Before the Open (Apr 10)

Good morning. Happy Monday. Hope you had a good weekend.
The Asian/Pacific market closed with a lean to the downside. Japan and Australia did well; China, South Korea and India were weak. Europe currently leans to the downside. Russia is down 2.1%; France, Hungary, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Switzerland are also weak. Turkey is up more than 2%; the Czech Republic and Denmark are doing well. Futures in the States point towards a positive open for the cash market.
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VIDEO: There’s a Bull Market Somewhere
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The dollar is flat. Oil is up; copper is down. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are down.
Last week was very quiet. Other than a move up Wednesday morning and move back down Wednesday afternoon, the range was tiny, and the closes were all within a short distance from one another.
Overall the market is doing just fine, but in the near term it’s mixed and confused.
This is not a time to place big bets. Recognizing an unfriendly environment and choosing to keep things low key is extremely important.
Hopefully we’ll soon be given a friendlier environment, and we’ll be able to press a little.
Until then, no big bets.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Amazon.com (AMZN -0.38%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Needham with a price target of $1,100.
Skechers U.S.A (SKX -2.82%) was upgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Negative’ at Susquehanna with a 12-month target price of $25.
Tesla (TSLA +1.29%) gained nearly 2% in pre-market trading after it was upgraded to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Neutral’ at Piper Jaffray.
Cypress Semiconductor (CY +3.11%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey with a target price of $17.
AMC Networks (AMCX +0.17%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Overweight’ at Piper Jaffray.
Pinnacle Foods (PF -0.70%) was upgraded to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Equal-Weight’ at Morgan Stanley.
J.M. Smucker (SJM -0.03%) was downgraded to ‘Underweight’ from ‘Equal-Weight’ at Morgan Stanley.
Ulta Beauty (ULTA -0.16%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Loop Capital Markets with a price target of $350.
Wells Fargo (WFC -0.96%) was upgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Underweight’ at Piper Jaffray with a 12-month target price of $55.
Progressive (PGR +0.10%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods with a price target of $45.
Host Hotels ({=HST was upgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Sell’ at Goldman Sachs.
Akorn (AKRX +18.04%) jumped 8% in after-hours trading after Fresenius SE said it is currently in discussions with Akorn for a potential purchase of the company.
Ocean Power Technologies (OPTT +0.94%) dropped 7% in after-hours trading after it filed to sell 3.99 million shares of common stock.
Today’s Economic Calendar
10:00 Labor market condition index
12:30 PM TD Ameritrade IMX
1:00 PM Results of $24B, 3-Year Note Auction
4:10 PM Janet Yellen speech
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings from Morningstar
this week’s Economic Numbers/Reports powered by ECONODAY