Before the Open (Mar 12)

Good morning. Happy Monday. Hope you had a good weekend.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed with solid, across-the-board gains. Japan, China, South Korea, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines all did very well. Europe, Africa and the Middle East currently lean to the upside. Turkey, Poland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Belgium, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and the Czech Republic are doing the best. Futures in the States point towards a positive 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 mixed.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
E*TRADE Financial (ETFC +3.75%) was upgraded to ‘Strong Buy’ from ‘Outperform’ at Raymond James with a price target of $74.
Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM +0.02%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Goldman Sachs with a price target of $50.
Northrup Grumman (NOC +0.95%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Citigroup with a price target of $405.
Apollo Global Management LLC (APO +1.67%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Citigroup with a price target of $40.
Time Warner (TWX +0.50%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at UBS.
Deckers Outdoor (DECK +2.28%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Pivotal Research Group LLC.
Newmont Mining (NEM +0.13%) was downgraded to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Sector Perform’ at RBC Capital Markets.
SVB Financial Group (SIVB +2.10%) will replace Patterson Cos (PDCO +1.48%) in the S&P 500 prior to the open of trading on Monday, March 19.
Take-Two Interactive (TTWO +2.67%) will replace Signet Jewelers (SIG +2.17%) in the S&P 500 prior to the open of trading on Monday, March 19.
Nektar Therapeutics ({=NKTR will replace Chesapeake Energy (CHK +4.38%) in the S&P 500 prior to the open of trading on Monday, March 19.
The WSJ reports that Intel (INTC +2.86%) in considering a bid for Broadcom Ltd (AVGO +2.77%) .
Dun & Bradstreet (DNB +0.95%) President and COO Joshua L. Peirez resigned effective March 15, 2018.
C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW +2.39%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Edward Jones.
According to Reuters, General Electric (GE +2.89%) is exploring the sale of its electrical engineering business.
Today’s Economic Calendar
11:30 Results of $28B, 3-Year Note Auction
1:00 PM Results of $21B, 10-Year Note Auction
2:00 PM Treasury Budget
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings from Morningstar
this week’s Economic Numbers/Reports powered by ECONODAY