Before the Open (Feb 26)

Good morning. Happy Monday. Hope you had a good weekend.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly up. Japan, China, India, Australia and Thailand led the way; Indonesia was weak. Europe, Africa and the Middle East lean to the upside. France, Turkey, Denmark, South Africa, Finland, Russia, Hungary and the Netherlands are doing well; Greece is weak. Futures in the States point towards a moderate gap up open for the cash market.
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ESSAY: Three Steps to Epiphany
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The dollar is down. Bitcoin is up. Oil is down slightly; copper is up. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are up.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
United Parcel Service (UPS +0.50%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Loop Capital Markets with a 12-month target price of $131.
HP Inc (HPQ +3.46%) was upgraded to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Neutral’ at JPMorgan Chase with a 12-month target price of $28.
Guess? (GES +1.35%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at B Riley FBR.
American Water (AWK +2.40%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ with a price target of $88.
General Mills (GIS -3.59%) was downgraded to ‘Sell’ from ‘Hold’ at Societe Generale with a target price of $48.
Mattel (MAT unch) was downgraded to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Hold’ at Jeffries with a target price of $13.
Halliburton (HAL +2.80%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Albemarle ({=ALB was downgraded to ‘Underweight’ from ‘Equal-Weight’ at Morgan Stanley.
U.S. metals producers rallied in after-hours trading Friday after President Trump said he wants to impose the harshest tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum recommended by the Commerce Department. U.S. Steel (X +1.26%) rose 3%, AK Steel (AKS -2.14%) jumped 3%, Nucor (NUE -0.01%) rose nearly 2%, Steel Dynamics (STLD -1.10%) gained 1%, Century Aluminum (CENX -3.77%) rose 2% and Alcoa (AA -2.73%) gained over 1%.
Empire State Realty (ESRT -0.45%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Stifel.
Mack-Cali (CLI +4.35%) was upgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Sell’ at Stifel.
Thursday’s Key Earnings
Apache (NYSE:APA) -6.3% after disappointing production guidance.
Chesapeake Energy (NYSE:CHK) +21.7% on higher output, lower costs.
First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) -2.4% AH as revenues slipped.
Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) -3.8% AH after a surprise GAAP loss.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) +12.1% AH topping estimates.
HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) +6.8% AH following upside guidance.
Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) -1.4% despite beating expectations.
Today’s Economic Calendar
8:00 Fed’s Bullard: U.S. Monetary and Economic Policy
8:30 Chicago Fed National Activity Index
10:00 New Home Sales
10:30 Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings from Morningstar
this week’s Economic Numbers/Reports powered by ECONODAY