Before the Open (Mar 1)

Good morning. Happy Thursday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed split. China and Hong Kong moved up; Japan, South Korea and Australia were weak. Europe, Africa and the Middle East are currently mostly down. Poland, France, Turkey, the UAE, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Switzerland, Norway, Spain, Italy, Belgium and Portugal are down 1% or more. Futures in the States point towards a moderate gap down open for the cash market.
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ESSAY: Three Steps to Epiphany
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The dollar is up. Bitcoin is up. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are up.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Monster Beverage (MNST -1.25%) dropped nearly 8% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 net sales of $810.4 million, weaker than consensus of $843.0 million.
Portola Pharmaceuticals (PTLA -6.21%) slumped 10% in after-hours trading after it said on an earnings call that the FDA may want additional data on its AndexXa in a randomized study.
Health Insurance Innovations (HIIQ +0.16%) jumped 7% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted Ebitda of $10.5 million, higher than consensus of $8.05 million, and then said it sees full-year adjusted Ebitda of $54 million to $57 million, better than consensus of $49.1 million
Box Inc (BOX +0.21%) tumbled 10% in after-hours trading after it forecast a Q1 adjusted loss per share between -8 and -9 cents, a wider loss than consensus of -7 cents.
Hostess Brands (TWNK -6.13%) rose 4% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 17 cents, better than consensus of 14 cents, and then forecast full-year adjusted EPS of 65 cents to 70 cents, the midpoint higher than consensus of 67 cents.
Builders Firstsource (BLDR -2.39%) rallied 13% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 et sales of $1.78 billion, higher than consensus of $1.69 billion.
Corium International (CORI -0.38%) fell almost 4% in after-hours trading after it announced that it intends to offer $100 million of convertible senior notes due 2025.
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (KTOS +0.58%) gained nearly 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 9 cents, above consensus of 7 cents.
QEP Resources (QEP +0.23%) rose 6% in after-hours trading after it reported an unexpected Q4 adjusted EPS of $1.13, stronger than consensus for a loss of -6 cents per share.
Sorrento Therapeutics (SRNE +17.75%) gained almost 5% in after-hours trading, on top of the 17% in gained in Wednesday’s session after its Scilex won FDA approval for its non-opiod ZTLido for relief of a pain associated with shingles.
Habit Restaurants (HABT -2.81%) climbed nearly 10% in after-hours trading after it forecast full-year revenue of $389 million to $393 million, higher than consensus of $389.3 million.
Wednesday’s Key Earnings
3D Systems Corp. (NYSE:DDD) +15% AH on better-than-expected preliminary Q4 results.
Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM) +1.9% AH on strong earnings, upside guidance.
Mylan (NASDAQ:MYL) -3.1% AH on Q4 revenue miss.
Ballard Power Systems (NASDAQ:BLDP) -1.6% AH on Q4 earnings miss.
Halcon Resources (NYSE:HK) -4.1% on Q4 earnings miss.
L Brands (NYSE:LB) -9% AH on Q1 guidance below consensus.
Portola Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:PTLA) -23% AH on FDA communication about possible additional study for Andexa.
Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) -4.3% AH on Q4 earnings miss.
Box (NYSE:BOX) -13% AH on downside guidance.
Today’s Economic Calendar
Auto Sales
8:30 Personal Income and Outlays
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
9:45 PMI Manufacturing Index
9:45 Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index
10:00 Yellen delivers semi-annual monetary policy testimony
10:00 ISM Manufacturing Index
10:00 Construction Spending
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