Before the Open (Feb 23)

Good morning. Happy Thursday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed but little changed. Singapore, Indonesia and New Zealand moved up; Hong Kong, China and Australia moved down. Europe is currently mixed and also little changed. Austria, Turkey, Spain and Sweden are up; the Czech Republic, Hungary and Greece are down. Futures in the States point towards a positive open for the cash market.
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The dollar is down slightly. Oil is up; copper is down. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are up.
The market rested yesterday on light volume. We haven’t gotten back-to-back down days for the SPX since January. Heck, the Dow hasn’t posted a loss in 9 days.
The market has gone from flat and range bound to a lock-out rally that won’t let investors in.
I can’t imagine there are many bears left. How far does the market have to go before they realize the market is its own entity, and even if they’re bearish reasons are sound, stock prices can continue for a long time. The trend and momentum are more important than what “should” happen.
The bulls are happy, but my guess is they’re underexposed and frustrated. Oh well. We’ll get a dip…there’ll be some negative news, so those bulls will be led to believe a top is really in place…and then the market will leg up to new highs again without them. Sorry. It happens over and over.
Right the trend. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Home Depot (HD +0.16%) was upgraded to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Equalweight’ at Morgan Stanley with a price target of $165.
NVIDIA (NVDA -0.28%) fell 3% in after-hours trading after it was downgraded to ‘Reduce’ from ‘Buy’ at Nomura Instinet.
Square (SQ +2.80%) climbed 6% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 5 cents, above consensus of 3 cents.
Jack in the Box (JACK -3.51%) dropped nearly 10% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 adjusted operating EPS of $1.18, weaker than consensus of $1.24, and said it sees full-year operating EPS of $4.25-$4.45, below consensus of $4.71.
Ctrip.com International Ltd (CTRP +1.13%) gained over 1% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 profit per ADS of 17 cents, above consensus of 15 cents.
L Brands (LB +0.75%) plunged 12% in after-hours trading after it said it sees Q1 EPS of 20 cents-25 cents, weaker than consensus of 49 cents, and then lowered guidance on full-year EPS to $3.05-$3.35, weaker than consensus of $3.69.
CoStar Group (CSGP -0.64%) fell over 5% in after-hours trading after it said it sees Q1 adjusted EPS of 92 cents-97 cents, weaker than consensus of $1.13, and lowered guidance on full-year adjusted EPS to $4.18-$4.28, below consensus of $4.95.
Boston Beer Co. (SAM -1.13%) declined 7% in after-hours trading after it said it sees full-year EPS of $4.20 to $6.20, below consensus of $6.44.
ARRIS International PLC (ARRS +2.50%) tumbled over 8% in after-hours trading after it said it will buy Brocade’s Ruckus Wireless and ICX units for $800 million.
Tessera Holding (TSRA unch) sank nearly 9% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 45 cents, well below consensus of 58 cents, and said it sees Q1 revenue of $60 million-$63 million, less than consensus of $72.9 million.
AxoGen (AXGN -0.94%) lost 3% in after-hours trading after it reported a Q4 adjusted loss per share of -10 cents, wider than consensus of -9 cents.
Ultra Clean Holdings (UCTT +1.62%) surged over 10% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 revenue of $174.5 million, better than consensus of $173 million, and then said it expects Q1 revenue of $190 million-$197 million, above consensus of $168.3 million.
Bellicum Pharmaceuticals (BLCM -4.48%) climbed nearly 5% in after-hours trading after it said updated results from a BP-004 trial of its BPX-501 and rimiducid show “consistent, durable outcomes” at 6 and 12 months with rapid immune recovery in patients with inherited blood disorders and hematological cancers and “very low” incidence of graft-versus-host disease.
Endologix (ELGX +0.62%) dropped nearly 6% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 revenue of $47.5 million, less than consensus of $48.7 million.
Foundation Medicine (FMI -2.45%) fell 5% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 revenue of $28.8 million, below consensus of $29.2 million.
Wednesday’s Key Earnings
Energy Transfer (NYSE:ETP) +1.8% AH on higher revenues.
Fitbit (NYSE:FIT) +1.2% AH offering a turnaround strategy.
HP (NYSE:HPQ) +2.4% AH beating expectations.
Southern Co. (NYSE:SO) +1.5% despite higher costs.
Square (NYSE:SQ) +8.6% AH on new product growth.
Tesla (TSLA) +1.5% AH keeping Model 3 plans steady.
TJX Cos. (NYSE:TJX) +0.2% on solid comparable sales.
Today’s Economic Calendar
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
8:30 Chicago Fed National Activity Index
9:00 FHFA House Price Index
9:45 Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index
10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
11:00 EIA Petroleum Inventories
11:00 Kansas City Fed Mfg Survey
1:00 PM Results of $28B, 7-Year Note Auction
4:30 PM Money Supply
4:30 PM 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