Before the Open (Dec 26)

Good morning. Happy Tuesday. Hope you had a good, long weekend.
The Asian/Pacific markets were mixed today. China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and the Philippines posted gains while Japan, South Korea and Taiwan posted losses. Europe, Africa and the Middle East lean to the downside. Greece and Saudi Arabia are up; Poland, the UAE, Russia, Spain, and Sweden are down. Futures in the States point towards a down open for the cash market.
The dollar is up. Bitcoin is up. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are down.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Ignyta (RXDX +72.67%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Ladenburg Thalmann & Co.
Riot Blockchain (RIOT -11.16%) rose over 10% in pre-market trading as Bitcoin rallied as much as 13%.
Unitil Corp (UTL +0.41%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC with a price target of $50.
Capital One Financial (COF +0.98%) estimates that the Tax Act will result in about a $1.9 billion charge due to write down of deferred tax assets.
Mallinckrodt (MNK -1.06%) said it acquired Sucampo Pharmaceuticals for about $1.2 billion, or $18 a share. Sucampo closed at $17 a share last Friday.
AbbVie (ABBV +0.31%) may move higher this morning after a judge late Friday through out a $150 million punitive damage award against AbbVie on allegations it misrepresented the heart-attack and other blood-clotting risks from its AndroGel testosterone booster and ordered a new trial.
KLX Inc (KLXI -0.32%) may move higher this morning after it said it initiated a formal process to explore strategic alternatives including a sale of the company in response from interested parties and that it had retained Goldman Sachs as financial adviser.
Agile Therapeutics (AGRX -47.06%) was downgraded to ‘Market Perform’ from ‘Outperform’ at William Blair & Co.
Bank of America (BAC +0.20%) estimates net income for the quarter ending December 2017 will include a reduction of approximately $3 billion because of the Tax Act.
Ocular Therapeutics (OCUL -0.65%) dropped 7% in after-hours trading after it said it received a subpoena from the SEC related to its Dextenza.
Thursday’s Key Earnings
Nike (NYSE:NKE) -1.5% AH on weakness in North America.
Today’s Economic Calendar
10:00 Richmond Fed Mfg.
10:00 State Street Investor Confidence Index
10:30 Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey
1:00 PM Results of $26B, 2-Year Note Auction
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings from Morningstar
this week’s Economic Numbers/Reports powered by ECONODAY