You only have to look at a Wall Street price chart yesterday to understand that the release of the Fed minutes allowed U.S. indexes to close near equilibrium, when they were quite badly off. In reality, the minutes of the last meeting of the U.S. central bank did not bring anything new, but investors decided to interpret it in their own way, that is to say as a valid anchor in the face of conflicting information from the Ukrainian border. The Fed releases the content of its previous meeting three weeks after it was held, providing more detail on the positions of its members and thus on monetary policy paths. In this case, the content of the January 25-26 meeting contains the usual tepid language that central bankers think it will be "soon appropriate" to raise rates. That is, in March. But that the timing will be revisited at each meeting. Understand, no one got up on the table and yelled about raising rates by 2% in three meetings.

The market has concluded that the message may be a little less aggressive than expected and therefore the Fed may be a little less afraid of inflation than expected. Hence the losses that narrowed at the end of yesterday's trading on Wall Street, with the Nasdaq at -0.16% at the bell and the S&P500 clawing back 0.09%.

Regarding Ukraine, conflicting information follows one another and Vladimir Putin is essentially accused of lying by Washington, which contest his claims that Russia is withdrawing troops from the border. This confusion is still visible in the morning's stock market trends, since Wall Street was mixed this morning.

Oil prices are very volatile, on rumors that Iran could soon reach a deal with Western countries on nuclear, which could end sanctions and see its supplies return to markets.

 

Economic highlights of the day:

In the United States, the Philly Fed index and weekly jobless claims are the main indicators. Two central bankers, including James Bullard, are due to speak today.

The dollar is slightly up to EUR 0.8799. The ounce of gold is back up to USD 1892. Oil rebounds to USD 93.59 per barrel of Brent and USD 92.53 per barrel of WTI. After breaking back through the 2% mark yesterday, the yield on the 10-year T-Bond is down to 1.97% this morning. Bitcoin is trading around USD 42,350.

 

On markets:

Walmart - The food retailer said Thursday it expects U.S. sales and earnings for this year to be above market expectations, noting stable demand at its stores despite supply problems and margin pressure from rising costs. The company also raised its annual dividend to shareholders by 2% to $2.24 per share. Walmart shares are up 4% in premarket trading.

* Cisco Systems- The network equipment maker announced Wednesday a new $15 billion share buyback plan after raising its full-year profit forecast, banking on higher prices amid a shortage of electronic components and possible lower logistics costs. The share price rose 3.3% in pre-market trading.

* Nvidia - The U.S. semiconductor maker on Wednesday issued a revenue forecast for the current quarter that exceeded analysts' expectations, banking on strong demand from data centers.

* Tesla - The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said Thursday it has opened a preliminary investigation into 416,000 vehicles sold by Tesla after reports of unexpected brake activation in connection with Autopilot, the company's driver assistance system. In addition, the automaker is being sued for "negligence" in a deadly crash last September in Florida that triggered a federal investigation.

* American international Group - The U.S. insurer reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings Wednesday on higher membership and lower catastrophe losses.

* Applied Materials reported record quarterly sales on Wednesday but warned that the supply chain situation remains challenging. The stock is up 1.6% in pre-market trading.

* DoorDash reported Wednesday that it delivered better-than-expected revenue in the final three months of 2021 as demand for meal delivery showed no signs of slowing from the peak of the pandemic, a sign of a profound shift in habits. The share price soared 25.5% in pre-market trading.

* Tripadvisor - The hotel search platform's stock is down 7.3% in premarket trading after the group reported fourth-quarter revenue below analysts' expectations, which was hurt by a decline in travel demand amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

* Visa, Amazon - The two groups announced Thursday that they have reached a global agreement on their dispute over transaction fees charged by Visa for using its cards on Amazon's platforms.

* Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Facebook's parent company Meta Platforms, announced Wednesday that he had promoted Nick Clegg, the former British deputy prime minister, to the position of chief policy officer, including state relations.

* Spotify - The Swedish music streaming platform announced Wednesday that it has strengthened its investment in podcasts with the acquisition of Podsights and Chartable, two services designed to provide advertisers and publishers with data and tools on this type of distribution.

* Pioneer Natural Resources - The U.S. oil and gas producer's stock gained 1.5% in after-hours trading after reporting net income of $763 million in the fourth quarter, up from $43 million in the same period a year ago.

 

Analyst recommendations:

  • Airbnb: Baird adjusts price target to $210 from $200, keeps outperform rating
  • Avis Budget Group: Morgan Stanley adjusts price target to $168 from $170, maintains underweight rating
  • CF Industries: J.P. Morgan downgrades to neutral from overweight. PT up 0.8% to $75.
  • Comerica: Compass Point upgrades to buy from neutral, adjusts price target to $115 from $105.
  • The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.: Morgan Stanley adjusts price target to $20 from $24, maintains equal-weight rating
  • Henry Schein: Goldman Sachs raises the price target to $95 from $91, maintains buy rating
  • Land Securities: Jefferies switches from neutral to underperform targeting GBp 620.
  • Otis Worldwide: Wells Fargo adjusts price target to $82 from $80, maintains underweight rating
  • Pfizer: Erste Group reinstated coverage with a recommendation of hold.
  • Roblox: Morgan Stanley downgrades to equalweight from overweight, cuts pt to $65 from $115
  • The British Land: Jefferies downgrades from Neutral to Underperform targeting GBp 455.
  • ViacomCBS: Benchmark Capital adjusts price target to $55 from $67, maintains buy rating
  • 3M Company: Morgan Stanley cut its recommendation  to underweight from equal-weight. PT down 3.6% to $150.