Last week indices in the United States managed to set fresh records on the price boards. Interestingly, we saw Wall Street indices initially take a dip on Friday. This dip came after the US government announced that employment declined in December. Contrary to expectations, the number of jobs fell by 140,000, while economists had expected an increase of about 50,000 jobs. The question is whether this has halted the recovery of the labor market or whether this effect is temporary due to stricter corona measures.
In response to the bad jobs report, upcoming president Joe Biden announced that he would come up with additional stimulus measures to get the US economy through the corona crisis. The stock markets recovered towards the close and eventually, the indices closed at the highest point of the day. The S&P 500 closed with a gain of 0.55% at 3,824 points and the Nasdaq gained 1.03% at 13,202 points.
Earnings Update
This week the earnings season will officially start, and the American major banks will give the starting shot. Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, among others, will open the books this Friday. On Tuesday, Just Eat Takeaway, Blackrock, and Alcoa will be the first to open the books.
Corporate News
Twitter’s share price closed 1.61% lower on Friday. According to Twitter, Donald Trump incites violence and Facebook and Instagram also blocked Trump’s accounts until at least until after the inauguration of Joe Biden. Trump was a very active twitterer and had about 88 million followers.
Many celebrities are happy with the ban, but others point to censorship. Big Tech is also accused of restricting freedom of speech. The question is whether Trump will soon take a formal approach to Big Tech.
Today Top Movers
Castor Maritime Inc (CTRM), a Marine Shipping company, soared about 7.49% at $0.21 in pre-market trading Monday following the declaration of pricing of $26.0 million registered direct offering.
Nio Inc (NIO) share price jumped 6.26% to $62.61 during the early morning trading session on Monday.
Sundial Growers Inc (SNDL) stock ascended 15.66% at $0.79 in the pre-market trading today.
Avinger Inc (AVGR) gained over 28.40% at $1.15 in pre-market trading on Monday.
Top Upgrades & Downgrades
RBC Capital turned bullish on Royal Gold Inc. (RGLD), upgrading the stock to “Outperform” and assigning a $150.0 price target, representing a potential upside of 42.05% from Friday’s close.
Boot Barn Holdings Inc. (BOOT) has won the favor of JP Morgan’s equity research team. The firm upgraded the shares from Neutral to Overweight and moved their price target to $60.0, suggesting 23.48% additional upside for the stock.
Anaplan Inc. (PLAN) received an upgrade from analysts at Jefferies, who also set their one-year price target on the stock to $85.0. They changed their rating on PLAN to Buy from Hold in a recently issued research note.
Earlier Monday Piper Sandler reduced its rating on salesforce.com inc. (CRM) stock to Neutral from Overweight and assigned the price target to $242.0. With shares trading at around $222.04, the Wall Street firm thinks salesforce.com’s stock could add than 8.94%.
Ladenburg Thalmann analysts reduced their investment ratings, saying in research reports covered by the media that it’s rating for Lipocine Inc. (LPCN) has been changed to Buy from Neutral and the new price target is set at $3.
Analysts at BMO Capital downgraded Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (ADM)’s stock to Market Perform from Outperform on Monday.
Latest Insider Activity
Sunrun Inc. (RUN) Chairman Fenster Edward Harris announced the sale of shares taking place on Jan 07 at $89.10 for some 50,000 shares. The total came to more than $4.46 million.
Chegg Inc. (CHGG) PRESIDENT, CEO & CO-CHAIRMAN ROSENSWEIG DANIEL sold on Jan 07 a total 1,907,090 shares at $91.14 on average. The insider’s sale generated proceeds of almost $2.55 million.
Hall of Fame Resort & Entertainment Company (HOFV) Director Lichter Stuart declared the purchase of shares taking place on Dec 29 at $1.40 for some 10,813,774 shares. The transaction amount was around $15.14 million.
Aileron Therapeutics Inc. (ALRN) Satter Muneer A bought on Jan 08 a total of 16,609,449 shares at $1.10 on average. The purchase cost the insider an estimated $9.9 million.
Important Earnings
Top US earnings releases scheduled for today include Simulations Plus Inc. (NASDAQ: SLP). It will announce its Nov 2020 financial results. The company is expected to report earnings of $0.11 per share from revenues of $10.64M in the three-month period.
Kura Sushi USA Inc. (KRUS), due to announce earnings after the market closes today, is expected to report earnings of -$0.65 per share from revenues of $8.19M recently concluded three-month period.
