Before the Open (Jul 20)

Good morning. Happy Thursday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed. Japan, China, South Korea and Australia did well; New Zealand, Singapore and the Philippines were weak. Europe, Africa and the Middle East leaned to the upside but were mostly quiet. Germany, Norway, the Netherlands and Austria are doing well; Turkey and Hungary are weak. Futures in the States point towards a positive open for the cash market.
—————
Join our email list – get technical research reports sent directly to you.
—————
The dollar is up. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are up.
All eyes on oil stocks right now. Many are trying to turn the corner and move up. If successful, the group will be in play for the next few months.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Nike (NKE +0.21%) gained 2% in after-hours trading after it was upgraded to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Equalweight’ at Morgan Stanley with a price target of $68.
QUALCOMM (QCOM +0.87%) lost 1% in after-hours trading after it said it sees Q4 adjusted EPS of 75 cents-85 cents, below consensus of 91 cents.
T-Mobile US (TMUS +0.94%) rose almost 3% in after-hours trading after it raised its subscriber forecast for this year to 3 million to 3.6 million, up from as April forecast of 2.8 million to 3.5 million.
United Rentals (URI +1.04%) climbed over 3% in after-hours trading after it said it sees full-year revenue of $6.25 billion-$6.40 billion, above consensus of $6.22 billion.
MGM Resorts International (MGM +0.74%) jumped nearly 4% in after-hours trading when it was announced that it will replace Reynolds American in the S&P 500 before the open on Wednesday, July 26.
Blackhawk Network Holdings (HAWK -0.80%) gained 2% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 adjusted EPS of 12 cents, three times higher than consensus of 4 cents.
CH Robinson Worldwide (CHRW -1.17%) sold-off over 7% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 EPS of 78 cents, weaker than consensus of 90 cents, citing shrinking truckload margins.
Texas Capital Bancshares (TCBI -0.06%) rose over 4% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 EPS of 97 cents, higher than consensus of 95 cents.
Plexus (PLXS +1.51%) rallied 6% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 revenue of $618.8 million, higher than consensus of $608.9 million.
Avista (AVA +1.38%) soared 18% in after-hours trading after Hydro One acquired the company for $5.3 billion or $53 a share, a 24% premium to Wednesday’s close.
Western Gas Partners LP (WES +0.51%) dropped nearly 5% in after-hours trading after a 12.9 million block of the company’s share were offered at $52.70-$53.70 via Citigroup and Barclays, a 5% discount to Wednesday’s closing price of $56.65.
Alcoa (AA +0.19%) lost 2% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 adjusted Ebitda of $483 million, less than consensus of $491.8 million.
Datawatch (DWCH +2.15%) rose almost 5% in after-hours trading after it reported an unexpected profit of 2 cents a share, better than consensus for loss of -2 cents.
Highpower International (HPJ -1.20%) surged over 20% in after-hours trading after it reported preliminary Q2 net income up +66%-95% y/y at $3.5 million-$4.1 million.
Wednesday’s Key Earnings
American Express (NYSE:AXP) -1.7% AH despite beating estimates.
Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) +4.2% AH with plans to hike dividend.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) +3.3% on big trading revenues.
Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) -2.6% AH without Apple royalties.
T-Mobile (NASDAQ:TMUS) +3.7% AH growing its subscriber base.
U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) +0.9% topping expectations.
Today’s Economic Calendar
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
8:30 Philly Fed Business Outlook
9:45 Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index
10:00 Leading Indicators
10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
4:30 PM Money Supply
4:30 PM 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