Morning Poppers (The Day After Edition)

Bitcoin futures were launched and the price of Bitcoins soared higher. Like stocks, this was a sell the fear; buy the news situation. What will come from the launch of futures in the weeks and months to come are elaborate schemes propped by by investment banking houses aimed at profiting from Bitcoins. I expect there will be new ETFs cropping up now and that might, in fact, hurt GBTC — due to the premium differential. Either way, having a futures market is not a good thing, in my opinion, because it motivates the biggest fucked faces the world has ever known to rig markets.

I’ve taken a more sanguine view on the cryptos in recent days. I’m not interested in buying up here, but I am interested in examining the asset class and perhaps building some tools to help people analyze them. There is definitely a vacuum to fill.

Europe is flat, as well as US futures. All of the cryptos are running higher, with Litecoin being the most energetic, +12%. The Santa Claus rally begins now, in earnest, so do not expect a gigantic market move. Instead, you should anticipate a reduction of volatility and an easy time through the New Year’s.

Here’s the morning headlines:

Vonage target raised to $12 at Needham

NXP Semi: Activist Elliot Advisors releases a letter to shareholders and a presentation making the case that it believes NXP is worth $135/share on an intrinsic standalone basis, above the $110 offered by QUALCOMM (QCOM) in its bid to acquire the Company

Waste Mgmt upgrade details — to Buy at Stifel; tgt raised to $95

Bluebirdbio target raised to $309 from $186 at Goldman

First Solar upgraded to Outperform at Robert W. Baird; tgt raised to $82; top pick in solar sector

DaVita upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup

Illinois Tool initiated with a Buy at BofA/Merrill; tgt $190

The Trade Desk upgraded to Buy from Hold at SunTrust

Freeport-McMoRan target raised to $16 at B. Riley FBR, Inc.

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