Plus, the coronavirus now has more than 6,000 confirmed cases, Apple delivered a blowout quarter, and Boeing said costs related to the grounding of its 737 Max plane have exceeded $18 billion.
Stocks were higher to start Wednesday, with the Dow adding 76 points, or 0.3%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both gained 0.1%.
The coronavirus has spread to more than 6,000, surpassing the number of SARS cases between 2002 and 2003, and has caused at least 132 deaths. Given the rapid spread of the deadly virus, Nomura economists said in a note this morning that the “economic impact of the coronavirus could be bigger in comparison to SARS.” “Based on our assumptions, real GDP growth in Q1 2020 could materially drop from the 6.0% pace achieved in Q4 2019, on a scale perhaps bigger than 2pp registered during the SARS outbreak.” U.S. health officials said they are fast-tracking work on a coronavirus vaccine and hope to start an early-stage trial within the next three months. However, the CEO of Novartis said that it will take at least 12 months to find a new vaccine to treat the pneumonia-like virus. “The reality is, it will take over a year in my expectation to really find a new vaccine for this so, we need to really use epidemiological controls to really get this situation in a better place,” Vas Narasimhan, Novartis CEO, said today.
The Federal Reserve isn’t likely to change interest rates when it kicks off its two-day policy meeting today. Wall Street widely expects the Fed to hold interest rates steady in a range between 1.5% and 1.75%, with odds of no change at 87.3% according to CME Group’s FedWatch Tool. What the market will be focusing on instead is the outlook for the Fed’s balance sheet with expectations that Chairman Jerome Powell may discuss the matter at his post-decision press conference. Ahead of the rate decision by the Fed, Treasury yields have fallen slightly as investors are monitoring the spread of the coronavirus. The benchmark 10-year Treasury note has fallen to 1.62%, while the 30-year Treasury is lower at 2.073%.
L Brands shares are up 13% this morning on reports that the company’s CEO, Les Wexner, is considering stepping aside and possibly selling all of the struggling Victoria’s Secret brand, according to the Wall Street Journal. According to the report, L Brands is preparing to reach a decision on the potential sale and decide its succession plans within the coming weeks. Cowen has estimated that shedding the Victoria’s Secret brand could drive L Brand’s shares as high as $31—34% higher than the price as of this writing—though warned that the likelihood of finding a buyer for the lingerie brand “remains our key question market and potential constraint to a near-term deal,” Cowen analyst Oliver Chen wrote in a note.
Apple delivered “blow out” results when it reported earnings after the bell Tuesday. Apple reported revenue up 9% to $91.8 billion, beating its own guidance, and said that its iPhone revenues jumped 8% to $55.96 billion. “It was sort of a blockbuster quarter all the way around,” said CEO Tim Cook. Its “Wearables, Home and Accessories” unit revenue also surpassed $10 billion in revenue in the quarter ended December, generating more revenue than the Mac computer business. “Both AirPods and Apple Watch were must-have holiday gifts, helping drive unprecedented results for the category,” Cook added. JPMorgan analyst Samit Chatterjee said this was a “wow quarter” for Apple as it “pleasantly surprised investors on multiple fronts, but most importantly materially exceeded investor expectations on iPhone revenues.”
In other earnings news, Boeing reported a loss of $2.33 per share for its fourth quarter, and reported its first annual loss since 1997. Revenue for the quarter dropped 37% to $17.91 billion. Boeing said that the costs for the grounding of the 737 Max have risen to more than $18 billion, including a $2.6 billion pretax charge to compensate airlines and other customers from the grounding of the plane. “We recognize we have a lot of work to do,” said new CEO David Calhoun. “We are focused on returning the 737 MAX to service safely and restoring the long-standing trust that the Boeing brand represents with the flying public… fortunately, the strength of our overall Boeing portfolio of businesses provides the financial liquidity to follow a thorough and disciplined recovery process.” Reporting later today are Facebook, Microsoft, PayPal, and Tesla.
Stocks We’re Watching
Acceleron Pharma (NASDAQ: XLRN): Acceleron Pharma shares surged as much as 55% yesterday after the biotech said its hypertension drug hit key goals in a mid-stage clinical trial. “We’re thrilled to report such positive topline results from the PULSAR trial,” said Acceleron president and CEO Habib Dable. “PAH [pulmonary arterial hypertension] is a debilitating disease of high unmet medial need, so we’re encouraged by these data that signal that sotatrecept could deliver added benefit to patients.”
Concert Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: CNCE): Shares of this clinical stage biopharmaceutical stock are up nearly 11% over the last week following Concert Pharmaceutical’s announcement that it had received Notice of Allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a patent covering the composition of its lead candidate CTP-543 and methods for treating alopecia aerate with the drug. “Concert is pursuing multiple avenues for securing its patent position for CTP-543. Importantly, this patent covers the clinical doses of CTP-543 that produced the robust results observed in our Phase 2 dose-ranging trial for the treatment of alopecia areata and upon issuance will be Orange Book eligible,” said Roger Tung, Ph.D., President and CEO of Concert Pharmaceuticals. “As we prepare to advance CTP-543 into pivotal testing in 2020, we look forward to having this new patent as an important element of our IP estate.”