Before the Open (May 17)

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed with a lean to the downside. Japan, Australia and Indonesia posted losses; the Philippines did well. Europe is currently mostly down. Poland, France, German, Denmark, Finland, Switzerland, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy and Sweden are down the most; Greece, Norway and Hungary are up. Futures in the States point towards a relatively big gap down open for the cash market.
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The dollar is down. Oil is up; copper is flat. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are up.
The news cycle is being dominated by the Trump Administration. Did Trump give Russia classified intelligence? Did Trump obstruct justice before firing Comey? I’m hearing things are getting to the “Watergate” level, and impeachment may be on the table.
This is the reason for the S&P futures being down 14 points.
This is not the time or place for me to comment on these political developments, but I will say this is just noise right now. What goes on in Washington could put a cloud over the market in the near term, but overall the market’s underlying trend is strong and healthy so any weakness will offer a chance to buy quality stocks at lower prices. This doesn’t mean the market can’t fall in the near term; it just means the underlying trend will not be disrupted, even if Trump gets impeached.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Disney (DIS -1.05%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Outperform’ at Macquarie.
Target (TGT -1.48%) jumped over 5% in pre-market trading after it reported Q1 adjusted EPS of $1,21, well above consensus of 91 cents, and said it sees Q2 adjusted EPS of 95 cents-$1.15, the midpoint higher than consensus of $1.00.
Marathon Oil (MRO -0.76%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Jefferies.
Transocean (RIG -1.02%) was initiated with a ‘Sell’ at Odeon Capital Group LLC with a 12-month target price of $8.
Toll Brothers (TOL +0.51%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ at Mizuho Securities with a 12-month target price of $44.
Lennar (LEN +0.78%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ at Mizuho Securities with a 12-month target price of $59.
Jack in the Box (JACK +2.34%) rose 10% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 adjusted operating EPS of 98 cents, better than consensus of 91 cents.
Red Robin Gourmet Burgers (RRGB -2.11%) jumped 15% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 89 cents, higher than consensus of 57 cents, and then raised guidance on full-year EPS to $2.80-$3.10 from a prior view of $2.70-$3.00.
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings (AAWW +0.51%) fell 3% in after-hours trading after it announced plans to offer $250 million of convertible senior notes due 2024.
Urban Outfitters (URBN -2.34%) dropped over 2% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 13 cents, below consensus of 15 cents as Q1 comparable retail segment sales fell -3.1%, weaker than expectations of -2.2%.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD +11.65%) gained 1% in after-hours trading after the company said it sees double digit percentage revenue growth to 2020.
GNC Holdings (GNC +0.59%) rallied nearly 5% in after-hours trading after interim CEO Bob Moran disclosed a purchase of 300,000 shares of GNC at $6.69 on May 12.
Alcentra Capital Corp (ABDC -2.09%) slid over 2% in after-hours trading after announced an underwritten primary offering of 808,161 shares of its common stock and a concurrent underwritten secondary offering of 1,691,839 shares of its common stock on behalf of a selling stockholder.
Tuesday’s Key Earnings
Home Depot (NYSE:HD) +0.6% beating estimates.
Jack in the Box (NASDAQ:JACK) +11.2% AH evaluating alternatives.
Staples (NASDAQ:SPLS) -3.5% on declining comp-sales.
Stratasys (NASDAQ:SSYS) +2.4% after in-line results.
TJX Companies (NYSE:TJX) -4.1% with weak profit guidance.
Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ:URBN) +1.7% AH boosted by online sales.
Today’s Economic Calendar
7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings from Morningstar
this week’s Economic Numbers/Reports powered by ECONODAY