Before the Open (Jul 23)

Good morning. Happy Monday. Hope you had a good weekend.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed split. China, Hong Kong, India and Indonesia posted gains; Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia posted losses. Europe, Africa and the Middle East are currently mixed. Poland, Turkey, Russia and Portugal are up; France, South Africa and Italy are down. Futures in the States point towards a flat-to-down open for the cash market.
The dollar is down slightly. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are flat.
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Overnight Stock Movers from barchart.com…
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (FCAU -1.08%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Outperform’ at MainFirst Bank AG.
Papa John’s (PZZA +1.16%) was downgraded to ‘Sell’ from ‘Hold’ at Stifel.
Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA +0.08%) was downgraded to ‘Market Perform’ from ‘Outperform’ at Cowen.
BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings (BJ +0.82%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch with a price target of $30.
SunTrust Banks (STI +2.64%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at B Riley FBR with a price target of $81.
Hasbro (HAS +0.26%) jumped 7% in pre-market trading after it reported Q2 net revenue of $904.5 million, well above expectations of $839.3 million.
LifePoint Health (LPNT -1.44%) surged 38% in after-hours trading after Reuters reported that Apollo Global Management LLC is in advanced talks to acquire the hospital chain. Other healthcare stocks rallied on the news as well with Tenet Healthcare (THC -1.57%) up 5% and Community Health Systems (CYH -2.17%) up almost 4% in after-hours trading.
PayPal Holdings (PYPL +0.10%) may open higher initially this morning after DealReporter said that Third Point Offshore Investors Ltd is “poking around’ PayPal.
Caesars Entertainment (CACQ -2.30%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch with a price target of $14.
Entegra Financial (ENFC -1.16%) was downgraded to ‘Market Perform’ from ‘Outperform’ at FIG Partners LLC.
Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF +12.67%) was upgraded to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Neutral’ at JPMorgan Chase with a price target of $15.
JC Penney (JCP -2.34%) lost -0.4% in after-hours trading after CCO Joe McFarland said he will the company on August 1 to become executive vice president of stores for Lowe’s, effective August 15.
Today’s Economic Calendar
8:30 Chicago Fed National Activity Index
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