Before the Open (Dec 14)

Good morning. Happy Wednesday. Happy Fed Day.
The Asian/Pacific markets leaned to the downside. China, New Zealand and Indonesia were notable downside movers; Australia did well. Europe is currently mostly down. Russia and Greece are down more than 1%; France, Belgium, Austria, Turkey, Finland, Spain and Portugal are also weak. Hungary is doing well. Futures in the States point toward a flat open for the cash market.
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The dollar is down. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are up.
Today is Fed Day. It’s a virtual lock rates get targeted high. The bigger question is whether this is a one-off event or the beginning of a trend. And if it’s the beginning of a trend, what will the pace be next year?
Otherwise, all the indexes are not at all-time highs, and the giddiness on social media is growing. Lots of people talking about Dow 20,000 and higher. It makes me think a big slap in the face is needed to bring these people back to earth.
Overall the market looks good, but it’s extremely hard to chase prices higher right now. Risk/rewards aren’t there.
A rate hike is priced in, but you never know when a major news event will act as a turning point of inflection…for absolutely no reason. Anything goes the next day or so…even though the Fed is likely to do what Wall Street is anticipating. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Qualcomm (QCOM +1.27%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Overweight’ at JPMorgan Chase with a price target of $70.
Pridential Financial (PRU +0.30%) was downgraded to ‘Equal-Weight’ from ‘Overweight’ at Morgan Stanley.
Nordson (NDSN -0.38%) rallied 7% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of $1.39, better than consensus of $1.24, and said it sees Q1 EPS of 74 cents-84 cents, above consensus of 70 cents.
Hertz Global Holdings (HTZ +10.56%) declined 4% in after-hours trading after CEO John Tague said he will retire January 2 and Kathryn Marinello will become the new CEO.
PBF Energy (PBF -0.56%) dropped 2% in after-hours trading after it announced a public offering of 10 million shares of common stock.
Wells Fargo (WFC +0.11%) lost 1% in after-hours trading after U.S. regulators said the bank could not unwind its business in the event of a failure and rejected its living will for a second time.
Callon Petroleum (CPE +4.00%) fell almost 3% in after-hours trading after it announced a public offering of 34 million shares of common stock.
RCI Hospitality Holdings (RICK +3.09%) climbed nearly 4% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 31 cents, better than consensus of 21 cents.
HEICO (HEI -0.68%) slid 1% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 net sales of $363.3 million, below consensus of $372.5 million.
Wabash National (WNC -1.14%) gained almost 2% in after-hours trading after it reinstated its quarterly dividend of 6 cents per share, its first dividend in 8 years.
Peak Resorts (SKIS -0.98%) jumped 15% in after-hours trading after the U.S. CIS gave approval needed for funds raised in Mount Snow’s EB-5 offering to be released from escrow immediately.
Global Eagle Entertainment (ENT +1.74%) surged nearly 20% in after-hours trading after Southwest Airlines extended the use of Global Eagle’s Airconnect connectivity system and services.
Eagle Bulk Shipping (EGLE -1.92%) slumped 9% in after-hours trading after it announced a $100 million private placement of approximately 22 million shares of common stock.
Today’s Economic Calendar
7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
8:30 Producer Price Index
8:30 Retail Sales
9:15 Industrial Production
10:00 Business Inventories
10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
2:00 PM FOMC Announcement
2:00 PM FOMC Forecast
2:00 PM Chairman Press Conference
Today’s Earnings here
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers