Before the Open (Dec 14)

Good morning. Happy Thursday.
The Asian/Pacific closed with a lean to the upside. Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines moved up more than 1%; Thailand also did well. Singapore dropped 1%; Japan, China and South Korea also posted losses. Europe, Africa and the Middle East are currently mixed. Turkey and Greece are up more than 1%; Hungary and South Africa are also doing well. The UAE and Kenya are down more than 1%; Germany, Finland and Norway are also weak. Futures in the States point towards a positive open for the cash market.
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The dollar is down slightly. Oil is down; copper is up. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are down.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Dr Pepper Snapple (DPS -0.42%) was rated a me ‘Buy’ at Deutsche Bank with a 12-month target price of $104.
CBS (CBS -1.38%) was rated a new ‘Overweight’ at Stephens with a 12-month target price of $70.
Nordson (NDSN +2.17%) rallied over 9% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of $1.38, higher than consensus of $1.33, and then said it sees Q1 EPS of $1.29 to $1.39, well above consensus of 94 cents.
Verizon (VZ -0.56%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at HSBC.
Floor & Decor (FND -0.35%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at Stifel with a 12-month target price of $51.
Twenty-First Century Fox (FOXA -3.96%) gained more than 1% in after-hours trading after the WSJ reported that Disney is likely to value Fox at just over $40 a share.
Molson Coors (TAP -0.81%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at Deutsche Bank with a 12-month target price of $89.
Church & Dwight (CHD -0.54%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at Deutsche Bank with a 12-month target price of $54.
ABM Industries (ABM -0.18%) slumped 10% in after-hours trading after it said it sees full-year adjusted EPS from continuing operations of $1.70 to $1.80, below consensus of $2.04.
Flexion Therapeutics (FLXN +3.38%) rose nearly 4% in after-hours trading after it entered into a definitive agreement with GeneQuine Biotherapeutics to acquire the global rights to the GQ-203 non-opioid osteoarthritis treatment.
OneMain Holdings (OMF -3.02%) dropped 7% in after-hours trading after it reported holder Springleaf Financial Holdings was offering 7.5 million shares of OMF via Morgan Stanley.
Bandwith (BAND +6.42%) rallied over 10% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 continuing operations EPS of 11 cents, above consensus of 9 cents, and said it sees Q4 adjusted EPS of breakeven to up 1 cents\, higher than consensus of -2 cent loss.
Pier 1 Imports (PIR +6.96%) plunged over 20% in after-hours trading after it said it sees Q4 adjusted EPS of 16 cents to 24 cents, weaker than consensus of 38 cents, and said it sees full-year adjusted EPS of 17 cents to 25 cents, below consensus of 41 cents.
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Today’s Economic Calendar
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
8:30 Import/Export Prices
8:30 Retail Sales
9:45 Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index
9:45 PMI Composite Flash
10:00 Business Inventories
10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
4:30 PM Money Supply
4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings from Morningstar
this week’s Economic Numbers/Reports powered by ECONODAY