Before the Open (Mar 29)

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly up. Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand and Singapore led the way. Europe is currently mixed and little changed. Germany and Greece led to the upside. Russia, Turkey and Spain are down. Futures in the States point towards a slight positive open for the cash market.
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The dollar is up. Oil is up; copper is down. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are up.
Yesterday the market followed through on its previous day’s move off the low. It was one of the biggest up days of the year. The S&P has moved off its rising 50-day MA, and the Russell has bounced off the bottom of its 4-month range.
At a time the bulls needed to step up and defend their turf, they did so. It’s encouraging, especially when coupled with several high-profile companies (AAPL and others) also doing well.
From here the indicators will confirm the rally attempt. Failure to improve would lead to the market turning around and heading right back down. The AD line needs to continue up. The AD volume line needs to get above 0. New highs need to expand. New lows need to disappear.
This is step one. Now we either get confirmation or nonconfirmation.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Groupon (GRPN +0.25%) and Twitter (TWTR -0.33%) both fell 1% in pre-market trading after Barclays PLC initiated coverage on the Internet sector with ‘Underweight’ ratings for both stocks.
CyberArk Software (CYBR unch) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at Evercore ISI with a price target of $60.
RH (RH +3.57%) surged 15% in after-hours trading after it forecast Q1 net revenue of $530 million-$545 million, above consensus of $485.1 million
Computer Sciences (CSC +1.50%) gained 1% in after-hours trading after it was announced that it will replace Southwestern Energy in the S&P 500 before the open of trading on Tuesday, April 4.
Wells Fargo (WFC +1.03%) reached an agreement in principle to pay $1110 million to settle a class action lawsuit concerning retail sales practices over fake accounts.
Dave & Buster’s Entertainment (PLAY +2.34%) fell over 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 comparable sales rose +3.2%, below consensus of +3.7%.
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Holdings (OLLI +0.46%) rose 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 net sales of $283.4 million, higher than consensus of $281 million.
Western Union (WU +0.60%) was downgraded to ‘Sell’ from ‘Hold’ at Edward Jones.
Sonic (SONC +2.44%) lost nearly 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 revenue of $100.2 million, weaker than consensus of $104.6 million and said Q2 system-wide comparable sales fell -7.4%, a bigger decline than consensus of -4.5%.
Landex (LNDC +0.87%) said it sees Q4 EPS of 9 cents-11 cents, well below consensus of 21 cents.
Depomed (DEPO -4.50%) slid 4% in after-hours trading after it said it sees Q1 net sales of $95 million-$100 million, below consensus of $114.7 million.
Laureate Education (LAUR +2.51%) reported Q4 EPS of 27 cents, well above consensus of 12 cents.
Verint Systems (VRNT -1.13%) jumped 8% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 90 cents, better than consensus of 86 cents.
Orexigen Therapeutics (OREX +2.66%) dropped 7% in after-hours trading after it reported a Q4 loss per share of -$1.69, much wider than consensus of -86 cents.
Pernix Therapeutics Holdings (PTX -2.64%) tumbled nearly 10% in after-hours trading after it said it continues to analyze various alternatives, including strategic and refinancing alternatives, to improve financial flexibility.
Today’s Economic Calendar
7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
9:20 Fed’s Evans speech
10:00 Pending Home Sales
10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
11:30 Fed’s Rosengren: Economic Outlook
11:30 Results of $15B, 2-Year FRN Auction
1:00 PM Results of $28B, 7-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