Before the Open (Jan 5)

Good morning from snowy and cold Colorado. Happy Thursday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly up. Hong Kong and Singapore rallied more than 1%; India, Malaysia and Taiwan also did well. Europe currently leans to the downside. Russia is down more than 1%; Sweden and Greece are also weak. Austria and Denmark are doing well. Futures in the States point towards a gap down open for the cash market.
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The dollar is down. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are up.
A day after Ford and GM posted big gains, Macy’s and Kohls are going to take big hits. The issue isn’t consumer strength; they just have the wrong business model. People just don’t shop at the big department stores as much as they used to, and it’s only going to get worse as the older generation dies off and are replaced by younger, more tech savvy, shoppers. M is down 10% premarket; KSS is down 14%.
Gold and silver stocks are in play right now. But they’re just trades, perhaps only lasting a couple weeks. Until proven otherwise, I’m treating the current move like a bounce within a downtrend, not the beginning of a new uptrend. The groups can prove me wrong, but until they can establish themselves in uptrends, I’m going to keep tight reigns on positions.
The market keeps chugging along. Anything goes short term, but long term the indexes and indicators look great. Bias remains firmly to the upside.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Macy’s (M +1.73%) sank almost 10% in pre-market trading after it cut its 2017 EPS forecast to $2.95-$3.10 from a prior view of $3.15-$3.40 and said it plans to close 68 stores and cut 6,200 jobs.
Kohl’s (KSS +4.22%) tumbled over 13% in pre-market trading after it said comparable same-store sales fell -2.1% y/y in the fiscal months of November and December combined, and then it cut its 2017 adjusted EPS forecast to $3.60-$3.65 from a November 10 estimate of $3.80-$4.00.
Adobe Systems (ADBE +0.64%) was rated a new ‘Outperform’ at BMO Capital Markets with a target price of $125.
McKesson (MCK +0.78%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Overweight’ at JPMorgan Chase with an 18-month target price of $169.
Helix Energy Solutions Group (HLX +3.53%) sank 10% in after-hours trading after it proposed an offering of 21 million shares of common stock.
Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD +1.32%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Outperform’ at Wedbush with a price target of $155.
Mistras Group (MG +2.41%) slumped 10% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 EPS of 26 cents, below consensus of 31 cents.
Kilroy Realty (KRC +1.48%) slid 3% in after-hours trading after it commenced an offering of 3.5 million shares of common stock.
Hudson Pacific Properties (HPP +1.23%) lost 1% in after-hours trading after holders offered 18.7 million shares of stock.
Alexion Pharmaceuticals (ALXN +3.65%) rallied over 3% in after-hours trading after a board audit committee concluded that it sees no need to restate financial results after investigating a claim made by a former employee about Soliris sales and practices.
Moelis (MC +2.65%) fell 4% in after-hours trading after it offered 5 million shares of Class A common stock.
Heron Therapeutics (HRTX +2.99%) dropped nearly 10% in after-hours trading after it forecast 2017 sales of its Sustol nausea treatment drug at $15 million to $25 million, well below consensus of $50 million.
Synergy Pharmaceuticals (SGYP +6.88%) climbed 3% in after-hours trading after it was rated a new ‘Outperform’ at Oppenheimer with a price target of $10.
Loxo Oncology (LOXO +5.28%) fell over 3% in after-hours trading after it proposed a public offering of common stock, although no amount or size was given.
Today’s Economic Calendar
Chain Store Sales
7:30 Challenger Job-Cut Report
8:15 ADP Jobs Report
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
8:30 Gallup Good Jobs Rate
9:45 PMI Services Index
9:45 Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index
10:00 ISM Non-Manufacturing Index
10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
11:00 EIA Petroleum Inventories
4:30 Money Supply
4:30 Fed Balance Sheet
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings from Morningstar
this week’s Economic Numbers/Reports powered by ECONODAY