Before the Open (Aug 23)

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed and with perhaps a slight lean to the upside. Hong Kong, India and Indonesia did the best. Europe, Africa and the Middle East are quiet and little changed. Austria is doing well; Spain, Italy and Israel are weak. Futures in the States point towards a moderate gap down open for the cash market.
The Decennial Pattern – With a Focus on Years Ending in 7, 8 and 9
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VIDEO: The Decennial Pattern – With a Focus on Years Ending in 7, 8 and 9
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The dollar is down. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are up.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Duluth Holdings (DLTH +6.55%) was downgraded to ‘Market Perform’ from ‘Outperform’ at Raymond James.
Baozun (BZUN -24.19%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Deutsche Bank.
Nordson (NDSN -10.89%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Gabelli & Co with a price target of $135.44
HP Inc. (HPQ +2.42%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ at Loop Capital Markets with a 12-month target price of $23.
Rockwell Collins (COL +0.49%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Vertical Research Partners with a price target of $143.
Essent (ESNT +1.21% was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods with a price target of $44.
Ally Financial (ALLY +0.59%) rose 2% in after-hours trading after it said its bank subsidiary has been released from capital requirements tied to its application to the Federal Reserve System and will pay out a $2.9 billion dividend to Ally Financial in Q3.
Salesforce.com (CRM +1.30%) lost almost 2% in after-hours trading after it forecast Q3 deferred revenue growth of 18%-19% y/y, which implies billings of $1.95 billion at the midpoint, weaker than consensus of $2.17 billion.
Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical (RARE +3.41%) dropped 9% in after-hours trading after it said its Ace-ER Phase 3 did not meet the primary endpoint of demonstrating statistically significant difference in upper extremity muscle strength compared to a placebo in patients with GNE Myopathy.
Cree (CREE +2.04%) tumbled nearly 8% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted gross margin of 28.0%, below consensus of 28.8%.
La-Z-Boy (LZB +0.32%) slumped over 14% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 EPS of 24 cents, weaker than consensus of 29 cents.
21Vianet Group (VNET +0.66%) dropped 6% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 net revenue fell -3.5% y/y to 878.7 million yuan, below the midpoint of a May estimate of Q2 revenue of 870 million yuan-910 million yuan.
Tuesday’s Key Earnings
Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) -2.1% unable to meet demand for CGM sensors.
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) -1.3% AH despite a Q2 beat, boosting guidance.
Today’s Economic Calendar
7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
9:45 PMI Composite Flash
10:00 New Home Sales
10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
11:30 Results of $13B, 2-Year FRN Auction
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings from Morningstar
this week’s Economic Numbers/Reports powered by ECONODAY