Before the Open (Nov 23)

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly up. Australia moved up 1.3%; New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan also did well. Europe leans to the downside. Italy is down 1%; Germany, France, Turkey, Denmark and Switzerland are also down. Russia is up. Futures in the States point towards a flat open for the cash market.
—————
List of Indexes and ETFs – here
—————
The dollar is up. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are down.
Except for the Nas, we got across-the-board all-time highs yesterday.
The Russell 2000 has moved up 13 straight days. This ties it with the third longest win streak in history.
Obviously this is unsustainable, but bodes well for the rest of the year. A pullback or pause will most likely get bought again.
Within a downtrend, many consecutive days would tell us a reversal is probably near. But within an uptrend, many consecutive up days tell us the market is strong and likely to continue up. Yes, strong markets and weak markets are not the equal and opposite.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Today will be slow and quiet, but FOMC minutes get released – this may keep traders at their desks into the afternoon. But with the expectation of a rate hike in December being very high, there isn’t much that can rock the market in a negative way.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Eli Lilly (LLY -0.85%) slumped 12% in pre-market trading after its solanezumab drug did not meet the primary endpoint in a Phase 3 study in people with mild dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease.
Deere & Co (DE -0.31%) climbed nearly 3% in pre-market trading after it reported Q4 EPS of 90 cents, well above consensus of 39 cents, and then raised its full-year EPS view to $4.43 from a prior view of $3.84.
Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH -3.48%) was downgraded to ‘Market Perform’ from ‘Outperform’ at William Blair.
McKesson Corp (MCK -0.01%) was downgraded to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at Credit Suisse with a price target of $131.
GameStop (GME +2.77%) lost almost 1% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 revenue of $1.96 billion, less than consensus of $1.99 billion.
Carnival (CCL +0.99%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at Bernstein with a 12-month target price of $63.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NCLH +1.67%) was downgraded to ‘Market Perform’ from ‘Outperform’ at Bernstein.
HP Inc. (HPQ -0.31%) fell over 2% in after-hours trading after it said it sees Q1 adjusted EPS of 35 cents-38 cents, below consensus of 38 cents.
Urban Outfitters (URBN +4.95%) dropped 8% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 EPS of 40 cents, weaker than consensus of 44 cents.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE -1.08%) slipped over 1% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 net revenue of $12.5 billion, below consensus of $12.8 billion.
Veeva Systems (VEEV -0.50%) rose over 5% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 22 cents, above consensus of 16 cents, and then raised guidance on fiscal 2017 adjusted EPS to 68 cents from an August 30 view of 60 cents-61 cents.
Nimble Storage (NMBL +1.65%) tumbled 8% in after-hours trading after it said it sees a Q4 adjusted loss per share of 013 cents to -15 cents, a wider loss than consensus of -12 cents.
Announcements and such here
Today’s Earnings here
Tuesday’s Key Earnings
Barnes & Noble (NYSE:BKS) +10.5% posting big cost savings.
Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR) +8.2% improving margins in Q3.
GameStop (NYSE:GME) +4.3% AH despite a weak holiday forecast.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) -1.8% AH on lower revenues.
HP (NYSE:HPQ) -2.3% AH on cautious earnings guidance.
Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) -8.7% cutting its full-year outlook.
Seadrill (NYSE:SDRL) +1.6% after beating expectations.
Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ:URBN) -10% AH after missing estimates.
Today’s Economic Calendar
7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
8:30 Durable Goods
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
9:00 FHFA House Price Index
9:45 PMI Manufacturing Index Flash
9:45 Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index
10:00 New Home Sales
10:00 Consumer Sentiment
10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
12:00 PM EIA Natural Gas Inventory
1:00 PM Results of $28B, 7-Year Note Auction
2:00 PM FOMC minutes
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers