Before the Open (Jul 6)

Good morning. Happy Thursday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed and little changed. New Zealand, Indonesia and the Philippines moved up; Taiwan, Singapore and Japan posted losses. Europe is currently mostly down. Hungary and the Czech Republic are up, but the UK, France, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Switzerland, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal and Sweden are posting decent losses. Futures in the States point towards a moderate gap down open for the cash market.
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Podcast – with Chat With Traders
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The dollar is down. Oil is up; copper is down. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are down.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Genuine Parts (GPC -4.80%) was downgraded to ‘Sell’ from ‘Neutral’ at Goldman Sachs.
L Brands (LB -2.63%) reported that its Jun comparable sales were down -9%, weaker than consensus of -6.8%.
Schlumberger (SLB -1.84%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at Bernstein with a price target of $80.
PriceSmart (PSMT +0.46%) fell over 8% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 EPS of 62 cents, below consensus of 67 cents.
ConocoPhillips (COP -3.29%) was downgraded to ‘Market Perform’ from ‘Outperform’ at Bernstein.
Patterson Cos (PDCO -0.17%) was downgraded to ‘Sell’ from ‘Hold’ by Stifel with a 12-month target price of $39.
Devon Energy (DVN -5.13%) was downgraded to ‘Market Perform’ from ‘Outperform’ at Bernstein.
Merck & Co. (MRK -0.17%) lost 1% in after-hours trading after the FDA put a full clinical hold on the “Keynote-183” and “Keynote-185” studies and a partial hold on “Keynote-023” Cohort 1 saying the risks of these therapies outweigh any potential benefit for patients with multiple myeloma.
Prothena (PRTA +3.65%) said the first patient has been enrolled in a Phase 2 study of its PRX002 for Parkinson’s disease, which triggered a $30 million milestone payment from Roche.
Yum China Holdings (YUMC -0.35%) slid over 5% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 revenue of $1.59 billion, less than consensus of $1.60 billion.
Herman Miller (MLHR +0.98%) climbed over 6% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 64 cents, higher than consensus of 55 cents.
Zumiez (ZUMZ -3.16%) rallied almost 6% in after-hours trading after it boosted its Q2 sales forecast to $189 million-$191 million, above consensus of $186.8 million.
Tahoe Resources (TAHO +0.36%) tumbled 11% in after-hours trading after it said it could not confirm its May 2 guidance for 2017 production at its Escobal mine after the Guatemalan Supreme Court issued a provisional decision temporarily suspending Tahoe’s operating license.
Today’s Economic Calendar
Chain Store Sales
7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
7:30 Challenger Job-Cut Report
8:15 ADP Jobs Report
8:30 International Trade
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
8:30 Gallup Good Jobs Rate
9:45 PMI Services Index
10:00 ISM Non-Manufacturing Index
9:45 Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index
11:00 EIA Petroleum Inventories
4:30 Money Supply
4:30 Fed Balance Sheet
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings from Morningstar
this week’s Economic Numbers/Reports powered by ECONODAY