Market News

Recently, News Corp Australia made its first seed investment in augmented reality company Plattar — a cloud based platform that allows publishers to create, manage and distribute augmented reality content. The Plattar platform comprises a template driven app builder and content management system for managing augmented reality experiences and can deploy content to any device. Augmented reality is touted to be the next major component in consumer engagement, especially in the real estate and gaming. News Corp’s investment appears to be aimed at tapping the potential of this technology. According to a report by Manatt digital media, augmented reality is expected to generate $80 billion in revenue (excluding hardware) by 2020 and become the backbone of immersive journalism where readers can experience a story and be part of it. We believe News Corp’s digital real estate business can get a boost by use of augmented reality technology and an immersive consumer experience can drive the company’s revenues in future.

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Apple will publish its fiscal second quarter earnings on Tuesday, April 26, likely reporting its first year-over-year decline in sales in over a decade, amid a relatively tepid uptake for its new flagship iPhone 6S, economic headwinds in China (its second largest geographic market) and slowing global smartphone shipments (est. 7% in 2016 per Gartner). While the quarterly numbers could signal the end of an era of high growth for Apple, we will be closely watching its ability to manage average selling prices (ASPs) and margins – which remain key valuation drivers for the company.

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The bounce since February so far is nothing but a bear market rally based on the rise in oil prices.

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In afternoon trading on Monday, Consumer Products stocks are the best performing sector, up 0.1%. Within that group, Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE: TSN) and Monster Beverage Corp (NASD: MNST) are two large stocks leading the way, showing a gain of 2.2% and 1.9%, respectively. Among consumer products ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the iShares U.S. Consumer Goods ETF (AMEX: IYK), which is flat on the day on the day, and up 3.41% year-to-date. Tyson Foods, Inc., meanwhile, is up 21.16% year-to-date, and Monster Beverage Corp , is down 15.89% year-to-date. Combined, TSN and MNST make up approximately 1.7% of the underlying holdings of IYK.

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The FCC and DoJ's strong restrictions on Charter Communications' push for Time Warner Cable may take fears of a cable oligopoly off the table.

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Among the underlying components of the Russell 3000 index, we saw noteworthy options trading volume today in LinkedIn Corp (NYSE: LNKD), where a total of 13,480 contracts have traded so far, representing approximately 1.3 million underlying shares. That amounts to about 59.2% of LNKD's average daily trading volume over the past month of 2.3 million shares. Particularly high volume was seen for the $85 strike put option expiring January 20, 2017, with 520 contracts trading so far today, representing approximately 52,000 underlying shares of LNKD. Below is a chart showing LNKD's trailing twelve month trading history, with the $85 strike highlighted in orange:

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In afternoon trading on Tuesday, Energy stocks are the best performing sector, up 2.0%. Within that group, Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE: SWN) and Pioneer Natural Resources Co (NYSE: PXD) are two of the day's stand-outs, showing a gain of 7.5% and 6.8%, respectively. Among energy ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (AMEX: XLE), which is up 1.4% on the day, and up 12.24% year-to-date. Southwestern Energy Company, meanwhile, is up 82.98% year-to-date, and Pioneer Natural Resources Co is up 30.83% year-to-date. Combined, SWN and PXD make up approximately 4.9% of the underlying holdings of XLE.

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Apple's biggest problem: its newest iPhone isn't measuring up.

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