Before the Open (May 31)

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed. China and Indonesia did well; Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan posted losses. Europe is currently doing well. The UK, Poland, Turkey, Germany, Denmark, Spain and Sweden are up; Russia, Norway and Austria are down. Futures in the States point towards a moderate gap up open for the cash market.
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The dollar is down. Oil and copper are down. Gold is up; silver is down. Bonds are down.
Last day of May. The S&P is up 29 points, or 1.2%. The Russell 2000 is down 29 points, or 2.1%. The Nas 100 is up 211 points, or 3.8%. There’s a big difference between the best and worst. A nearly-4% monthly gain for an index is massive. A 2.1% drop from another index during the same month is noticeable. Here are the charts.



Big-cap tech and boring blue chips are leading. Tesla broke out yesterday to a new high to join Amazon, Netflix, Nvidia, Microsoft and Google. It’s where a lot of money has gone, but 3M, McDonalds, Costco and others like it have done just as well.
The trend is up. Don’t over-analyze.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
VMware (VMW -0.07%) ws upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at Baird with a price target of $115.
Irobot (IRBT +2.76%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Canaccord Genuity with a price target of $90.
Gogo (GOGO -0.47%) was initiated with a recommendation pf ‘Outperform’ at Raymond James with a 12-month target price of $15.
Intuitive Surgical (ISRG +0.45%) gained almost 1% in after-hours trading after its da Vinci X Surgical System received FDA clearance in the U.S.
Exact Sciences (EXAS -2.01%) jumped 7% in after-hours trading after UnitedHealth expanded colonography coverage using CT colonography and other preventative care related to colonoscopies.
Mallinckrodt PLC (MNK +0.90%) rose nearly 2% in after-hours trading after Reuters reported that the company is exploring the sale of its generic drug unit.
James River Group Holdings Ltd (JRVR -1.31%) lost over 1% in after-hours trading after it announced a secondary offering of 4.25 million shares by “significant” shareholders.
Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (ARI -0.05% slipped 3% in after-hours trading after it announced that it had commenced an underwritten public offering of 12.0 million shares of common stock.
Quanex Building Products (NX -0.26%) rose 5% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 sales of $209.13 million, better than consensus of $205.5 million.
Extended Stay America (STAY -1.07%) lost almost 1% in after-hours trading after it announced a secondary offering of 25.0 million paired shares with each paired share consisting of a share of common stock of Extended Stay America and a share of Class B common stock of ESH Hospitality.
Hertz Global Holdings (HTZ -0.63%) climbed 3% in after-hours trading after it said it plans a $1 billion sale of secured bonds to refinance debt.
Today’s Economic Calendar
7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
9:45 Chicago PMI
10:00 Pending Home Sales
2:00 PM Fed’s Beige Book
3:00 PM Farm Prices
7:30 PM Fed’s Williams Speech
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings from Morningstar
this week’s Economic Numbers/Reports powered by ECONODAY