Before the Open (Oct 19)

Good morning. Happy Friday. Happy Options Expiration Day.
The Asian/Pacific market closed mixed. China, Hong Kong and South Korea did well; Japan, India, New Zealand and Thailand were weak. Europe, Africa and the Middle East currently lean to the downside. The UAE, Switzerland, Norway and Isreal are up; Denmark, France, Turkey, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Austria and Sweden are down. Futures in the States point towards a moderate gap up open for the cash market.
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List of Indexes and ETFs – here
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The dollar is flat. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are down.
Overnight Stock Movers from barchart.com…
Walt Disney (DIS -0.81%) was upgraded to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Equal-Weight’ at Barclays with a price target of $130.
Intuitive Surgical (ISRG -3.80%) rose 2% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 adjusted EPS of $2.83, better than consensus of $2.67.
Microsoft (MSFT -2.00%) was rated a new ‘Outperform’ at Wedbush with a price target of $140.
American Express (AXP -1.44%) gained 1% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 EPS of $1.88, stronger than consensus of $1.77, and then forecast full-year adjusted EPS of $7.30 to $7.40, above consensus of $7.29.
McDonald’s (MCD +0.02%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at Gordon Haskett with a price target of $185.
PayPal Holdings (PYPL -3.26%) climbed 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 58 cents, higher than consensus of 54 cents, and then raised guidance on full-year adjusted EPS to 2.38-$2.40 from a prior view of $2.32-$2.35, above consensus of $2.34.
DowDuPont (DWDP -1.66%) fell almost 4% in after-hours trading after the company cut the asset value of its agriculture business by $4.6 billion to reflect weaker markets for its pesticides and seeds.
Celanese (CE -2.59%) rose 4% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 adjusted EPS of $2.96, higher than consensus of $2.74, and then forecast full-year adjusted EPS of $10.90 to $11.10, above consensus of $10.76.
American International Group (AIG -2.04%) slipped more than 4% in after-hours trading after it said it expects Q3 pre-tax catastrophe losses, net of reinsurance, of approximately $1.5 billion to $1.7 billion.
Bank OZK (OZK -4.34%) sank nearly 20% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 EPS of 65 cents, well below consensus of 91 cents, as Q3 provision for loan losses jumped to $41.9 million versus $7.8 million y/y.
Skechers USA (SKX -2.14%) rose 6% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 EPS of 58 cents, better than consensus of 51 cents, and then forecast Q4 EPS of 20 cents to 25 cents, higher than consensus of 18 cents.
ViewRay (VRAY -0.63%) climbed 5% in after-hours trading after it was rated a new ‘Outperform’ at Baird with a price target of $14.
Limelight Networks (LLNW +2.42%) dropped nearly 8% in after-hours trading after the company reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 3 cents, right on expectations, but a disappointment from its prior view that earnings would be “slightly ahead of expectations.”
Akoustis Technologies (AKTS -13.17%) tumbled 14% in after-hours trading after it announced that it intends to offer $30 million of its common stock and $10 million of 6.5% convertible senior notes due 2023 in concurrent underwritten offerings.
Thursday’s Key Earnings
American Express (NYSE:AXP) +1% AH on card member spending.
Blackstone (NYSE:BX) -2.2% amid Saudi funding concerns.
Paypal (NASDAQ:PYPL) +7.6% AH beating estimates, growth in Venmo.
Philip Morris (NYSE:PM) +3.5% on market share gains.
SAP (NYSE:SAP) -7.6% as its cloud unit dragged on margins.
Today’s Economic Calendar
10:00 Existing Home Sales
12:00 PM Fed’s Bostic: Economic Outlook
12:45 PM Fed’s Kaplan Speech
1:00 PM Baker-Hughes Rig Count
11:30 Fed’s Bostic Speech on Saturday
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings from Morningstar
this week’s Economic Numbers/Reports powered by ECONODAY