Before the Open (Dec 13)

Good morning. Happy Wednesday. Happy Fed Day.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed with a lean to the upside. China, Hong Kong and South Korea did well; Japan and India posted losses. Europe, Africa and the Middle East currently lean to the downside. Greece and Finland are up, but Turkey, South Africa, Denmark, Russia, Italy, Belgium, Austria, Sweden and Romania are down. Futures in the States point towards a flat open for the cash market.
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VIDEO: LeavittBrothers.net Overview
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The dollar is flat. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are down.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
O’Reilly Automotive (ORLY -0.15%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Sector Perform’ at RBC Capital Markets with a target price of $282.
Ralph Lauren (RL -1.04%) was downgraded to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch with a 12-month target price of $80.
Vulcan Materials (VMC -1.15%) was rated a new ‘Overweight’ at Barclays with a 12-month target price of $135.
Morgan Stanley (MS +2.05%) may move higher this morning after it was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods with a price target of $59.
Western Digital (WDC +0.70%) gained almost 2% in after-hours trading after it announced that it had entered into a global settlement agreement with Toshiba and agreed to extend the terms of its flash memory collaboration with Toshiba.
VeriFone Systems PAY=}) dropped over 7% in after-hours trading after it said it sees Q1 adjusted EPS of 22 cents, weaker than consensus of 33 cents, and aid it sees full-year adjusted EPS of $1.47 to $1.50 below consensus of $1.57.
Edison International (EIX -6.03%) rose over 1% in after-hours trading after the LAFD determined the Skirball Fire that broke out on Dec 6 was caused by an illegal cooking fire at an encampment in a brush area and not from electrical equipment from Edison.
Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA -4.39%) lost almost 3% in after-hours trading after holder Novartis AG offered a block of 1.52 million shares of Intellia at $17.50-$17.75.
Civitas Solutions (CIVI +4.49%) declined nearly 7% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 net revenue of $380.4 million, below consensus of $386.8 million.
Helios & Matheson Analytics (HMNY +10.41%) dropped over 17% in after-hours trading after it announced that it had commenced an underwritten public offering $50 million in shares of its common stock and warrants to purchase shares of its common stock.
Proteostasis Therapeutics (PTI +161.28%) slid nearly 8% in after-hours trading after it announced that it intends to sell 7 million shares of its common stock in an underwritten public offering.
Fate Therapeutics (FATE +7.00%) fell 5% in after-hours trading after it said that it had commenced an underwritten public offering of $30 million in shares of its common stock.
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Today’s Economic Calendar
7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
8:30 Consumer Price Index
10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
2:00 PM FOMC Announcement
2:00 PM FOMC Forecast
2:30 PM Chairman Press Conference
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings from Morningstar
this week’s Economic Numbers/Reports powered by ECONODAY