Before the Open (Apr 25)

Good morning. Happy Tuesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed up across-the-board. Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, India, Indonesia and the Philippines each gained more than 1%. Europe is currently doing well. Poland, Greece and Portugal are up more than 1%; Switzerland, Finland and Russia are posting solid gains too. 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 slightly. Oil is flat, copper is up. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are down.
Big up day for the market yesterday. Most of the gains were registered at the open via a gap up, but it’s definitely a victory for the bulls to hold the gains. Volume was strong – the strongest it’s been in a month and the strongest up day since the day after the State of the Union address.
The dollar dropped hard…financials jumped…so did industrials, tech and materials.
The question is whether yesterday’s move can start the market’s next leg up. Can news do that? Brexit turned out to be no big deal, so is it really that great the pro-EU candidate is the favorite in France? I’m not entirely convinced. Yesterday as a good start, but the market has more work to do. The indexes remain stuck in ranges, and the internals need to improve.
Yesterday was a good first step, but the market certainly isn’t “in the clear” yet.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
JPMorgan Chase (JPM +3.53%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Guggenheim with a price target of $96.
Humana (HUM +0.04%) climbed nearly 3% in after-hours trading after it raised guidance on 2017 adjusted EPS to at least $11.10 from a February 14 estimate of $10.80-$11.00.
Whirlpool (WHR +1.92%) lost 2% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 adjusted EPS of $2.50, weaker than consensus of $2.65, and then lowered guidance on full-year EPS to $14.75-$15.50 from a January 26 estimate of $15.25-$16.25.
Express Scripts (ESRX +1.19%) plunged 12% in after-hours trading after it said its biggest customer, health insurer Anthem, is unlikely to renew its contract when it expires in 2109 following claims by Anthem that Express Scripts overcharged it by billions of dollars. Competitor CVS Health (CVS +0.97%) rose nearly 2% in after-hours trading after the news.
Alcoa (AA +5.08%) gained 2% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 63 cents, better than consensus of 48 cents.
Cadence Design Systems (CDNS +1.82%) dropped almost 5% in after-hours trading after it said it sees Q2 adjusted EPS of 31 cents-33 cents, below consensus of 34 cents.
U.S. Silica Holdings (SLCA +2.57%) rallied over 4% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 9 cents, better than consensus of 6 cents.
Canadian National Railway (CNI +1.26%) lost over 1% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 revenue of C$3.21 billion, below consensus of C$3.23 billion.
Range Resources (RRC -0.87%) rose nearly 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 25 cents, higher than consensus of 19 cents.
Zions Bancorporation (ZION +2.72%) fell almost 2% in after-hours trading after CEO Simmons said Q1 loan growth was “lackluster” and Q1 operating costs were “seasonally higher.”
Sanmina (SANM +3.50%) rose nearly 3% in after-hours trading after it said it sees Q3 adjusted EPS of 72 cents-77 cents, above consensus of 72 cents.
Barrick Gold (ABX -0.99%) fell nearly 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 14 cents, below consensus of 21 cents.
Unisys (UIS +1.83%) jumped over 10% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 30 cents, well above consensus of 22 cents.
Karyopharm Therapeutics (KPTI unch) slid nearly 4% in after-hours trading after it announced that it was commencing a registered underwritten public offering of $40 million in shares of its common stock.
Monday’s Key Earnings
Alcoa (NYSE:AA) +3% AH with strong start as independent firm.
Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) -3.2% AH missing expectations.
Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) -0.7% despite beating estimates.
Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS) +5.9% passing Mattel in sales.
Kimberly Clark (NYSE:KMB) +0.3% on mixed results.
T-Mobile (NASDAQ:TMUS) -0.3% AH as customer growth slowed.
Today’s Economic Calendar
8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
9:00 FHFA House Price Index
9:00 S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index
10:00 Consumer Confidence
10:00 New Home Sales
10:00 Richmond Fed Mfg.
10:00 State Street Investor Confidence Index
1:00 PM Results of $26B, 2-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