Before the Open (Jul 11)

Good morning. Happy Tuesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly up. Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, New Zealand and Taiwan did well; Singapore posted a loss. Europe, the Middle East and Africa are mixed. Turkey and Denmark are doing well; Switzerland, Spain and Belgium are down. Futures in the States point towards a down open for the cash market.
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Podcast – with Chat With Traders
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The dollar is up a small amount. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are down.
The Nas continued to bounce yesterday, and the indexes remain split. It’s been a while since all the indexes have been on the same page for more than a day. One day the small caps lead and the Nas lags; the next day they switch places.
Leadership among the groups is changing. Tech stocks led for a while…then lagged…now trying to lead again. Financials led after the election…then lagged March – May…now are leading again. Nonferrous metals are perking up right now, after having under-performed most of this year. Transports lagged for most of the year…then started to lead six weeks ago.
Focus on the groups that are leading at any given time. Otherwise you’re likely to just match the indexes, which is fine, but that’s all you wish to do, buy an index ETF and be done with it.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Snap (SNAP -1.11%) fell 3% in pre-market trading after it was downgraded to ‘Equalweight’ from ‘Overweight’ at Morgan Stanley with a price target of $16.
Celgene (CELG -0.48%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ rating at Jeffries with a 12-month target price of $160.
WD-40 (WDFC -0.32%) lowered guidance on its full-year net sales view to $382 million-$388 million from a prior view of $390 million-$395 million.
Michael Kors (KORS -0.42%) was initiated with a ‘Sell’ rating at MKM Partners with a 12-month target price of $26.
Spark Therapeutics (ONCE -3.15%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ rating at Jeffries with a 12-month target price of $85.
Citrix Systems (CTXS +0.83%) fell over 3% in after-hours trading after CEO Kirill Tatarinov left the company immediately following a “mutual separation decision.”
Getty Realty (GTY -0.71%) dropped over 7% in after-hours trading after it announced that it had launched an underwritten registered public offering of 4.1 million shares of its common stock.
Barracuda Networks (CUDA +0.63%) dropped 5% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 non-GAAP of 18 cents, right on expectations, but down from 20 cents in the prior year period.
Arena Pharmaceuticals (ARNA -4.47%) surged over 40% in after-hours trading when it said a Phase 2 study of its ralinepag for pulmonary arterial hypertension showed statistically significant improvement compared to a placebo.
Knowles Corp (KN -1.14%) slid 2% in after-hours trading when it said a block of 6 million shares was offered at $16.20 a share via Morgan Stanley.
Simulations Plus (SLP -0.39%) rallied over 8% in after-hours trading when it reported Q3 net revenue increased +12.2% y/y to $6.75 million.
VOXX International (VOXX +1.14%) plunged over 20% in after-hours trading after it reported a Q1 loss of -13 cents per share.
Ocular Therapeutix (OCUL -8.85%) jumped over 10% in after-hours trading after it said it submitted details to amend its NDA resubmission to the FDA for its dextenza as treatment for ocular pain following ophthalmic surgery.
Today’s Economic Calendar
6:00 NFIB Small Business Optimism Index
8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
10:00 Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey
10:00 Wholesale Trade
1:00 PM Results of $24B, 3-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