Before the Open (Mar 8)

Good morning. Happy Thursday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly up. Hong Kong, South Korea and Indonesia rallied more than 1%; India, New Zealand, Taiwan and Australia also did well. Europe, Africa and the Middle East are currently mostly up. France, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, Austria and Saudi Arabia are leading; Poland and Russia are down. Futures in the States point towards a moderate gap up open for the cash market.
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VIDEO: Long Term Trades for the Market’s Net Leg Up
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The dollar is flat. Bitcoin is down. Oil is flat; copper is down. Gold and silver are down small amounts. Bonds are mixed and nearly flat.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Express Scripts (ESRX -1.56%) surged 17% in pre-market trading after Cigna agreed to acquire the company for $54 billion in cash and stock.
Microchip Technology (MCHP -1.04%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Goldman Sachs with a price target of $108.
Thor Industries (THO +0.66%) rose 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 net sales of $1.97 billion, above consensus of $1.93 billion.
Align Technology (ALGN +2.71%) was rated a new ‘Overweight’ at Barclays with a price target of $290.
Guidewire Software (GWRE +6.97%) lost over 2% in after-hours trading after it announced proposed public offerings of $200 million of common stock and $300 million of convertible senior notes due 2015.
Devon Energy (DVN -1.21%) gained almost 2% in after-hours trading after it said it had entered into a definitive agreement to sell the southern portion of its Barnett Shale position for $553 million.
Comtech Telecommunications (CMTL +1.25%) climbed 5% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 net sales of $133.7 million, better than consensus of $124.8 million, and said it sees full-year adjusted Ebitda of $72 million to $76 million, higher than consensus of $70.2 million.
Caesars Entertainment (CZR +1.21%) rose 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 same-store adjusted Ebitdar of $505 million, higher than consensus of $502 million.
ZAGG (ZAGG +2.31%) dropped 7% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted Ebitda of $35.8 million, weaker than consensus of $36.3 million, and CEO Randy Hales will retire, effective immediately.
Collegium Pharmaceutical (COLL -4.08%) rose 5% in after-hours trading after it said prescriptions for its Xtampza ER rose to 38,044 in Q4, up +37% q/q and net Q4 revenue from Xtampza ER was $10.8 million, better than consensus of $9.8 million.
Energy Recovery (ERII -0.72%) dropped over 5% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 revenue of $22.4 million, below consensus of $28.1 million.
ShiftPixy (PIXY +66.15%) rallied almost 5% in after-hours trading on carry-over from a 66% surge in Wednesday’s session when it said it was leveraging blockchain technology “as a digital ledger for all human capital transactions.”
Viking Therapeutics (VKTX -0.99%) slid nearly 7% in after-hours trading after it said it was pushing the data from its VK2809 Phase 2 fatty liver and hypercholesterolemia study from the first half of the year until the second half of the year.
Wednesday’s Key Earnings
Costco (NASDAQ:COST) -1.1% AH amid weaker same-store sales.
Today’s Economic Calendar
Chain Store Sales
7:30 Challenger Job-Cut Report
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
9:45 Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index
10:00 Quarterly Services Report
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