Before the Open (Dec 23)

Good morning. Happy Friday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed with a lean to the downside. China dropped almost 1%; Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan also fell. Europe is currently mixed, but movement is minimal. Sweden, Italy, Portugal and Finland are up; Germany, Russia, Greece and Poland are down. Futures in the States point towards a flat open for the cash market.
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The dollar is flat. Oil is down; copper is up. Gold is up; silver is down. Bonds are up.
No need for extended comments this morning. It’s been a slow week, and today won’t change anything. The range is small, and volume is light. All the movement has taken place within last week’s high and low. Next week is likely to be the same. No reason to force things right now.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
FedEx (FDX -0.64%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ at Aegis Capital with a 12-month target price of $215.
Time Warner (TWX +0.49%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Brean Capital.
Cal-Maine Foods (CALM -1.64%) gained over 1% in after-hours trading after it reported a Q2 loss of -48 cents per share, right on expectations.
Lockheed Martin (LMT +0.11%) slid 2% in after-hours trading after President-elect Trump said that based on tremendous cost and cost overruns he asked Boeing to price-out a comparable F-18 Super Hornet jet.
Global Partners LP (GLP +13.74%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Stifel with a 12-month target price of $19.
Fred’s (FRED -4.77%) rose over 6% in after-hours trading after Alden Global Capital reported a 24.8% stake in the company.
GameStop (GME -5.04%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ by Mizuho Securities with a 12-month target price of $35.
Cintas (CTAS +0.49%) dropped 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 continuing operations EPS of $1.13, below consensus of $1.15.
Progenics Pharmaceuticals (PGNX -0.23%) jumped 7% in after-hours trading after an independent review of its Phase 3 clinical trial of agent 1404 for treatment of prostate cancer recommended a continuation of the trial.
Synergy Pharmaceuticals (SGYP -1.46%) climbed nearly 3% in after-hours trading after the company said its Phase 3 trial of its plecanatide met primary endpoints in treatment of chronic idiopathic constipation.
Thursday’s Key Earnings
ConAgra (NYSE:CAG) +3.4% on better-than-expected profit.
Rite Aid (NYSE:RAD) -0.4% facing pharmacy pressure.
Today’s Economic Calendar
10:00 New Home Sales
10:00 Reuters/UofM Consumer Sentiment
1:00 PM Baker-Hughes Rig Count
2:00 PM Bond markets close
Today’s Earnings here
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers