Before the Open (Dec 5)

Good morning. Happy Tuesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets were mixed. Malaysia and the Philippines moved up; China, Kong Kong and Taiwan moved down. Europe, Africa and the Middle East are currently mostly down. The UAE, Germany, Denmark, Norway and South Africa are down 1% or more. Futures in the States point towards a slight positive open for the cash market.
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The dollar is up a small amount. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are down.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Allegiant Travel (ALGT +2.92%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Buckingham Research Group.
United Technologies (UTX -0.07%) was upgraded to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Neutral’ at Atlantic Equities LLP with a target price of $145.
McDonalds (MCD -1.28%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Jeffries with a price target of $200.
Stephens initiated coverage of DowDuPont (DWDP +1.58%) with a recommendation of ‘Overweight.’
Marathon Oil (MRO -1.19%) was upgraded to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Neutral’ at Atlantic Equities LLP with a price target of $17.50.
Robert W. Baird initiated coverage of Curtiss-Wright (CW -2.16%) with a recommendation of ‘Outperform’ with a 12-month target price of $149.
Kinder Morgan (KMI -0.92%) may move higher initially this morning after it said it sees 2018 preliminary adjusted Ebitda of $7.5 billion, above consensus of $7.4 billion.
Performance Food Group (PFGC +5.41%) slipped 3% in after-hours trading after it announced a secondary offering of 6.272 million shares of its common stock on the behalf of an affiliate of Wellspring Capital Management.
Collegium Pharmaceutical (COLL -0.35%) rose 6% in after-hours trading after it entered into a commercialization pact with Depomed for the Nucynta drug.
Heron Therapeutics (HRTX -0.58%) slumped 9% in after-hours trading after it was said to have offered $150 million in shares via Cantor Fitzgerald priced between $1550-$16.25.
Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF -1.03%) tumbled over 6% in after-hours trading after it announced a proposed offering of $400 million of senior secured notes due 2014.
Ascena Retail Group (ASNA +5.67%) plunged 20% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 comparable sells fell -5%, wider than consensus of -4.1%, and said it sees Q2 adjusted EPS loss per share of -7 cents to -12 cents, the mid-point wider than consensus for a loss of -7.5 cents a share.
Today’s Economic Calendar
8:30 International Trade
8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
9:45 PMI Services Index
10:00 ISM Non-Manufacturing Index
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings from Morningstar
this week’s Economic Numbers/Reports powered by ECONODAY