What to watch
Heico: Aerospace and technology firm Heico has added 16.6% to its share price year-to-date, taking its market cap to $16.9bn. The company reports earnings for the three months ended October 31 on Monday, after beating estimates in each of the past four quarters. Last week, the firm announced an increase in its credit facility to $1.5bn. Analysts are expecting an earnings per share figure of $0.41 for the quarter, versus $0.62 in the same quarter last year. Currently, five Wall Street analysts rate the stock as a buy or overweight, six as a hold, and two as an underweight.
Factset Research Systems: Financial data firm Factset has gained nearly 30% in 2020 and is one of the only other significant names to be reporting earnings in the week leading up to Christmas. In the previous two quarters, the company has beaten earnings expectations by a wide margin. In September, FactSet announced plans to migrate some of its functions to the cloud using Amazon Web Services, which is a potential point of interest on the company’s Monday earnings call. Currently, analysts are split between hold and sell ratings on the stock.
Chicago Fed national activity index: The Chicago Fed national activity index is a monthly index that aims to gauge economic activity and inflationary pressure across the US. It combines 85 monthly indicators, with a positive reading indicating a growth rate above trend, and a negative index corresponding to growth below trend. November’s index reading will be released on Monday, with a decline from 0.83 in October to 0.4 expected by economists, according to Trading Economics. Investors will be watching the index for further signs of the state the US economic recovery is in.
Crunch time for Brexit talks
There were reports last week that a path to a Brexit trade deal before the end of year deadline, albeit a narrow one, still remains. But this week is very much crunch time for the UK, particularly as the parties involved said terms would need to have been agreed by Sunday December 20th in order to be voted on by the end of the year. Investors will be watching for movement on the key remaining issues this week, such as fishing rights, as well as statements from negotiators on both sides detailing whether paths to a deal still remain.
Crypto corner: Musk asks about Tesla bitcoin transfer as cryptoasset sets new peak
Tesla founder and billionaire Elon Musk enquired publicly about converting Tesla’s share capital into bitcoin overnight, after being approached by an analyst via social media platform Twitter. On Sunday, Musk was addressed directly by bitcoin proponent and MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor. Saylor advised the Tesla CEO to buy a significant amount of bitcoin, claiming it could earn billions for Tesla’s shareholders.
He also claimed other major US firms on the S&P 500 stock market index could follow suit and boost Bitcoin’s value further. Musk responded by asking the bitcoin enthusiast whether transactions on such a scale are “even possible”, according to reports.
Prior to this exchange, bitcoin had already jumped above $24,000 over the weekend as the cryptoasset’s mind-boggling run upwards continues. Peaking at $24,195, Bitcoin dipped back below this level in morning trading, although it remains at $23,875 per coin, equating to a return above 500% from lows.
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