Before the Open (Aug 16)

Good morning. Happy Thursday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly down. Japan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Indonesia and Singapore posted noticeable losses. Europe, Africa and the Middle East currently lean to the upside. The UK, Germany, France, South Africa, Finland, Hungary, Portugal, Israel and Sweden are up; Poland, Turkey, Greece and Italy are down. Futures in the States point towards a relatively big gap up open for the cash market.
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The dollar is down. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are down.
Overnight Stock Movers from barchart.com…
Walmart (WMT -0.69%) jumped more than 6% in pre-market trading after it raised its full=year adjusted EPS forecast es-Flipkart to $4.90 to $5.05 from a February view of $4.75 to $5.00, and said it sees full-year net sales up +2.0% in constant currency from a prior forecast of +1.5%-2.0%
United Technologies (UTX -0.51%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at UBS with a price target of $160.
Stryker (SYK +0.34%) was rate da new ‘Buy’ at BTIG with a price target of $187
Conn’s (CONN -4.38%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at Jefferies with a price target of $44.
Illumina (ILMN -0.71%) lost 2% in after-hours trading after it said it will offer $650 million convertible senior notes due 2023.
NetApp (NTAP -0.35%) gained more than 1% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 adjusted EPS of $1.04, well above consensus of 80 cents, and then forecast Q2 adjusted EPS of 94 cents to $1.00, the midpoint right on consensus of 97 cents.
Cisco Systems (CSCO -0.32%) climbed more than 5% in after-hours trading after it forecast Q1 revenue would gain 5% to 7%, higher than consensus of +3.7%.
Healthcare Realty Trust (HR +2.01%) was downgraded to ‘Equal-Weight’ from ‘Overweight’ at Morgan Stanley with a price target of $28.
Global Net Lease (GNL +0.05%) lost nearly 4% in after-hours trading after it announced the launch of an underwritten public offering of 4 million shares of its common stock.
Briggs & Stratton (BGG -0.70%) rose almost 4% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 net sales of $502 million, better than consensus of $495.7 million.
SpartanNash (SPTN -1.00%) tumbled nearly 10% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 adjusted EPS from continuing operations of 50 cents, below consensus of 56 cents, and then forecast full-year adjusted EPS from continuing operations of $1.96 to $2.08, weaker than consensus of $2.25.
Lifevantage (LFVN -5.42%) jumped 6% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 revenue of $54 million, up +7% y/y, and said that Q4 adjusted Ebitda increased 59% y/y to $5.2 million.
HTG Molecular Diagnostics (HTGM -1.49%) climbed almost 5% in after-hours trading after it delivered its first orders of its HTG EdgeSeq Precision Immuno-Oncology Panel.
Wednesday’s Key Earnings
Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) +6.2% AH on healthy guidance.
NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) -6.6% AH after Q1 beats, inline guidance.
LifeVantage (NASDAQ:LFVN) +7.6% AH on Q2 earnings.
Briggs & Stratton (NYSE:BGG) +9.2% AH on solid Q2 earnings.
Today’s Economic Calendar
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
8:30 Housing Starts
8:30 Philly Fed Business Outlook
10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
4:30 PM Money Supply
4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings from Morningstar
this week’s Economic Numbers/Reports powered by ECONODAY