Before the Open (Jun 27)

Good morning. Happy Tuesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed. Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and the Philippines moved up; Hong Kong and India were weak. Europe is currently mostly down. France, Germany, Turkey, Denmark, Finland, Portugal and Sweden are down; Russia is doing well. Futures in the States point towards a down open for the cash market.
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The dollar is down. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are down.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Alphabet (GOOGL -1.42%) slid over 1% in pre-market trading after Google received a fine of 2.4 billion euros ($2.7 billion) from European Union regulators for skewing search results in its own favor to boost its shopping search service.
Halliburton (HAL +0.48%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Guggenheim.
Goldman Sachs (GS +1.50%) may open to the downside this morning after Citigroup cut its Q2 earnings estimate for Goldman by -64 cents to $3.20 a share, citing lower trading revenues.
Ultimate Software Group (ULTI -0.11%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ at Suntrust Robinson Humphrey with as 12-month target price of $240.
Bluebird Bio (BLUE -0.80%) lost nearly 2% in after-hours trading after it announced that it has commenced an underwritten public offering of $350 million in shares of its common stock.
Western Digital (WDC -0.73%) slid over 2% in after-hours trading after it said it still sees Q4 revenue of $4.80 billion, below consensus of $4.81 billion.
Paulson & Co. raised its stake in Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX +8.10%) to 6.3% from 5.7%.
Esperion Therapeutics (ESPR -3.32%) climbed nearly 3% in after-hours trading after the FDA confirmed regulatory pathway to approval for Espirion’s drug combo of a once-daily pill combining epidotic acid and ezetimibe to lower LDL cholesterol.
Armour Residential REIT (ARR +0.62%) dropped over 3% in after-hours trading after it announced that it has commenced an underwritten public offering of 4.5 million shares of its common stock.
Repligen (RGEN +2.58%) lost over 1% in after-hours trading after it announced that it has commenced an underwritten public offering of $100 million in shares of its common stock.
Pier 1 Imports (PIR +0.19%) was upgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Reduce’ at Gordon Haskett.
Kronos Worldwide (KRO -1.10%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey with a price target of $17.
Neos Therapeutics (NEOS +1.38%) fell nearly 3% in after-hours trading after it announced that it has commenced an underwritten public offering of $30 million in shares of its common stock.
J.C. Penney (JCP +2.41%) gained over 1% in after-hours trading after it was upgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Reduce’ at Gordon Haskett.
Finjan Holdings (FNJN -4.74%) tumbled 12% in after-hours trading after it was said to offer $15 million in shares at $3.15, a 13% discount to Monday’s close.
Today’s Economic Calendar
4:05 Fed’s Williams Speech
8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
9:00 S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index
10:00 Consumer Confidence
10:00 Richmond Fed Mfg.
10:00 State Street Investor Confidence Index
11:15 Fed’s Harker: Economic Outlook
1:00 PM Janet Yellen speech
1:00 PM Results of $34B, 5-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