Stock Market Live December 15: S&P 500 (VOO) Rises as Investors Await Economic Data
Quick Read
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Investors await news on jobs market, consumer sales, and inflation later this week.
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iRobot has declared bankruptcy and will be handed over to its Chinese contract manufacturer.
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Flight Delay for Boeing
Boeing (NYSE: BA) will again delay delivery to the U.S. Air Force of two 747 airliners, designated to serve as “Air Force One.” Originally scheduled to be delivered in 2024, the planes have been repeatedly delayed, and will now not arrive before mid-2028, reports Reuters.
Boeing stock is only down about 0.2% on the news, however. The Voo is also now down 0.2%.
Belarus Sanctions Lifted
The U.S. government just announced it will lift sanctions on fertilizer exports from Belarus, effective immediately. U.S. farmers are presumably elated, but Western fertilizer companies are reacting negatively to the news they will soon face renewed competition.
CF Industries (NYSE: CF) stock is down more than 1%, Mosaic (NYSE: MOS) shares are down 2.5%, and Nutrien (NYSE: NTN) stock is off 3.8%.
Dollar General Could Be Worth Even More
JPMorgan analyst Matthew Boss upgraded shares of Dollar General (NYSE: DG) stock to overweight with a $166 price target this morning.
“DG is positioned to deliver 2-3%(+) same-store-sales multi-year.” predicts the analyst. Boss sees “a favorable macro- backdrop for [DG’s] core consumer.” Combined with store refreshes and new store openings, Boss sees this yielding both sales gains and margin improvement — and “more than $1B in annual free cash flow (post dividend).”
Dollar General stock is up 1% as the market opens. The broader Vanguard S&P 500 ETF opened 0.5% higher.
This article will be updated throughout the day, so check back often for more daily updates.
The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO) lost 0.6% last week, but may gain nearly all that back in just one day Monday. The ETF is up 0.5% premarket as investors get set to receive a whole raft of economic news this week.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) will report nonfarm payrolls figures for November, giving us our freshest data yet on the state of the jobs market. The U.S. Census Bureau (which is part of the Commerce Department) will also release retail sales figures for October — less important as it will be arriving a month late because of the government shutdown, and will not tell us how retail sales held up during the shutdown, either.
BLS will return two days later to report on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for November, an important gauge of the inflation rate.
Bankruptcy news
Over the weekend, robotic vacuum cleaner company iRobot (Nasdaq: IRBT) filed for bankruptcy protection. Strangely, the company couched its announcement in growth terms, emphasizing its plan to enter into a restructuring support agreement with its Chinese contract manufacturer Shenzhen PICEA Robotics Co., Ltd.
“Picea will receive 100% of the equity interests in the Company,” said iRobot, “which will delever the Company’s balance sheet and enable iRobot to continue operating in the ordinary course, pursue its product development roadmap, and maintain its global footprint.”
Receiving less emphasis is the fact that equity shareholders in iRobot will be entirely wiped out as the company is handed over to China lock, stock, and barrel. And the fact that iRobot stock will become debt-free will be small consolation to the small investors who realize… they no longer own it.
iRobot stock is down more than 70% on the news, but should probably be down 100%.
© James Leynse / Corbis Historical via Getty Images
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