The fourth quarter earnings season has arrived and it will kick off with earnings reports from Citigroup (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), and Wells Fargo (WFC) on January 15.The companies are expected to see earnings move in different directions compared to what we saw in the third quarter and compared to Q4 of last year.

Citigroup’s EPS estimate is $1.33 and that is 5% lower than the third quarter EPS figure and 38.14% lower than Q4 of 2019.

Ford Motor is ending vehicle manufacturing in Brazil, as part of a restructuring process.

The automaker is shutting three plants in Brazil, as part of the South America restructuring process which is estimated to lead to $4.1 billion in pretax charges, according to the company’s statement.

Ford is currently restructuring its global operations, including those in South America.The company aims to execute a $11 billion turnaround plan, and hopes to achieve an 8% adjusted EBIT margin and to consistently generate strong adjusted free cash flow.

Shares of Chinese electric carmaker NIO   unveiled its first battery-powered sedan ET7.Deliveries will begin the first quarter of 2022.

NIO also launched a bigger volume battery pack that promises to boost driving range, an upgraded autopilot system and the second iteration of its battery-swap station.

The ET7 offers two battery options, 70 kWh and 100 kWh, that provide a range of 311 miles and 435 miles, respectively.

The company expects revenue growth at the high end of its mid-to-high teens expectation.  

Ahead of the group's presentation to the ICR investor conference, CEO Calvin McDonald cited the momentum over the holiday period, and said that the investments in lululemon and MIRROR helped connect with guests both physically and digitally."We remain confident about our opportunities in 2021 and committed to our Power of Three growth plan.” , added McDonald.

What’s more, Lululemon’s  online sales surged by an annual rate of +93% last quarter, and are expected to offset any declines in physical sales volumes over the fourth quarter. 

On Friday, Twitter Inc. announced its decision to  permanently suspend the accounts of President Donald Trump, citing potential incitement of violence,.The microblogging company’s decision came in the aftermath of the a pro-Trump mob storming the Capitol last week land leading to atleast five deaths.

"After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence," Twitter said in a statement.

Twitter’s move was followed by Facebook ‘s indefinite suspension of   the President's account on both its namesake website and Instagram.

E-commerce company Shopify  shutdown two sites affiliated with the Trump campaign.

The rallies off the March lows and then after the little hiccups we saw in September and October have put the four main U.S. indices in overbought territory based on the weekly RSI and weekly stochastic indicators.Stocks that don’t have the best fundamentals, but have gone up with the overall market and have elevated overbought/oversold indicators.

Something that stood out in my search was a trio of software stocks with poor fundamental indicators and high readings on their weekly OB/OS indicators.

The new item, which will begin to be served across all its restaurants by the end of February, is  double-breaded with extra crispy chicken and thicker pickles.

The new addition  will be available seven days a week in all 4,000 KFC restaurants in the U.S. by the end of February, according to the the company.It will be priced at $3.99 a la carte , and $6.99 in a combo meal along with french fries and a drink.

"We tested the new KFC Chicken Sandwich in Orlando last spring, and we nearly doubled our sales expectations, so we knew that we had a winner," said Andrea Zahumensky, chief marketing officer of KFC U.S.

 

 

Financial behemoth Wells Fargo  shares got  a rating boost to buy from hold, from Jefferies analyst Ken Usdin.He also  raised his share price target to $38 a share from $26.

Calling Wells a " still-discounted turnaround story”, Usdin said that it is approaching  a positive rate-of-change in many parts of the franchise.

Ford Motor’s U.S. auto sales  plunged -15.6% in 2020, due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, a decrease in commercial fleet sales, and lower inventories of its F-150 pickup trucks.

Fourth quarter sales of the full-size pickup fell -33% year-over-year, amid factory shutdowns last spring due to Covid-19 as well as a changeover in production of the facilities to produce the redesigned F-150.

“We’re optimizing the production at both plants right now and it’s a matter of getting more F-150s out to our dealer lots,” Erich Merkle, Ford’s head of U.S. sales analysis, told CNBC.He said inventories of the F-150 were 141,000 units as of end last year, compared to  267,000 a year earlier.

The company’s truck sales fell -11.3% in 2020.

(according to a CNBC report) The closures are a part of a previously announced plan by Macy’s to shut 125 locations by 2023.The company plans to concentrate on best performing malls and even smaller stores away from malls.

In 2020, Macy’s closed about 30 locations

Currently, Macy’s operates 544 of its namesake department stores, 34 Bloomingdale’s locations, 19 Bloomingdale’s outlets and 166 Bluemercury shops, according to its website

I ran a scan of S&P 500 stocks on January 6, and 320 members of the index have weekly stochastics readings above 70.The rally in the overall market over the last few months has created the current situation.

Each month I build a list of stocks that meet certain fundamental requirements and then I keep an eye on the weekly charts, trying to find a good entry point to buy the stocks that I am interested in.

 

The analyst mentioned that current retail momentum lags consensus expectations for the fourth quarter, and earnings estimates for 2021 are at risk.According to him, data is indicative of another quarter of under-shipments.

Lavery  also warned that there is adequate space for competition, and said that new entrants “can both validate the category with consumers and help build broader visibility.” According to him, while Beyond Meat has an opportunity at McDonald’s, that’s not providing great brand visibility.

While the decision will need a confirmation by the European Commission, it still leads to region-wise vaccine distribution in the coming days.

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said in a statement that the Moderna vaccine would allow the EU to have an additional 160 million doses.The European Medicines Agency said the biotech's mRNA 1273 vaccine is "another tool to overcome the current emergency", after the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine.

The decision will need a confirmation by the European Commission

 

Tesla Inc. shares got a price target boost from analysts at Morgan Stanley.

Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas increased his price target on the electric carmaker’s stock by $270, to $810 per share.According to Jonas, the clean-energy carmaker is  the industry's "chosen one" due to the company’s people, its technology, business model and access to capital.

Jonas also mentioned that Tesla has “no entanglement with the environmental liabilities that burden legacy competition" .

The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2021.

The acquisition will see Change Healthcare combining with UnitedHealth’s OptumInsight unit to offer data analytics, software and other services to the health-care industry.

According to the two companies, the deal will help simplify services around medical care and lower costs.

Private-equity funds affiliated with Blackstone Group that own about 20% of Change Healthcare’s common stock have agreed to vote in favor of the deal.The deal is expected to increase UnitedHealth’s adjusted per-share earnings by 50 cents in 2022, the companies said.

European markets have been rallying nicely over the last few months with a number of countries seeing sharp rallies off their October lows.Those same three ETFs all have “sell” ratings on the Tickeron Scorecard currently as well.

The EWU saw a recent surge when it was announced that there was a Brexit deal in place for England to leave the European Union.

Bitcoin  briefly fell below $30,000 Monday, just two days after topping  that level for the first time.

The cryptocurrency rallied to edge past the $34,000 mark during the weekend.But it was still down more than -5%.

Bitcoin had a historic, more than +300% rally in 2020.

But the volatility in the crypto market has been quite apparent from time to time, with the latest intra-day roller-coaster in bitcoin probably a result of short-term profit taking by investors, among other potential factors.

 

Harned  lowered his rating on the aircraft maker’s shares to underperform from market perform.He also cut his share-price target to $199 from $221.

“We had seen Boeing as fairly valued since the stock rose after announcements on high efficacy vaccines for covid-19,” Harned wrote in a commentary.  Harned mentioned that while the  737 MAX is now in service and deliveries have restarted, it is slightly behind the analyst’s forecast.

He also said that the five-year delivery and free cash flow outlook was only about half of his team’s 2018 outlook.

The analyst also pointed out that recently the 787 "has come under more pressure, which we do not believe the market fully appreciates.” This led him to lower  2020-21 free-cash flow estimates. "We estimate 787 issues could significantly hurt free cash flow through cost of repairs, compensation to customers, timing of engine cash payments, and less operating leverage",  Harned noted .

Industrial technology company Teledyne Technologies  agreed to acquire thermal image technology company FLIR Systems.

In the cash-and-stock deal valued at approximately $8 billion,  FLIR shareholders will receive $28 a share in cash and 0.0718 a share of Teledyne common stock for each FLIR share.The deal implies  a 40% premium for FLIR stockholders based on FLIR’s 30-day volume weighted average price as of Dec. 31.

The transaction is expected to close in the middle of 2021, subject to regulatory approvals.

In a year literally plagued with bad news and uncertainties about public health, social unrest, and a political crisis, the stock market posted robust returns.From an investment standpoint, the strength across many asset classes has led to a surge in “FOMO,” or fear of missing out on returns.

Many investors are rushing into the markets, pushing sentiment from pessimistic in the spring to optimistic today.