Before the Open (Dec 13)

Good morning. Happy Tuesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed with a lean to the upside. Japan and India led; South Korea and Taiwan did okay. Australia, Indonesia and New Zealand posted losses. Europe is currently mostly up. Spain and Italy are up more than 1%; Germany, France, the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Poland, Turkey and Hungary are also doing well. Futures in the States point towards a moderate gap up open for the cash market.
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The dollar is up a small amount. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are up.
Yesterday was a pretty normal day. The large caps closed mixed and flat; the small caps dropped about 1%. The ranges and volume were average.
Today starts the 2-day FOMC meeting, culminating in a decision on rates tomorrow. It’s a virtual lock they raise, so we can assume it’s priced in – although a “sell the news” scenario could play out. Wall Street will mostly look for clues as to the pace of future raises. Will this be a one-and-done situation or will there likely be a few more raises next year? We’ll also get to see if their language changes, given the new administration that will be taking over next month. Perhaps it’s business as usual at the Fed…or maybe they admit they want to “wait and see” how the economy reacts to the new leadership.
Overall I still like the market. If left alone prices should continue up into the new year. But we have to be open to events acting as inflection points…for absolutely no reason. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Boeing (BA +0.43%) climbed nearly 2% in after-hours trading after it raised its dividend to $1.42 a share, higher than consensus of $1.25, and then announced a $14 billion share buyback program
VeriFone Systems (PAY -0.12%) declined over 2% in after-hours trading after it said it sees fiscal 2017 adjusted EPS of $1.35-$1.39, well below consensus of $1.59.
Michaels Cos. (MIK -3.70%) fell 2% in after-hours trading after it announced a secondary offering of 12 million shares of common stock.
National Storage Affiliates Trust (NSA +0.36%) slid over 3% in after-hours trading after it announced a public offering of 4.5 million shares of common stock.
Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (ARI -1.05%) dropped 3% in after-hours trading after it announced a public offering of 10.5 million shares of common stock.
Novocure LTD (NVCR -1.10%) rose almost 2% in after-hours trading after it said a Phase 2 “Innovate” trial suggest tumor treating fields plus weekly paclitaxel may improve overall survival in recurrent ovarian cancer.
Hancock Holding (HBHC -2.87%) fell 3% in after-hours trading after it announced a public offering of 5 million shares of common stock.
JetBlue Airways (JBLU -1.28%) gained almost 1% in after-hours trading after it reported Nov traffic up +7.1% and Nov capacity up +5.2%.
Univar (UNVR -0.95%) slipped almost 2% in after-hours trading after it announced a sale of 12.5 million shares by holders.
Inovalon Holdings (INOV -1.33%) plunged over 30% in after-hours trading after it lowered guidance on 2016 adjusted EPS to 32 cents-33 cents from a prior view of 39 cents-46 cents, citing inability to enter into an expected collaboration agreement because of “unforeseen circumstances impacting counter-party.”
Today’s Economic Calendar
FOMC meeting begins
6:00 NFIB Small Business Optimism Index
8:30 Import/Export Prices
8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
1:00 PM Results of $12B, 30-Year Note Auction
Today’s Earnings here
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers