Before the Open (May 18)

Good morning. Happy Friday. Happy Options Expiration.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed with a lean to the upside. Japan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea and New Zealand did well; India and Indonesia were weak. Europe, Africa and the Middle East are currently split. Turkey, Greece, Norway, Israel and Saudi Arabia are up; Poland, the UAE, Denmark, Hungary, Spain, Italy and Austria are down. Futures in the States point towards a flat open for the cash market.
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The dollar is up. Oil is flat; copper is down. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are up.
Overnight Stock Movers from barchart.com…
Amgen (AMGN +0.49%) rose nearly 2% in pre-market trading after its Aimovig drug won FDA approval for the preventive treatment of migraines in adults.
Yelp (YELP +2.73%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at B Riley FBR with a price target of $58.
Nordstrom (JWN -0.27%) slid 7% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 comparable store sales rose +0.6%, weaker than consensus of +1.0%.
Spotify (SPOT -1.63%) was rated a ‘Strong Buy’ at Raymond James with a price target of $190.
Cerner (CERN +1.08%) jumped 7% in after-hours trading after the Veterans Affairs Department said it awarded the company a 10-year IT contract valued at up to $10 billion.
PayPal Holdings (PYPL +1.76%) acquired iZettle for $2.2 billion.
Raven Industries (RAVN +2.43%) may open to the downside this morning after it reported after-hours Thursday Q1 revenue of $111.1 billion, weaker than consensus of $117 million.
Applied Materials (AMAT -2.19%) fell almost 3% in after-hours trading after it forecast Q3 net sales of $4.33 billion to $4.53 billion, the midpoint below consensus of $4.53 billion.
Marriott International (MAR -1.53%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘In-line’ at Evercore ISI with a price target of $155.
Boot Barn Holdings (BOOT -0.12%) dropped nearly 4% in after-hours trading after 7.21 million shares of its common stock were offered between $23.50 and $24.00 a share via JPMorgan Chase and Jeffries.
Host Hotels (HOST) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘In-line’ at Evercore ISI with a price target of $23.
AmTrust Financial Services (AFSI +0.60%) climbed nearly 7% in after-hours trading after billionaire investor Carl Icahn reported a 9.38% stake in the company.
Dicerna Pharmaceuticals (DRNA -0.04%) rose 3% in after-hours trading after its drug to treat primary hyperoxaluria, Synthetic Double-Stranded Rna Oligonucletide Conjugates To N-Acetyl-D-Galactosamine Amniosugar Residues, was granted orphan drug status by the FDA.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD unch) gained more than 1% in after-hours trading after it was rated a new ‘Outperform’ at Cowen with a price target of $18.
Quotient Ltd (QTNT +0.86%) jumped almost 12% in after-hours trading after it announced it completed the MosaiQ verification and validation phase for its initial blood grouping.
Thursday’s Key Earnings
Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) -4.5% AH on mixed guidance.
J.C. Penney (NYSE:JCP) -12.4% lowering its profit outlook.
Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN) -7% AH amid light sales guidance.
Walmart (NYSE:WMT) -1.9% despite soaring e-commerce sales.
Today’s Economic Calendar
3:00 Fed’s Mester Speech
9:15 Fed’s Kaplan Speech
9:15 Fed’s Reserve Gov. Lael Brainard Speech
1:00 PM Baker-Hughes Rig Count
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings from Morningstar
this week’s Economic Numbers/Reports powered by ECONODAY