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    • Blastoff! President Trump will sign a directive today aimed at sending Americans back to the moon and eventually to Mars.
    • "He will change our nation's human spaceflight policy to help America become the driving force for the space industry, gain new knowledge from the cosmos, and spur incredible technology," according to a White House statement.
    • The event will coincide with the 45th anniversary of the last crewed mission – Apollo 17 – to land on the moon.

    CA wildfire: Containment falls back to 10%

    • Southern California's largest wildfire continued to grow Sunday, threatening seaside communities in Santa Barbara County and prompting new evacuation orders.
    • As a result, officials revised containment downward, from 15% to only 10%.
    • The wildfires wiped out almost $3B of market value for Edison International last week and threatened operations of companies like Snap Inc. and California Resources.
    • Previously: California wildfire now 15% contained (Dec. 09 2017)
    • CBOE's plan to launch bitcoin futures contracts on Sunday, making it easier to bet against the cryptocurrency, is making some enthusiasts nervous, but not Cameron Winklevoss – one half of the twins reported to have just become the world's first bitcoin billionaires.
    • "We've always felt that bitcoin, given its properties, is gold 2.0 – it disrupts gold. Gold is scarce, bitcoin is actually fixed. Bitcoin is way more portable and way more divisible," he told CNBC. "Long term, directionally, it is a multitrillion-dollar asset – I don't know how long it takes to get there."
    • The Winklevosses' Gemini exchange is even preparing to support the launch of CBOE's bitcoin futures and will be the "price mechanism for the contracts when they settle."
    • Current price movement: Bitcoin is down 11% to $14,261, according to CoinDesk.

    Forties oil pipeline to close for repairs, sending Brent crude higher

    • Brent crude oil (NYSEARCA:BNO+1.7% to $64.45/bbl on news that the 450K bbl/day North Sea Forties pipeline likely will be shut for weeks to carry out repairs to an onshore section of the line.
    • A crack and leak was discovered last week, which operator Ineos says worsened over the weekend despite pressure being reduced.
    • The Forties pipeline carries ~40% of North Sea oil and gas and serves Ineos’s refinery at Grangemouth, which provides ~80% of Scotland’s fuel, so the shutdown could have implications for North Sea supplies as operators may be forced to reduce production until the line is restored.
    • U.S. WTI crude +0.5% at $57.67/bbl.
    • Two high ranking Trump administration officials called two U.S. senators from the corn belt to convince them to join talks about potential changes to biofuels policy to ease the burden on oil refineries, Reuters reports.
    • The effort is the latest sign that Pres. Trump is seeking to mediate the long-running dispute between the oil industry and corn growers over the Renewable Fuel Standard, after meeting yesterday with nine Republican senators from states with oil refineries.
    • Refiners oppose the RFS because they say it costs them hundreds of millions of dollars a year in blending and regulatory expenses, but the administration has sided with Big Corn and against the refining industry in a series of decisions this year.

    • Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ+5% premarket after announcing it received a letter from CEO and top shareholder Shawn Qu to take the company private.
    • Qu and his wife are offering to buy all outstanding shares they do not already own for $18.47/share, representing a 7.1% premium to CSIQ's Friday closing price; the pair owns ~23.5% of the shares.
    • CSIQ says its board has formed a special committee to consider the proposal.
    • First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR+2.5% premarket after Baird upgrades shares to Outperform from Neutral with a Street-high $82 price target, raised from $69, with the firm calling it the top pick within the solar sector.
    • Analyst Ben Kallo note says Baird recently met with FSLR’s management and sees the company as well positioned for growth; Series 6 has some execution risk, but Baird sees shares appreciating near-term.
    • Baird also boosts SunPower (NASDAQ:SPWR) to Outperform from Neutral with a $10 price target, hiked from $7, saying sentiment should improve as SPWR ramps P series production and strengthens its balance sheet; shares +5.5% premarket.
    • The firm thinks potential headwinds from the Suniva petition mostly are priced in, and shares could benefit if no tariff is enacted or SPWR receives an exemption.
    • Baird believes the solar market has hit an inflection point that will continue to see long-term growth driven by falling installation costs and technological advancement.
    • ETFs: TANKWT

    • Airbus (OTCPK:EADSY) is exploring plans to lower A380 superjumbo production to as low as six aircraft per year, industry sources told Reuters.
    • The planemaker already announced plans to lower A380 output to 12 aircraft in 2018 and 8 in 2019, down from an annual peak of 30.
    • International sales of arms and military services grew again in 2016 after five years of consecutive decline, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
    • The world's 100 largest armaments firms posted total sales of $374.8B last year, 1.9% higher than in 2015.
    • SIPRI also said that the world's largest arms producer, Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT), rose by 10.7% in 2016, and this was "decisive to the increase in the USA's share of overall SIPRI top 100 sales to 57.9%."
    • Monsanto (NYSE:MON) will give cash back to U.S. farmers who buy a weedkiller that has been linked to widespread crop damage, Reuters reports, as regulators in some states weigh restrictions on its use.
    • MON's incentive to use XtendiMax with VaporGrip, a herbicide based on the dicamba chemical, could refund farmers more than half the sticker price of the product in 2018 if they spray it on soybeans the company engineered to resist the weedkiller, according to the report, which cites company data.
    • MON’s offer comes as federal and state regulators are requiring training for farmers who plan to spray dicamba in 2018 and limiting when it can be used; the restrictions could make the chemical more costly and inconvenient to apply, but the company’s incentive could help convince farmers to use it anyway.

    Bernstein sees +20% growth in Macau for Dec.

    • Bernstein thinks Macau gaming revenue will increase 21% to 23% during December based on the pace through the first ten days and estimates on the balance of the month.
    • The investment firm points to two strong weekends in December for Macau traffic already.
    • Gaming stocks had a strong day in Hong Kong after Credit Suisse bumped up its revenue forecast for the next three years.
    • Macau casino stocks: Wynn Macau (OTCPK:WYNMFOTCPK:WYNMYWYNN), Sands China (OTCPK:SCHYYOTCPK:SCHYFLVS), MGM China (OTCPK:MCHVFOTCPK:MCHVYMGM), Galaxy Entertainment (OTCPK:GXYEF), SJM Holdings (OTCPK:SJMHFOTCPK:SJMHY), Melco Resorts & Entertainment (NASDAQ:MLCO).
    • Related ETF: BJK.

    Restaurant stocks perky, led by moonshot for Famous Dave's

    • There's some buying action in the restaurant sector as M&A potential and strong consumer spending continue to boost sentiment.
    • Notable gainers include Biglari Holdings (BH +5.5%), Zoe's Kitchen (ZOES +2.3%), Sonic (SONC +2.7%), Fiesta Restaurant Group (FRGI +2%) and Brinker International (EAT +2.5%).
    • None of those rallies can hold a candle to the 32% pop in Famous Dave's of America (NASDAQ:DAVE) on a huge volume spike. Shares of the barbecue chain traded as high as $9.65 before settling back to $7.25 after a trading halt.

    Skechers called out by Cowen as top idea

    • Skechers (SKX +1%) is called a top idea for 2018 by Cowen & Co.
    • "The breadth and depth of the Skechers assortment and the brand's global reach, category expansion opportunities and consumer perception is underappreciated (based on relative valuation to peers)," writes analyst John Kernan.
    • Kernan and team see Skechers generating global same-store sales growth of 3% in 2018.
    • Skechers is rated at Outperform and assigned a price target of $42.

    Twitter engagement up with long tweets; new Bloomberg streaming news coming

    • Twitter (TWTR +4.7%) is seeing deeper engagement since its much-publicized move to longer tweets, a BuzzFeed look at data shows.
    • Retweets and likes of tweets are happening at about double the rate from before tweets were extended to 280 characters from 140, BuzzFeed says based on data from SocialFlow.
    • During an experimental pilot period, people who had the additional room got more followers and spent more time on Twitter, the company says.
    • Meanwhile in Twitter-as-a-live-platform news, Bloomberg is launching "TicToc," a 24-hour news network that will be streaming live on the service. It's set to launch next Monday.

    Microsoft launches quantum programming language, commits $50M to AI drive

    • Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) launches Q#, a programming language for quantum computers, and software that allows developers to test programs on a traditional desktop or the Azure cloud platform.
    • Microsoft hasn’t produced a working quantum computer yet. Competitors Google and IBM have built computers close to “quantum supremacy.” IBM also has software for its machines.
    • In other Microsoft news, the company commits $50M over five years for the use of AI in solving environmental issues through the AI for Earth initiative.
    • Previously: CNBC: Microsoft and Google spoke to Qualcomm against Broadcom offer (Dec. 8)

    Disney's 'Coco' outpunches 'Justice League' for third week

    • Coco (DIS +2%) held a solid lead at the box office for the third week in a row, topping Justice League (NYSE:TWX) yet again and crossing over the $135M mark in domestic grosses.
    • The week had no notable newcomers, other than the wide release of A24's The Disaster Artist,which rode a healthy per-theater gross to $6.4M and the No. 4 spot, behind Wonder (LGF.A-0.5%LGF.B -0.5%) with $8.45M.
    • Justice League's $9.6M added to weekday totals to bring that film over $200M domestically — a total of $212.1M, adding to a worldwide gross total of $613.4M.
    • Coco, meanwhile, has touched $389.5M on a worldwide basis, and has drawn within $18M of surpassing this summer's Pixar-mate Cars 3 in domestic totals.

     

    WSJ: A Fox-Disney deal would mean scaled-back film slate

    • A megadeal to bring the TV and film assets of Twenty-First Century Fox (FOX -0.2%FOXA+0.3%) under the auspices of Walt Disney (DIS +1.7%) would not just reduce the Big Six Hollywood studios to five, but would mean a significant scaling back of Fox's slate as well, The Wall Street Journal reports.
    • The reduced ambitions would be folded into Disney's existing film operations rather than kept separate or expanded, according to the report.
    • Fox could become another production label akin to Pixar or Marvel, which would result in job cuts as theatrical and home video distribution are trimmed.
    • It would also mean output from Fox, known for releasing far more films than Disney, would fall in line with Disney output: fewer films, focused on big-budget releases based on existing properties.
    • While the era of the "Big Six" would come to an end, Fox's TV studio would be kept busy building content for the upcoming Disney streaming services as well as for other outlets.
    • In other news tied to a potential deal, United First Partners says in a weekend note that a purchase of the rest of Sky (SKYAY +0.7%) by either Disney or Comcast (CMCSA +0.9%) would be more palatable to UK regulators than Fox's current proposal to buy out the rest.
    • Those two don't have Fox's "baggage," UFP says, so a consummated deal for Fox assets would mean gains for Sky stock.
    • CenturyLink (CTL +8.1%) has been selected as the network provider to Pennsylvania, a deal that will have it supplying a full suite of products and services to the Commonwealth.
    • The company will collaborate with Comcast Business (CMCSA +0.6%) on the five-year deal, which covers a range of deliverables: microwave and fixed satellite data access, Ethernet, private line, managed network services, virtual private networks, high speed cellular, bandwidth on demand and others.
    • The deal in particular looks to address last-mile solutions (fiber, coaxial and wireless) to the agencies, commissions, councils, bureaus, authorities and boards of Pennsylvania.
    • CenturyLink operates more than 7,700 route-miles of fiber in the state, with more than 2,200 on-net buildings.



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