Before the Open (Apr 21)

Good morning. Happy Friday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly up and with solid gains. Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia and Indonesia led the way. Europe currently leans to the upside but is little changed overall. Turkey and Russia are doing the best; Poland is weak. Futures in the States point towards a positive open for the cash market.
—————
VIDEO: There’s a Bull Market Somewhere
—————
The dollar is up. Oil and copper are flat. Gold and silver are mixed and little changed. Bonds are up.
Coming into this week the stage was set for a bounce. After a solid up day Monday, doubt was cast Tuesday and Wednesday, but follow through Thursday continued to build a little upside momentum.
Overall the indexes are still range bound, so the internals will have to improve more before across-the-board breakouts can be supported.
Go ahead and trade, but I wouldn’t trust the market right now – 2-4 months of zero ability to move directionally will do that.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Costco (COST +0.05%) was upgraded to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Equalweight’ at Barclays with a price target of $185.
Visa (V +1.56%) rose almost 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 adjusted EPS of 86 cents, better than consensus of 79 cents
Maxim Integrated Products (MXIM +1.93%) gained 1% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 56 cents, higher than consensus of 52 cents.
NCR Corp (NCR +2.79%) fell over 2% in after-hours trading after it said it sees Q2 adjusted EPS of 72 cents-77 cents, below consensus of 78 cents.
Proofpoint (PFPT -8.53%) jumped 7% in after-hours trading after it said it expects full-year revenue of $496 million-$500 million, above consensus of $492.3 million.
Electronics for Imaging (EFII +1.21%) slumped 11% in after-hours trading after it said it sees Q2 adjusted EPS of 54 cents-60 cents, below consensus of 63 cents.
Mattel (MAT +0.40%) dropped over 6% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 net sales of $735.6 million, weaker than consensus of $790.5 million on “inventory overhang.”
E*TRADE Financial (ETFC +2.67%) rose almost 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 total net revenue of $553 million, higher than consensus of $532.9 million.
Manhattan Associates (MANH +0.04%) slid 8% in after-hours trading after it cut its full-year revenue estimate to $606 million-$620 million from a prior estimate of $622 million-$632 million, below consensus of $624.7 million.
Hawaiian Holdings (HA +2.77%) gained over 1% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 adjusted EPS of $1.04, better than consensus of 86 cents.
Gramercy Property Trust (GPT +0.99%) fell over 3% in after-hours trading after it announced that it has commenced an underwritten public offering of 9.0 million common shares. It also reported preliminary Q1 core FFO of 50 cents-51 cents a share, below consensus of 53 cents.
Vascular Biogenics Ltd (VBLT unch) surged 16% in after-hours trading after it said a Data Safety Monitoring Committee review of the Phase 3 study for its VB-111 was unanimously recommended to continue as planned.
Adamis Pharmaceuticals (ADMP -2.22%) sank nearly 15% in after-hours trading after it announced that it intends to offer to sell shares of its common stock in an underwritten public offering, although no size was given.
Thursday’s Key Earnings
Blackstone (NYSE:BX) +0.5% after topping expectations.
Mattel (NASDAQ:MAT) -6.8% AH whacked by inventory issues.
Philip Morris (NYSE:PM) -3.5% on an earnings miss.
Verizon (NYSE:VZ) -1.1% losing core subscribers.
Visa (NYSE:V) +2.1% AH boosted by Europe unit, buybacks.
Today’s Economic Calendar
9:30 Fed’s Kashkari speech
9:45 PMI Composite Flash
10:00 Existing Home Sales
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