US EQUITY OPEN: Indices in the green as risk events await

OPEN: US indices open in the green, as did most of the sectors, in pretty light newsflow to start ahead of a week filled with risk-events, namely the Fed, Mag-7 earnings, and PCE. Consumer Discretionary and Industrials sit atop of the pile, with the former buoyed by gains in Tesla following an upgrade at Barclays, while Communications is the sole sector in the red, while neocloud stocks see weakness in wake of negative commentary from Musk. Other highlights include Anthropic's S-1. On the geopolitical footing, Trump said it was “getting to be decision time” on whether to strike a deal with Tehran or resume attacks, while benchmarks saw pressure in recent trade as Saudi Foreign Ministry said the visit of representatives of the Mecca Agreement countries to Tehran is part of efforts to de-escalate tensions between the parties to the crisis; WTI and Brent down c. USD 1.50/bbl as desks await further Middle East updates. In FX, the Dollar Index is seeing slight gains, with G10 peers lower as the Yen and Kiwi lag. Elsewhere, Brazilian assets and the Real are getting slammed following Lula's surprise re-election for Presidency. Treasuries are flatter across the curve ahead of the 2yr note auction later today, in what is otherwise a thin calendar. After-hours, earnings include CDNS, WELL, and NUE. STOCK SPECIFICS: Meta Platforms (META) plans up to USD 95bln stock offering to fuel its huge AI infrastructure spending. Verizon (VZ): EPS & postpaid phone net adds. beat w/ strong FY profit view; note, rev. missed EQT (EQT) agrees to acquire Range Resources (RRC) in an all-stock deal, valuing combined Co. at over USD 50bln. Fair Isaac (FICO) downgraded at Wells Fargo Brazil ADRs hit hard after left-wing Lula unexpectedly wins the election; of note for, Braskem (BAK), Itaú Unibanco (ITUB), Petrobras (PBR), Vale (VALE). Neocloud stocks: Elon Musk said in a post on X that “200+ neoclouds are going to see guppy-level death.” Stocks such as CoreWeave (CRWV), Nebius (NBIS), and Iren (IREN) seeing pressure. Tesla (TSLA) upgraded to 'Overweight' from 'Equal Weight' at Barclays, with a PT of USD 450 (prev. 370); firm cites Tesla's merger opportunity with SpaceX (SPCX), stronger core business outlook, and signs of Robotaxi inflection for the upgrade. Bon Secours Mercy Health is nearing a USD 6bln takeover of Surgery Partners (SGRY) reports the FT; the take-private deal could be announced as soon as Monday, and would value the Co. at USD 20/shr. SpaceX (SPCX) secured USD 40bln in debt financing to purchase GPUs scheduled for delivery in Q1 and Q2 2027.