The Market In 5 Minutes: Oil Gushes Higher

Macro Focus

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 13 points to 19,724.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures dropped 0.50 points to 2,254.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 18.50 points to 4,874.75.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures gained 4.20 percent to trade at $56.61 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also rose 4.35 percent to trade at $53.74 a barrel.

• The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.
• The Treasury will auction 3-year notes at 11:30 a.m. ET.
• The Treasury is set to auction 10-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.
• The U.S. Treasury budget data for November will be released at 2:00 p.m. ET.

BZ News Desk Focus

As the quarter and the calendar year wind down, things have turned quiet on the earnings front. Yet, the latest quarterly numbers from leading software companies Adobe Systems ADBE and Oracle ORCL will be among the highlights this week.

The consensus Wall Street forecast sees strong top and bottom line growth for Adobe, though at least one analyst indicated there was limited upside during the period. On the other hand, Oracle is expected to report that earnings slipped year-over-year in the period that included the acquisition of a cloud infrastructure company.

Sell-Side Themes

Chardan downgraded Ophthotech OPHT to Neutral and upgraded Regeneron REGN to Neutral.

Sell-Side's Most Noteworthy Calls

• Brean downgraded Finish Line FINL to Hold.
• Piper Jaffray downgraded Depomed DEPO to Underweight.
• Baird upgraded AT&T T to Outperform.
• FBR upgraded Lululemon LULU to Market Perform.
• Cowen started Airgain AIRG at Outperform.
• UBS started MiMedx Group MDXG at Sell.

Deal Talk

Twenty-First Century Fox FOXA confirmed it has reached an agreement in principle regarding a possible offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares in Sky SKYAY it does not already own for £10.75 per share in cash less the value of any dividends subsequently paid by Sky. On Sunday, an unnamed major shareholder told Reuters the bid was too low and they would vote against the deal.

Shares of Invensense INVN spiked as high as $11.02 Friday following a report from Reuters that TDK TTDKY is in talks to acquire the U.S. chipmaker who motion sensors for Apple AAPL and Samsung Electronic, according to sources. The offer is said to be $12 per share.

In The News

Oil prices surged after more oil-producing nations agreed to slash production, a move aimed at pushing the oversupplied oil market into a rebalance, or even a deficit, to prop up a crude market that had been stuck in a two-year slump.

The sharp rise in oil prices has fueled expectations of higher inflation, sending the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note above 2.5 percent for the first time in over two years.

Blogosphere

"China's thirst for foreign acquisitions has been a godsend for western investment bankers, as it's made organizing a competitive sale process a piece of cake," writes Gadfly's Chris Bryant. "The slightest hint that a Chinese buyer might be interested in an asset might be enough to elicit a higher offer from a reticent bidder. But that strategy's now in doubt."

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