Before the Open (Dec 22)

Good morning. Happy Thursday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed with a lean to the downside. India and Indonesia dropped more than 1%; Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan were also weak. Australia and New Zealand did well. Europe is currently mostly down, but other than Russia, Finland and Greece. losses are minimal. Futures in the States point towards a flat open for the cash market.
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The dollar is down a small amount. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are mostly down.
Two more days of trading this week, and then after a 3-day weekend, four days next week. Expectations are very low anything of significance will take place.
Don’t force things right now. The market looks good on all time frames, but ’tis not the season for forceful moves.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Finish Line (FINL -8.74%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Canaccord Genuity.
Akamai Technologies (AKAM -1.21%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at Guggenheim Securities with a 12-month target price of $75.
Microsoft (MSFT unch) was rated a new ‘Overweight’ at Piper Jaffray with a price target of $80.
Cubic (CUB -0.41%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ at Drexel Hamilton LLC with a 12-month target price of $58.
Micron Technology (MU -0.34%) rallied over 9% in after-hours trading after it said it sees fiscal year Q2 adjusted EPS of 58 cents-68 cents, well above consensus of 46 cents.
Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY -1.39%) lost over 2% in after-hours trading after it said Q3 comparable same store sales unexpectedly fell -1.4%, weaker than consensus of a +0.5% increase.
Power Integrations (POWI -1.10%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at Drexel Hamilton LLC with a 12-month target price of $79.
Herman Miller (MLHR -0.98%) fell over 6% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 net sales of $577.5 million, less than consensus of $593 million. and said it sees Q3 EPS of 31 cents-35 cents, weaker than consensus of 46 cents.
Red Hat (RHT +0.50%) plunged 12% in after-hours trading after it forecast Q4 revenue of $614 million-$622 million, below consensus of $638.2 million, and then lowered guidance on fiscal 2017 revenue to $2.40 to $2.41 billion, less than consensus of $2.42 billion.
Alexion Pharmaceuticals (ALXN +1.94%) slipped 1% in after-hours trading after its Soliris drug failed to prevent complications in a trial of kidney transplant patients.
CalAmp Corp. (CAMP +1.22%) dropped nearly 6% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 21 cents, below consensus of 26 cents.
XOMA Corp. (XOMA -3.00%) jumped 13% in after-hours trading after it generated up to $22 million through the sale of royalty streams from two license agreements to HealthCare Royalty Partners.
Wednesday’s Key Earnings
Accenture (NYSE:ACN) -5% cutting profit guidance.
Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ:BBBY) -2.6% AH missing estimates.
Micron (NASDAQ:MU) +9.9% AH improving pricing, robust outlook.
Today’s Economic Calendar
8:30 Durable Goods
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
8:30 GDP Q3
8:30 Corporate Profits
8:30 Chicago Fed National Activity Index
9:00 FHFA House Price Index
9:45 Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index
10:00 Personal Income and Outlays
10:00 Leading Indicators
10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
11:00 Kansas City Fed Mfg Survey
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