Before the Open (Feb 14)

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed. Hong Kong, South Korea and China did well; Japan, India and New Zealand were weak. Europe, Africa and the Middle East are currently mostly up. The UK, Poland, France, Germany, Greece, Switzerland, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal and Israel are doing the best; Norway is weak. Futures in the States point towards a big gap down open for the cash market.
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The dollar is down. Bitcoin is up. Oil is down; copper is up. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are up.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Northrup Grumman (NOC +1.75%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Jeffries.
Baidu (BIDU +1.79%) rose nearly 5% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted Ebitda of $1.05 billion, above consensus of $991.7 million, and said Q4 adjusted profit per ads was $2.29, better than consensus of $2.12.
Avis Budget Group (CAR -1.59%) was downgraded to ‘Sell’ from ‘Neutral’ at Goldman Sachs with a price target of $33.
Diamondback Energy (FANG -0.84%) climbed 5% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of $1.56. higher than consensus of $1.51, and then initiated a 50-cent cash dividend starting in Q1 of 2018.
Neuocrine Biosciences (NBIX +1.85%) fell over 5% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 EPS of 7 cents, well below consensus of 24 cents.
Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT +0.67%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC with a 12-month target price of $75.
Century Communities (CCS +1.21%) jumped almost 6% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of $1.01, well above consensus of 61 cents.
Antero Resources (AR -0.34%) moved up over 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 23 cents, better than consensus of 18 cents.
Twillo (TWLO +2.52%) rallied almost 7% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 revenue of $115.2 million, above consensus of $103.6 million, and then said it sees Q1 revenue of $115 million to $117 million, higher than consensus of $108.3 million.
MaxLinear (MXL +1.11%) slid 2% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 net revenue of $113.7 million, below consensus of $114.0 million, and said it sees Q1 revenue of $110 million to $114 million, weaker than consensus of $116.7 million.
Carbonite (CARB +2.60%) rallied over 7% in after-hours trading after it said its sees full-year 2018 EPS of $11.45 to $1.55, stronger than consensus of $1.01.
Western Union (WU -0.10%) rose 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 revenue of $1.44 billion, better than consensus of $1.40 billion.
Pieris Pharmaceuticals (PIRS +6.42%) dropped almost 9% in after-hours trading after it offered 5.5 million shares of common stock in an underwritten public offering.
Fossil Group (FOSL +7.75%) soared nearly 60% in after-hours trading after it reported an unexpected +2% increase in Q4 comparable sales, much better than consensus for a -6% decline.
Zion Oil & Gas (ZN +86.96%) gained over 2% in after-hours trading after it soared 87% in Tuesday’s trading after finding “clear evidence” of oil and gas in the deeper portion of the Megiddo-Jezreel well.
Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals (TTPH -0.55%) plunged over 50% in after-hours trading after it said a Phase 3 trial of its Eravacycline did not achieve co-primary endpoints in patients with complicated urinary tract infections. Rival drug maker Achaogen (AKAO +1.20%) rose almost 4% in after-hours trading on the news.
Tuesday’s Key Earnings
Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) +5.2% AH beating expectations.
Metlife (NYSE:MET) -1.4% AH amid pension failures.
PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP) +0.2% on strong snack sales.
Under Armour (NYSE:UAA) +17.4% expanding its restructuring.
Today’s Economic Calendar
7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
8:30 Consumer Price Index
8:30 Retail Sales
10:00 Business Inventories
10:00 Atlanta Fed’s Business Inflation Expectations
10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings from Morningstar
this week’s Economic Numbers/Reports powered by ECONODAY