Before the Open (Apr 23)

Good morning. Happy Monday. Hope you had a good weekend.
The Asian/Pacific markets closes with a lean to the downside. Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia and Thailand posted losses. Europe, Africa and the Middle East are currently little changed. The UK, Sweden and Saudi Arabia are up; Turkey, Israel and Kenya are down. Futures in the States point towards a positive open for the cash market.
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The dollar is up. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are down.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Hasbro (HAS -1.40%) slid nearly 4% in pre-market trading after it reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 10 cents, well below consensus of 32 cents.
Oasis Petroleum (OAS +0.10%) was downgraded to ‘Sell’ from ‘Hold’ at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.
John Bean Technologies (JBT +0.04%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Outperform’ at Baird.
HubSpot (HUBS -1.82%) was downgraded to ‘Sector Perform’ from ‘Outperform’ at RBC Capital Markets.
Merck & Co (MRK +0.32%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Goldman Sachs with a price target of $73.
State Street (STT -4.34%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Deutsche Bank.
Michael Kors (KORS -1.07%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Deutsche Bank with a price target of $86/
Zillow (ZG +0.47%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at Macquarie with a price target of $75.
The New York Times reports that according to people familiar with the matter, AT&T (T -0.43%) and Verizon Communications (VZ -1.09%) are under investigation from U.S. antitrust officials for collusion by hindering consumers from easily switching wireless carriers.
BOJ Governor Kuroda said late Friday that the BOJ is still distant from its price target and will continue easing.
HNI Corp (HNI -0.90%) fell 2% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 net sales of $505.1 million, stronger than consensus of $494.3 million, but then forecast Q2 adjusted EPS of 28 cents to 38 cents, below consensus of 56 cents.
Seven Stars Cloud Group (SSC -3.25%) dropped more than 7% in after-hours trading after it registered 34.7 million shares for holders of its common stock.
Thursday’s Key Earnings
Blackstone (NYSE:BX) +1.1% boosting its buyback.
Novartis (NYSE:NVS) -3.3% weighed down by Cosentyx jitters.
Philip Morris (NYSE:PM) -15.6% amid a cigarette slump.
Taiwan Semiconductor (NYSE:TSM) -5.7% trimming its revenue outlook.
Today’s Economic Calendar
8:30 Chicago Fed National Activity Index
9:45 PMI Composite Flash
10:00 Existing Home Sales
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings from Morningstar
this week’s Economic Numbers/Reports powered by ECONODAY