The omicron variant is pushing the number of contaminations in the West to new peaks. The term of tsunami, already used in Europe, is in all the headlines of the American press this morning. Is this wave, which seems less virulent but much more contagious than the others, the price to pay for collective immunity? This is the question at the moment, which seems to be the source of a certain optimism.

Investors certainly have a taste for adventure right now, particularly individuals. The reverse quality jump of the beginning of the year is taking place. People are playing speculation, pulverized sectors, real estate companies, or air transport.

Apple crossed the $3,000 billion capitalization mark yesterday, before falling back below that level at the close. This is the first time that a company has weighed so much on the stock market. You probably remember the hype when the Californian group passed the $1,000 billion mark. Then the $2,000 billion mark. These two milestones were crossed very recently. The 1,000 in August 2018. And the 2,000 milestone in August 2020. If Apple's stock market weight doubles every two years, market mathematicians could be tempted to aim for $4,000 billion in August 2022. This crazy rise does not seem very reasonable. Yet Apple is not the most expensive stock on the market, far from it. It still pays 32 times 2022 earnings, but with a certain level of performance guarantees. That's better than DoorDash's P/E of -162 times or even Salesforce's P/E of 200 times.

 

Economic highlights of the day:

On the agenda today, the December ISM Manufacturing PMI and the November JOLTS job openings survey. China's Caixin manufacturing PMI moved back into expansion territory in December, at 50.9 points.

The dollar is up to 0.8861. The gold ounce is above USD 1,807. Oil is quite buoyant at USD 79.42 for Brent and USD 76.40 for WTI. The yield on 10-year US debt took the upward slope yesterday, settling at 1.63%. Bitcoin is up to USD 46,920.

 

On markets:

* Tesla - The announcement by the U.S. automaker of the opening of a showroom in Xinjiang, a Chinese region where Beijing is accused of conducting a policy of repression and violating the rights of the Muslim minority of Uyghurs, provoked a flood of criticism Tuesday.

* Walmart - The retailer temporarily closed about 60 of its U.S. stores in December as part of a disinfection campaign against the coronavirus, a spokesman for the group said Tuesday.

* AT&T, Verizon - The two telecom operators announced Monday that they have agreed to another two-week delay, to Jan. 19, for the U.S. rollout of their 5G C-band services as the aviation industry fears disruptions related to the use of the new frequency band.

* AirBnb - The U.S. Treasury Department announced Monday that it has reached a settlement with Airbnb's Cuba subsidiary, which will pay $91,172 to end an investigation into an alleged violation of U.S. sanctions against the island. Airbnb shares are up 1% in pre-market trading.

 

Analyst recommendations:

  • Audacy: Wells Fargo Securities analyst Steven Cahall cut the recommendation on Audacy Class A to equal-weight from overweight. PT up 9.1% to $3
  • Columbia Sports: Baird downgrades to neutral from outperform. PT lifted 9.1% to $107
  • CNH Industrial: Equita SIM SpA downgrades to hold from buy. PT up 4.6% to $17.51
  • Dechra Pharma: Exane BNP Paribas starts tracking at neutral, targeting GBp 5600.
  • Globus Medical: Piper Sandler raised its recommendation on Globus Medical Inc. Class A to overweight from neutral. PT up 19% to $88
  • H.B. Fuller Company: Baird downgrades to neutral from outperform. PT rises 8.1% to $85
  • Halliburton: Morgan Stanley upgrades to overweight from equal-weight. PT up 25% to $30
  • Match Group: Wolfe Research initiated coverage with a recommendation of outperform. PT set to $163
  • Medtronic: Piper Sandler cut the recommendation to neutral from overweight. PT up 3.7% to $110
  • Sealed Air: Baird downgrades to neutral from outperform. PT up 8.2% to $72
  • Sirius XM: Wells Fargo Securities downgrades to equal-weight from overweight. PT up 10% to $7.
  • Stryker: Piper Sandler analyst Matthew O'Brien raised the recommendation on Stryker Corp. to overweight from neutral. PT up 17% to $315
  • Teleflex: Piper Sandler downgrades to neutral from overweight. PT down 2.9% to $325
  • The Sherwin-Williams Company: BMO Capital Markets downgrades to market perform from outperform. PT up 11% to $376
  • UMB Financial: Wells Fargo cut its recommendation to equal-weight from overweight. PT up 2.4% to $110
  • Under Armour: Baird upgrades to outperform from neutral. PT jumps 51% to $32
  • Warner Music: Jefferies  raised the recommendation on Warner Music Group Corp. Class A to buy from hold. PT up 16% to $50
  • Wolverine World Wide: Baird downgrades to neutral from outperform. PT up 13% to $33
  • Zillow: Wolfe Research initiated coverage of Zillow Group Class A with a recommendation of peerperform. PT set to $75
  • Zimmer Biomet: Piper Sandler downgrades to neutral from overweight. PT up 4.5% to $135