Before the Open (Nov 17)

Good morning. Happy Thursday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed and little changed. Singapore and Taiwan did well; India and New Zealand dropped. Europe is currently mixed. Greece is up more than 1%; Turkey and Spain are also doing well. Austria, Belgium and Italy are weak. Futures in the States point towards a flat open for the cash market.
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The dollar is down. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are down.
The market is resting. This is fine. Last week the indexes posted their biggest gains of the year, and several groups posted gains not seen since the 2009 bottom.
The first step is over…the first step being the initial thrust off the election bottom.
But the first move is the easy move. There was lots of money on the sidelines waiting for the election to take place. But once the market exhales and breaths a sigh of relief, there needs to be a second round of buying. It could take place a week later or two weeks later. Doesn’t matter. But it has to take place. It’s almost as if the first thrust off the low doesn’t count. We need continued buying at a later date to confirm the move. This is what I’m looking for right now – one more leg up to confirm last week’s big move. Will it happen this week? I don’t know; we only have two more days. What about next week? It’s Thanksgiving week. Besides being closed on Thursday, Friday is a half day and Wednesday will be dead. I’d hate to get a low-volume leg up.
That’s what I’m looking for right now. Leg two. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Microsoft (MSFT +1.32%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Goldman Sachs with a price target of $68.
Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG +0.72%) was downgraded to ‘Sell’ from ‘Neutral’ at Guggenheim Securities.
Cisco (CSCO -0.41%) dropped over 4% in pre-market trading after it said it sees Q2 adjusted EPS of 55 cents-57 cents, weaker than consensus of 59 cents.
NetApp (NTAP -0.40%) jumped 10% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 adjusted EPS of 60 cents, better than consensus of 54 cents.
Shopify (SHOP +1.10%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at BTIG LLC with a 12-month target price of $55.
EQT Midstream Partners LP (EQM -2.31%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at Drexel Hamilton LLC with a 12-month price target of $86.
Performance Food Group (PFGC +1.69%) slid over 2% in after-hours trading after it announced a secondary offering of 10 million shares of common stock.
Amgen (AMGN +0.12%) gained almost 1% in after-hours trading after it said migraine suffers treated in a second Phase 3 study of its erenumab drug significantly reduced their migraine days compared with a placebo.
L Brands (LB -1.14%) fell 2% in after-hours trading after it said it sees Q4 EPS of $1.85-$2.00, below consensus of $2.03.
First Solar (FSLR -1.11%) sank over 10% in after-hours trading after it said it sees 2017 adjusted EPS of break-even to 50 cents, well below consensus of $1.82.
Planet Fitness (PLNT +0.12%) dropped nearly 4% in after-hours trading after it announced a secondary offering of 15 million shares of common stock.
Aclaris Therapeutics (ACRS -2.43%) tumbled 10% in after-hours trading after it announced a public offering of $65 million of common stock.
Wednesday’s Key Earnings
Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) -3.8% AH giving weak guidance.
Lowe’s (NYSE:LOW) -2.9% after missing estimates.
Target (NYSE:TGT) +6.4% on sizzling e-commerce growth.
Today’s Economic Calendar
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
8:30 Housing Starts
8:30 Philly Fed Business Outlook
8:30 Consumer Price Index
8:50 Fed’s Dudley Speech
9:45 Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index
10:00 Yellen delivers testimony before the joint economic committee
10:00 E-Commerce Retail Sales
10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
12:30 PM Fed’s Reserve Gov. Lael Brainard speech
4:30 PM Money Supply
4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet
Today’s Earnings here
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers