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 Shares of Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. rallied 1.2% and Marriott International Inc. tacked on 0.5% in midday trading Friday, after Jefferies's David Katz became Wall Street's most bullish analyst on the hotel operators, citing the belief that investors will increasingly seek "high-quality laggards" as the economy recovers. Katz raised his ratings on both stocks to buy from hold, and boosted his price target for Hilton to $125 from $88 and for Marriott to $101 from $72. His price targets are now the highest among analysts surveyed by FactSet, for both stocks. "Given the strength of the overall market, we expect increased focus on quality companies, enduring models and superb management team that have lagged," Katz wrote in a note to clients. "We consider [Marriott] and [Hilton] among the most prominent in our coverage by this measure and upgrade both to buy from hold." He said his upgrades are with a longer-term view than most of his other ratings, but he has confidence that lodging recovers to a "new normal," facilitating growth, cash flow and capital returns. Hilton shares have dropped 22.0% year to date and Marriott's stock has tumbled 36.0%, while the SPDR Consumer Discretionary Select Sector ETF has climbed 14.5% and the S&P 500 has gained 4.4%.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
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The oxygen in our retail capsule is diminishing, retail doors are closing, the credit markets are drying up, and our flight director is missing in action.
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 Music streaming service Spotify rushed to support Epic Games on Friday in its battle against Apple launching an attack of its own on the tech giant.
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 The markets are trending positive, after an earnings season that was less grim than predicted. With a majority of S&P listed companies having reported Q2 results, the fall-off in profits was not as bad as expected. On average, earnings are down 36%, a favorable comparison to the expected 44% declines. Even better, close to 85% of reporting have beaten the forecasts. This is an all-time high percentage, and a great sign of economic health despite the corona virus crisis.The better-than-expected earnings season is having a ripple effect in the stock markets. The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ indexes are both closing in on their own record levels, and are their trend lines are clearly positive. Looking at overall market conditions for investment firm Canaccord, equity strategist Toney Dwyer writes of the prospect for continued stock gains: "We believe the combination of a solid economic backdrop, historically high business and consumer confidence, and better-than-expected earnings growth continues to suggest there is a long way to go."Using Dwyer's strategy to provide concrete recommendations, Canaccord's top analysts have honed in on three small-caps, stocks with market caps of less than $400 million, poised to post big gains in the coming months. After running the tickers through TipRanks' database, it's clear the names are also getting support from the rest of the Street.Spark Networks (LOV)We'll start with a tech company. Spark is an online dating company, formed three years ago, and holding a
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The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus illness COVID-19 world-wide edged closer to 21 million on Friday, and the U.S. counted more than 50,000 new cases for a second day and counted more than 1,000 deaths, continuing a more than two-week streak.
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After Tesla and Apple Inc.--behemoths of Wall Street by dint of their popularity among investors and their outsize valuations, announced plans to split their shares within weeks of each another--there has been a growing buzz that more companies with triple and quadruple-digit share prices will follow in their footsteps.
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 Shares of insurance fintech company Duck Creek jump 56% in Nasdaq debut
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Travel stocks lead European markets lower after UK quarantine decision
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Shares of Peloton Interactive Inc. fell 0.7% in midday trading, after rising 2.1% on Thursday, as BofA securities analyst Justin Post reiterated his bullish stance on the at-home fitness company, as he reassured investors not to be too concerned about a Bloomberg report that Apple Inc. was planning to launch an rival fitness app. "We think Apple's new fitness app could compete vs. Peloton's digital only subscription offer (though we expect initial class selection and library to be inferior), but will have limited impact on Peloton's connected fitness base that uses Peloton's bike or a tread," Post wrote in a note to clients. "We note that Peloton's digital-only subscription revenue was only 1% of total revenue as of [fiscal]3Q, with the biggest value of digital subscribers being potential conversion to connected fitness subscribers." He kept his rating at buy and his stock price target at $72, which is 10.4% above current levels. On Thursday, after the Bloomberg report came out, the stock initially fell as much as 2.9% intraday before bouncing to close up 2.1%. On Friday, the stock was up as much as 3.1% earlier in the session, before reversing course. The stock has more than doubled (up 129.7%) year to date, while the S&P 500 has tacked on 4.5%.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
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 Macy's, Nordstrom, Kohl's shares rise after July retail data
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General Motors Co. would do well in spinning off its electric-vehicle operations and capabilities into a standalone company, "which could force the market to recognize its robust EV technology and upcoming (vehicle) lineup," analysts at Deutsche Bank said in a note Friday. That recognition would unlock "considerable" shareholder value, give the new company access to cheap capital to fund expected growth, and provide it the ability to attract and retain talent, the analysts said. GM seems to be considering the option, they said. Tesla Inc. , Nikola Corp. and others have reaped the benefits of that market attention, which stands "in sharp contrast with depressed legacy automakers' value," the Deutsche Bank analysts said. "This is particularly striking in the case of GM and VW, which actually have strong EV capability and upcoming product plans," they said. This "reflects massive investment flows towards vehicle electrification startups, at the expense of incumbent industry participants, and raises the question of how to get investors to recognize the value of electrification technology within large legacy organizations." The analysts reiterated their buy rating on GM, and kept their price target on the stock at $33, saying that an EV spinoff "could boost it considerably further." GM shares have lost 24% this year, contrasting with gains around 4% for the S&P 500 index in the same period.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
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 U.S. stock-index futures seesaw after weaker-than-expected retail-sales report
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The Internal Revenue Service has decided that DraftKings and other daily fantasy sports companies should pay a federal excise tax on daily fantasy sports. The tax will apply to entry fees for daily fantasy contests, and could have a huge impact on the gaming industry.
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Market participants looked to end the week on a quiet note.
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 CureVac shares debut at nearly triple IPO price
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U.S. stocks traded mixed at the start of Thursday's trade as investors monitored the state of talks between Democrats and Republicans over a coronavirus relief package, while jobless claims showed a larger drop than expected. The S&P 500 fell 0.2% to 3,373. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.3% to 11,050. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 81 points, or 0.3%, to 27,895. Initial claims for unemployment benefits showed marked improvement in the most recent week, falling to 963,000. Shares of Lyft Inc. fell 5.4% after the ride-sharing company late Wednesday said riders and revenue fell by more than half in the second quarter.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
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Trump Administration Criticizes New Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Mortgage Fee The Wall Street JournalA ‘Middle Finger' to Struggling Families: How a New Fee Is About to Make Refinancing Your Mortgage a Lot More Expensive MoneyMortgage Finance Giants to Charge More for Refinancing The New York TimesMortgage rates keep falling — will they finally drop to 0%? MarketWatch
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