Before the Open (Mar 28)

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly down. Japan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, New Zealand, Taiwan, Indonesia and Singapore were all weak. Europe, Africa and the Middles East currently lean to the downside. Denmark is up, but Poland, South Africa, Finland, Portugal and Israel are down. Futures in the States are mixed – S&P up, Nas down.
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VIDEO: State of the Market
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The dollar is up. Bitcoin is up. Oil is down; copper is flat. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are up.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
General Electric (GE +4.27%) was downgraded to ‘Sell’ from ‘Hold’ at DZ Bank AG with a price target of $11.20.
Intel (INTC -2.46%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at DZ Bank AG.
AT&T (T +0.61%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at HSBC with a price target of $41.
Verizon (VZ +0.51%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at HSBC with a price target of $55.
Mastercard (MA -2.62%) was rated a new ‘Outperform’ at Bernstein with a price target of $207.
Air Products (APD -1.44%) was rated a new ‘Outperform’ at BMO Capital Markets with a price target of $195.
Red Hat (RH -4.14%) jumped over 11% in after-hours trading after it forecast full-year adjusted EPS of $5.45 to $6.20, the midpoint higher than consensus of $5.76.
Dominion Energy (D +1.64%) lost more than 1% in after-hours trading after it announced that it had commenced a registered public offering of 20 million shares of its common stock in connection with forward sale agreements.
Celanese (CE +0.28%) was rated a new ‘Outperform’ at BMO Capital Markets with a price target of $131.
Nike (NKE +0.41%) climbed more than 3% in after-hours trading after it announced a long-term extension of their on-field apparel partnership with the NFL.
Lululemon Athletica (LULU -2.03%) rallied 6% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 total comparable sales up +11%, better than consensus of +8.6%, and then forecast Q1 net revenue of $612 million to $617 million, much better than consensus of $586 million.
Shoe Carnival (SCVL +0.47%) fell 4% in after-hours trading after it forecast full-year EPS of $1.85 to $2.00, the midpoint below consensus of $1.94.
Sonic (SONC +2.22%) dropped nearly 5% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 system-wide comparable ales unexpectedly fell -2.9%, weaker than consensus of a +0.5% increase.
Parateum (TEUM -4.35%) slid nearly 6% in after-hours trading after it forecast gross margins for 2018 of 70%-75%, the midpoint below the 72.8% in 2017.
Tuesday’s Key Earnings
Lululemon (NASDAQ:LULU) +6.2% AH amid strong comp sales growth.
Today’s Economic Calendar
7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
8:30 GDP Q4
8:30 International trade in goods
8:30 Corporate profits
8:30 Retail Inventories (Advance)
8:30 Wholesale Inventories (Advance)
10:00 Pending Home Sales
10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
11:30 Results of $15B, 2-Year FRN Auction
1:00 PM Results of $29B, 7-Year Note Auction
3:00 PM Farm Prices
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings from Morningstar
this week’s Economic Numbers/Reports powered by ECONODAY