Before the Open (Jan 31)

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed with a lean to the upside. Hong Kong and New Zealand were up big; Japan and the Philippines were down big. Europe, Africa and the Middle East are trading inconsistently but lean to the upside. France, Greece, Italy, Israel and Austria are doing the best; the UAE is down. Futures in the States point towards a moderate gap up open for the cash market.
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VIDEO: There’s a Bull Market Somewhere
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The dollar is down. Bitcoin is flat. Oil is down; copper is up. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are up.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Biogen (BIIB -1.64%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at UBS with a price target of $410.
Time Warner (TWX -0.05%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at MoffetNathanson.
Apple (AAPL -0.59%) is down almost 1% in pre-market trading after it was downgraded to ‘Market Perform’ from ‘Outperform’ at BMO Capital Markets.
Align Technology (ALGN -2.42%) rose nearly 4% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 net revenue of $421.3 million, better than consensus of $396.1 million, and said it sees Q1 net revenue of $400 million to $410 million, above consensus of $396 million.
Electronic Arts (EA +0.89%) climbed almost 7% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 adjusted EPS of $2.21, better than consensus of $2.20, and then raised guidance on full-year 2018 adjusted EPS to $4.25 from a prior view of $4.20, higher than consensus of $4.22.
Shutterfly (SFLY +0.64%) rallied 17% in after-hours trading after it said it sees full-year EPS of $1.94 to $2.38, well above consensus of $1.60.
Knight-Swift Transportation (KNX -2.93%) jumped 8% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 52 cents, stronger than consensus of 39 cents.
Juniper Networks (JNPR -0.56%) tumbled over 8% in after-hours trading after it said it sees Q1 adjusted EPS of 22 cents to 28 cents, well below consensus of 42 cents.
Super Micro Computer (SMCI +0.61%) dropped 6% in after-hours trading after CFO Howard Hideshima resigned effective immediately and will be replaced by Keven Bauer, previously SVP of corporate development and strategy.
Immersion (IMMR +7.40%) jumped 8% in after-hours trading after it announced it had signed a multi-year license agreement with Marquardt for its patented haptic technology for use in automotive solutions.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD -3.38%) gained 2% in after-hours trading after it said Q1 revenue will be about $1.55 billion, which indicates growth of 31% from an adjusted total of $1.18 billion for the same period a year earlier, above consensus of 27% growth.
Syros Pharmaceuticals (SYRS -2.25%) fell nearly 5% in after-hours trading after it announced a proposed underwritten public offering of $40 million in shares of its common stock.
Bellicum Pharmaceuticals (BLCM -5.53%) plunged over 40% in after-hours trading after it received notice from the FDA that U.S. studies of its BPX-501 have been placed on a clinical hold after three cases of encephalopathy were deemed as possibly related to BPX-501.
Cerus (CERS -2.46%) slid over 7% in after-hours trading after it announced a proposed underwritten public offering of $50 million in shares of its common stock.
Tuesday’s Key Earnings
AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) -0.4% AH warning of costly security fixes.
Corning (NYSE:GLW) -5.6% despite healthy demand for Gorilla Glass.
Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) +7.3% AH on a strong bookings outlook.
Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) +1.2% AH after beating estimates.
McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) -3% following Dollar Menu fears.
Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) -3.1% amid a higher-than-expected tax rate.
Today’s Economic Calendar
FOMC meeting begins
8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
9:00 S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index
10:00 Consumer Confidence
10:00 State Street Investor Confidence Index
3:00 Farm Prices
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings from Morningstar
this week’s Economic Numbers/Reports powered by ECONODAY