Before the Open (Oct 18)

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed with a lean to the downside. Thailand and the Philippines dropped about 1%; India, Indonesia and Malaysia were also weak. Europe, Africa and the Middle East are currently mostly up. The UK, France, Germany, Turkey, Greece, Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Israel, Austria and Sweden are doing well. Kenya and Saudi Arabia are down. Futures in the States point towards a positive open for the cash market.
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The dollar is up. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are down.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Expedia (EXPE +0.44%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Redburn.
Grainger (GWW +12.65%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at Oppenheimer with an 18-month target price of $245.
Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG +2.78%) fell nearly 3% in pre-market trading after it was downgraded to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch.
WP Carey (WPC -0.43%) was initiated as an ‘Outperform’ at Baird with a 12-month target price of $77.
Allergan (AGN -0.32%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Edward Jones,
International Business Machines (IBM -0.20%) jumped nearly 5% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 operating EPS of $3.30, better than consensus of $3.28, and said it sees a $2.8 billion to $2.9 billion increase in Q4 sales from Q3.
Cree (CREE +0.20%) lost nearly 3% in after-hours trading after it forecast Q2 revenue of $340 million-$360 million, below consensus of $369 million.
Select Comfort (SCSS -0.56%) fell over 4% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 EPS of 62 cents, weaker than consensus of 68 cents, and then said it sees full-year EPS of $1.30-$1.45, the midpoint below consensus of $1.39.
Hi-Crush Partners LP (HCLP +2.87%) jumped nearly 12% in after-hours trading when it announced that it will resume a quarterly cash distribution of 15 cents per share and its board said it authorized a stock buyback program of up to $100 million.
Inovio Pharmaceuticals (INO +0.48%) rose nearly 3% in after-hours trading after it was initiated as an ‘Outperform’ at RBC Capital Markets with a 12-month target price of $11.
Akari Therapeutics LLC (AKTX -1.23%) plunged 15% in after-hours trading after it was said to offer $17 million in company shares at $5.00-$5.25 each, a 17.97%-21.88% discount to Tuesday’s close.
MobileIron (MOBL -2.56%) slumped 10% in after-hours trading after it announced that CEO Barry Mainz will step down effective immediately amid a “mutual decision,” and after the company reported preliminary Q3 revenue of $42 million-$43 million, below a July 27 forecast of $44 million-$46 million.
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Tuesday’s Key Earnings
CSX Corp. (NYSE:CSX) +2.6% lifted by rail shipments.
Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) -2.5% after a bond trading hit.
IBM (NYSE:IBM) +4.4% AH with impressive guidance.
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) +3.5% boosted by new cancer drugs.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) +0.3% following an earnings topper.
UnitedHealth (NYSE:UNH) +5.6% beating earnings estimates.
Today’s Economic Calendar
7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
8:30 Housing Starts
10:00 Atlanta Fed’s Business Inflation Expectations
10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
2:00 PM Fed’s Beige Book
2:00 PM Treasury Budget
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings from Morningstar
this week’s Economic Numbers/Reports powered by ECONODAY