Before the Open (Jan 25)

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly up. Japan and India rallied more than 1%; Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia also did well. Europe is currently posting solid, across-the-board gains. Greece and Poland are up more than 2%. Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain and Sweden are up more than 1%. Turkey is down more than 1%. Futures in the States point towards a moderate gap up open for the cash market.
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VIDEO: There’s a Bull Market Somewhere
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The dollar is down. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are down.
Yesterday the S&P and Nas moved to new all-time highs. The Dow is now less than 100 points from 20K.
The movement of the indexes will be today’s big headline. If the Dow takes out 20K, which was meaningless a month ago, but is now a big deal from a technical standpoint because it’s been established as stiff resistance, it’ll be all the media talks about. Will it bring money off the sidelines and begin the market’s next leg up? Possible. False breakout? Possible too. How the Dow handles this level could set the stage for the next couple weeks.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Boeing (BA +1.72%) climbed 1.5% in pre-market trading after it reported Q4 core EPS of $2.47, above consensus of $2.32.
Seagate Technology PLC (STX +2.94%) jumped 10% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 adjusted EPS of $1.38, higher than consensus of $1.08, and said it sees fiscal 2017 EPS “at least” $4.50, above consensus of $3.77.
Discover Financial Service (DFS +0.87%) lost 1% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 provision for loan losses of $579 million, up from $445 million in Q3.
Intuitive Surgical (ISRG +1.68%) rose 1% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of $6.09, better than consensus of $5.98.
Capital One Financial (COF +2.14%) slipped nearly 2% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of $1.45, weaker than consensus of $1.62.
Alcoa (AA +3.33%) gained over 2% in after-hours trading after it said it sees 2017 adjusted Ebitda ex-items $2.1 billion-$2.3 billion, up from $1.1 billion in 2016.
Phillips 66 Partners (PSXP +1.17%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ by Citigroup, citing strong organic growth, ability to attract third-party revenue and compete with large non-sponsored MLPs.
Cree Inc (CREE -0.29%) rallied 4% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 adjusted EPS of 20 cents, higher than consensus of 11 cents.
CA Technologies (CA +1.54%) fell over 2% in after-hours trading after it cut its full year adjusted EPS from continuing operations growth estimate to flat to up +2%, below a previous projection of up 2%-5%.
Bob Evans (BOBE -0.39%) jumped 15% in after-hours trading after it announce a sale of its restaurants to Golden Gate Capital for $565 million.
Concho Resources (CXO +2.24%) rose nearly 3% in after-hours trading after it sold a Permian Basin crude oil gathering system to Plains All-American for $1.2 billion.
Mercury Systems (MRCY +8.37%) lost 3% in after-hours trading after it announced a public offering of 5 million shares of common stock.
Newtek Business Services (NEWT +2.33%) dropped nearly 5% in after-hours trading after it announced a public offering of 1.5 million shares of common stock.
Michaels Cos. (MIK +0.65%) slid 2% in after-hours trading after it announced a secondary offering of 18 million shares of common stock.
Tuesday’s Key Earnings
3M (NYSE:MMM) -1.4% reaffirming guidance for 2017.
Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) +3.1% growing sales, lifting outlook.
Alcoa (NYSE:AA) +4.1% AH seeing higher aluminum demand.
Corning (NYSE:GLW) +5.7% topping expectations.
DuPont (NYSE:DD) +4.5% with hopes of a DOW merger approval.
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) -1.9% after a modest 2017 forecast.
Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) +4.1% on record cost savings.
Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) -1.8% following a downbeat outlook.
Seagate (NASDAQ:STX) +11.9% AH heavily beating estimates.
Texas Instruments (NYSE:TXN) +0.4% AH on automotive demand.
Verizon (NYSE:VZ) -4.4% after disappointing earnings.
Today’s Economic Calendar
7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
9:00 FHFA House Price Index
10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
1:00 PM Results of $15B, 2-Year FRN Auction
1:00 PM Results of $34B, 5-Year Note Auction
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings from Morningstar
this week’s Economic Numbers/Reports powered by ECONODAY