Before the Open (Jan 13)

Good morning. Happy Friday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed with a lean to the downside. Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan did well; Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan posted losses. Europe is currently mostly up. Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Spain, Italy, Norway, Denmark, Stockholm and Switzerland are doing well. Greece is down 2%; Russia is down 1.5%. Futures in the States point towards a positive open for the cash market.
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The dollar is down. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are up.
The market is acting like it did several times last summer – it’s grinding in a range and is completely unable to gain any momentum in either direction. The Nas has done well, but the other indexes are stuck in ranges. There have been a couple 2-day win streaks and a one 3-day losing streak, but beyond that nothing has stuck.
Considering the rally off the pre-election low, this resting period should be considered perfectly normal. Heck, all of 2016 consisted of rallies followed by ranges, which then resolved up.
Don’t force trades right now. At the beginning of the year I noted possible triggers. Two are approaching. Earnings season is starting (several financials report today), and inauguration day is coming. Beyond these news items that can trump the charts, the internals will guide us.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Bank of America (BAC -0.65%) is up +0.5% in pre-market trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 40 cents, better than consensus of 38 cents
GrubHub (GRUB +0.54%) rose 2% in pre-market trading after being upgraded by Morgan Stanley to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Equal-weight’
BlackRock (BLK -0.70%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of $5.14, stronger than consensus of $5.02.
GameStop (GME +0.45%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Outperform’ at Macquarie Research with a 12-month target price of $23.
Tractor Supply (TSCO -0.72%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at Wedbush.
Zillow Group (ZG +1.80%) was downgraded to ‘Equal-weight’ from ‘Overweight’ at Morgan Stanley.
Independence Realty Trust (IRT -0.44%) was rated a new ‘Outperform’ at Baird with a 12-month target price of $10.
Signet Jewelers (SIG -0.40%) slid over 1% in after-hours trading after Corvex Management sold 2.5 million shares in a block trade.
WPX Energy (WPX -1.36%) lost 1% in after-hours trading after it announced a public offering of 42 million shares of common stock.
Pandora Media (P +0.93%) jumped 7% in after-hours trading after it said it sees Q4 revenue above its October 25 forecast of $362 million-$374 million citing strong advertising.
Two Harbors Investment (TWO -0.45%) fell nearly 2% in after-hours trading after it proposed a public offering of $250 million of senior convertible notes due 2022.
Uranium Resources (URRE -1.88%) slumped 17% in after-hours trading after it proposed a public offering of common stock, although no size or terms of the offering were mentioned.
Nivalis Therapeutics (NVLS -2.64%) gained 2% in after-hours trading after it announced restructuring plans to “reduce operational costs and preserve cash” while exploring strategic alternatives and named CFO Michael Carruthers as interim president effective Jan 15.
Today’s Economic Calendar
8:30 Retail Sales
9:30 Fed’s Harker Speech
10:00 Business Inventories
10:00 Consumer Sentiment
1:00 PM Baker-Hughes Rig Count
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings from Morningstar
this week’s Economic Numbers/Reports powered by ECONODAY