportunistic going-private transaction” that would squeeze out minority shareholders: Link

ECONOMIC DATA

• Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan will speak at 9:15 a.m. ET.
• Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard is set to speak at 9:15 a.m. ET.
• The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET.

ANALYST RATINGS

• Evercore upgraded Marriott MAR from In-Line to Outperform
• Piper Jaffray upgraded Mellanox Technologies MLNX from Neutral to Overweight
• Jefferies downgraded Carrizo Oil CRZO from Buy to Hold
• Imperial downgraded Planet Fitness PLNT from Outperform to In-Line

This 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. To get the full version of this note every morning, click here.