00:00About two minutes away from the end of the trading day, Katie Greifelt and Isabel Lee in for Romain Bostic
00:05and here to help take us through the closing bell.
00:08It's a global simulcast. We're joined now by Carol Masser and Bailey Lipschultz. He's in for Tim Stanovic.
00:14We bring together all of our different audiences to talk about Carol, a big rally in the S&P 500.
00:20It looks like we're going to finish out this Monday close to session highs, even though we had a lot
00:26of geopolitical headlines over the weekends
00:28that wouldn't necessarily speak to renewed risk appetite here.
00:31Yeah, it's kind of fascinating to see this trade. It feels a little bit like a blah day, but maybe
00:35Bailey will kind of get into that in just a moment.
00:38Having said that, you're right, though. We're at session highs, and I'm looking at something like the Russell 2000, those
00:43small caps, some outperformance.
00:45That index is actually up, Bailey, about 1.4 percent.
00:48Up 1.4 percent, as Katie mentioned, S&P right now, up about 1 percent.
00:52But guys, I just want to keep perspective. Trading volumes are lower than they have been.
00:56And so we are trying to keep things kind of in that light, Isabel.
01:00When I look at this market, yes, we are recouping all of those losses from the initial attacks, but volumes
01:06are low,
01:06and we're heading into a critical earnings season.
01:08And beyond geopolitical risks and news, we have earnings seasons underway, Goldman Sachs reported today.
01:13And we have a full stack this week from JPMorgan, Citi, BlackRock, Wells Fargo, all set to report tomorrow.
01:18And everyone will offer a window into the state of the economy amid everything that's happening.
01:23Yeah, and it was interesting to see the reception to Goldman, and an interesting miss when it came to their
01:28bond trading.
01:29But those stock traders just crushed it.
01:32In any case, you can see that we are setting up for the close here, just a few seconds away.
01:37The S&P 500, fresh off of two straight weeks of gains, look like it's going to finish this Monday
01:43higher by about 1 percent.
01:45And then some by the NASDAQ, going to finish 1.2 percent higher.
01:51You take a look at the Dow.
01:52It's not really exciting.
01:53What can the Dow tell you about this economy?
01:56It's higher by about six-tenths of a percent.
01:58And then we zoom out.
01:59We look at the Russell 2000.
02:01Carol, as you mentioned, the little guys were the big outperformers today.
02:05The Russell 2000 going to finish about 1.5 percent higher.
02:08Katie, it's a Dow calling saying, why don't you like me?
02:11I mean, why?
02:11You're price-weighted.
02:12I know.
02:13What can you tell me?
02:14I know.
02:15All right.
02:15Let's go back to the S&P 500.
02:18Most names in that average higher on this Monday, 357 to the upside.
02:23145 is about two the downside, one unchanged.
02:26I keep on going back to what Max Kettner of HSBC said, which is there's too much focus on geopolitics.
02:31I mean, company guidance is looking good, and we look at the IMAP.
02:34It's really mostly green on the screen.
02:36The only thing that's down, at least from my view, is consumer staples down by eight-tenths of one percent.
02:40The biggest driver, of course, is tech, up by one and a half percent.
02:44All right, guys.
02:44Let's get to – wow, a lot of green.
02:46Let's get to some individual gainers in today's trade.
02:49Got to talk about Dell and HP, Inc.
02:52Ticker there.
02:52Of course, HPQ.
02:54We saw both of them rallying.
02:56Dell up almost 7 percent.
02:58HP up about 5.3 percent in today's session.
03:03Both of them jumping after a report that NVIDIA was seeking an acquisition to reshape the PC landscape.
03:08NVIDIA has been negotiating for more than a year to buy a, quote, large company, according to the website SemiAccurate.
03:15Our Bloomberg Intelligence team have been kind of following this, too, this speculation.
03:19Dell and HP are among the top PC vendors in the world.
03:22HP having 19 percent of the global market and Dell having about 17 percent market share.
03:27I think our BI team, though, questioning, like, what this would do to NVIDIA in terms of its growth story.
03:33But, anyway, investors certainly perked up, and we're following that one.
03:36Hey, I want to mention Oracle, too.
03:38Some outperformance there in today's session.
03:41I think it may have been the top gainer in the S&P 500.
03:46Yep.
03:46Yes, indeed.
03:47That stock finishing pretty much at its best levels of the session, up 12.7 percent.
03:52A company disclosing a new Oracle Utilities Industry Suite offerings to help utilities cut costs with artificial intelligence and improve
04:00grid reliability.
04:01They also announced a new public cloud region in Morocco, extending its global infrastructure footprint.
04:06That coming from Benzinga, putting that information out.
04:11But, nonetheless, we did see some outperformance there, again, up 12.7 percent.
04:16And then I want to go to something different.
04:18I'm actually – thank you, Finley, for actually saying, let's take a look at the Switzerland shares, because the ADRs
04:24that trade here are a little wackadoo.
04:27So it's called Polypeptide, ticker PPGNSW, hitting, I think, the highest level possibly, not ever, because you can see that
04:35– that's the intraday?
04:37Yeah.
04:37Yeah, that's the intraday.
04:39But, according to people with knowledge of the matter, the company is attracting private equity takeover interest.
04:45So EQT, AB, KKR, and Advent are among suitors that have been studying a potential acquisition of the company, and
04:52any buyout firm may seek to team up with its billionaire-controlling shareholder.
04:56If you're not familiar, this company specializes in the development and manufacturing of synthetic peptides related to metabolism.
05:02I was wondering.
05:04Notably targeting obesity and diabetes, and as you know, those are two things that plague a lot of folks around
05:10the world.
05:11Heptoides are really hot right now.
05:12I feel like I see them all over social media, for better or worse.
05:15For your skin?
05:16For everything.
05:17For everything.
05:18They are kind of everywhere.
05:19You're absolutely right.
05:20So, anyway, this one definitely catching investor attention.
05:23All right, Bailey?
05:23Yeah, those are your gainers on an almost merger Monday, we'll call it, with some of those headlines.
05:27Want to start with some laggards.
05:29Some of the worst performers in the S&P 500, starting with Fastenal, ticker FAST, much like Katie Greifeld was
05:35in college.
05:36Fast, Katie.
05:37Oh, I used to be.
05:37You used to be, but not anymore.
05:39No.
05:39You will be again.
05:40One day.
05:41You're a little, you're, I guess mile was probably like Fastenal in terms of getting lower in a bad way.
05:47You were a runner?
05:47I ran, I mean, just D3, but I ran all three seasons.
05:52I had no idea.
05:53I didn't know.
05:55No, a week.
05:56Oh, my gosh.
05:57A week.
05:58Okay.
05:58Okay.
05:58Anyway, sorry.
05:59Katie Greifeld, the college athlete amongst us.
06:02Fastenal, though, falling again.
06:05Call it almost 7%.
06:06Worst day since October.
06:07This came after facing higher prices from suppliers, energy pushback.
06:11Fastenal makes some of those straps that fasten things in truck beds.
06:15So, certainly a big bellwether for some of the industrials companies we're going to be keeping an eye on in
06:20terms of earnings.
06:21I also want to call out another one of the worst performers in the S&P 500, none other than
06:26Conagra Brands, ticker CAG.
06:28Guys, this comes after the Slim Jim maker is replacing its CEO after a 60% decline.
06:35I just want to feel for the guy, though, who steps into this spot, John Brace, and the stock falls
06:41even further.
06:42So, not really a vote of confidence from investors.
06:45Yeah.
06:45Hey, I just want to mention, going back to Dell and HP that we mentioned, definitely rallying on, you know,
06:51talks that maybe NVIDIA would be interested.
06:53NVIDIA, 4.04 p.m. Wall Street time, saying the report on a PC acquisition talks, false, and says not
07:01engaged in discussions to buy any PC maker.
07:04So, there you have it.
07:05So, at least maybe that's not happening.
07:06Yeah, I do want to shout out Wu Jun-ho of Bloomberg Intelligence.
07:10We talked to him actually about an hour ago, and he said that, let's just say he was skeptical on
07:17this report.
07:18And now you have NVIDIA coming out and denying it, Bailey.
07:20You want to know who's skeptical, Katie Greifeld, none other than David Solomon.
07:25Talking about analysts setting too high of expectations.
07:29This came after their company reported earnings that they reported a surprise drop in bond and rates, trading revenue, casting
07:35a shadow over another record quarter.
07:37So, Goldman Sachs, ticker GS, down 1.9%.
07:41Again, the stock, Carol, as we've been mentioning, has been up pretty sharply over the last 12 months, up 77
07:48% even after the decline.
07:50So, I think a lot of people would take that.
07:51A little perspective.
07:52I love CEOs sort of getting annoyed at Wall Street analysts.
07:56It's kind of like my favorite genre.
07:58Well, don't they create their estimates based on their guidance?
08:01Yeah, they talk, like, conversations with the company, body language, et cetera.
08:06Yeah.
08:07Come on.
08:07It's kind of like giving signs in baseball.
08:09I guess Solomon was supposed to, like, touch his ear a few more times for the bond estimates to fall
08:13down.
08:15All right.
08:15Let's get to some stories that definitely caught our attention.
08:18This actually has to do with the war.
08:20Toto, you know, the Japanese toilet maker, bidets and all that good stuff.
08:25Well, apparently they have suspended new orders for its prefabricated bathrooms due to a material shortage as the Iran war
08:32squeezes, Bailey, the global oil supply chain.
08:35All I want to say is, having spent three months in Japan, they have the best toilets ever.
08:40You're preaching to the choir.
08:42Tim and I bonded when we first started working together because we both have Toto's.
08:46If you can't, I need a Toto installed in the Bloomberg office.
08:49I need one installed in my house.
08:50We need to figure out the supply chain issue, guys.
08:52Once you have a Toto, man, I don't know.
08:54Nothing else compares.
08:55Katie, you need it.
08:56I know I've made it in life once we buy, number one.
08:59And number two, when we have a Toto with a heated toilet seat.
09:02Maybe that's TMI.
09:03No, this is good.
09:05I'm glad that we're talking about this.
09:06But moving on, let's talk a little bit about Bill Ackman because, Bailey, we picked this out for you.
09:12You were one of the people behind this scoop that Bill Ackman has kicked off formal marketing for the IPO
09:20of his closed-end funds and his hedge fund.
09:23Bailey, is it really going to happen?
09:25We think so.
09:26They set a pricing date for the end of April.
09:28Obviously, we went through this saga two years ago when it was going to be $25 billion, then about $4
09:33billion, then about $2 billion, then didn't happen.
09:35But this time, they are incorporating Pershing Square proper as part of that to incentivize IPO buyers.
09:40So it'll be interesting.
09:41They want to raise between $5 and $10 billion.
09:43All right.
09:43Well, there's some IPO activity.
09:44So maybe that's a positive sign.
09:46That's actually going to set us up for a conversation we're going to have on this side.
09:50All right, guys, you continue thinking about Toto.
09:52You want to do it?
09:53Party talk over here.
09:55Whatever floats our boats.
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