Good morning. Happy Friday. Happy Options Expiration Day.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly up. China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore posted solid gains; Japan and South Korea also did well. India was weak. Europe, Africa and the Middle East are currently mostly up. The UK, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Turkey, South Africa, Finland, Norway, Italy, Israel and Sweden are leading; Hungary, Austria and the Czech Republic are weak. Futures in the States point towards a flat open for the cash market.
—————
VIDEO: State of the Market
—————
The dollar is up. Oil and copper are up. Gold is up; silver is down. Bonds are up.
Overnight Stock Movers from barchart.com…
Alcoa (AA +0.70%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at Berenberg with a price target of $54.
RBC Bearings (ROLL +1.05%) was rated a new ‘Overweight’ at Alembic Global Advisors with a price target of $179.
Texas Instruments (TXN +1.04%) gained nearly 2% in after-hours trading after it approved a $12 billion stock buyback program and boosted its quarterly dividend to 77 cents from 62 cents, higher than expectations of 75 cents.
Editas Medicine (EDIT -1.87%) was rated a new ‘Outperform’ at Raymond James with a price target of $40.
Micron (MU +2.22%) fell 3% in after-hours trading after the company on its earnings conference call forecast Q1 revenue of $7.90 billion to $8.30 billion, weaker than consensus of $8.45 billion.
Crispr Therapeutics AG (CRSP -5.59%) was rated a new ‘Underperform’ at Raymond James.
Vanda Pharmaceuticals (VNDA +2.04%) was rated a new ‘Outperform’ at Oppenheimer with a price target of $29.
United Natural Foods (UNFI +1.65%) dropped 10% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 76 cents, weaker than consensus of 85 cents, and then forecast full-year adjusted EPS of $3.48 to $3.58, the midpoint below consensus of $3.54.
KalVista Pharmaceuticals (KALV +10.70%) was rated a new ‘Overweight’ at Cantor Fitzgerald with a price target of $32.
Steelcase (SCS +5.21%) jumped 12% in after-hours trading after it forecast Q3 revenue of $885 million to $915 million, well above consensus of $832.5 million.
Fate Therapeutics (FATE +5.01%) lost 2% in after-hours trading after it announced that it has commenced an underwritten public offering of $100 million of its common stock.
Western Asset Mortgage Capital Corp (WMC +0.62%) fell 3% in after-hours trading after it announced that it has commenced a public offering of 6.5 million shares of the company’s common stock.
Harmonic (HLIT +2.97%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at Loop Capital Markets with a price target of $8.25.
Pier 1 Imports (PIR +3.43%) sank more than 19% in after-hours trading after it reported a Q2 preliminary loss of -62 cents to -64 cents a share and said it will discontinue fiscal 2019 guidance at this time.
Thursday’s Key Earnings
Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) -7.1% AH warning on U.S. tariffs.
Today’s Economic Calendar
9:45 PMI Composite Flash
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