Before the Open (Dec 20)

Good morning. Happy Thursday.
The Asian/Pacific closed mostly down. Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan and Australia posted the biggest losses. Europe, Africa and the Middle East are currently mostly down. Denmark, Poland, France, Turkey, Germany, Greece, Finland, Norway, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, Portugal, Israel, Austria and Sweden are down more than 1%. Futures in the States point towards a positive open for the cash market.
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VIDEO: How the AD Line Progresses at Market Bottoms
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The dollar is down. Oil and copper are down. Gold is up; silver is down. Bonds are up.
Overnight Stock Movers from barchart.com…
Occidental Petroleum (OXY -1.43%) was rated a new ‘Overweight’ at KeyBanc Capital Markets with a price target of $75.
Phillips 66 (PSX +0.51%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Jeffries with a price target of $105.
ShotSpotter (SSTI +0.36%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at B Riley FBR with a price target of $53.
Celanese (CE -0.84%) may open higher initially this morning after it was announced that it will replace Express Scripts in the S&P 500 before the open of trading on Monday, December 24.
Bluebird Bio (BLUE -2.22%) was rated a new ‘Strong Buy’ at Raymond James with a price target of $165.
Tilray (TLRY -7.19%) rallied 16% in after-hours trading after Anheuser-Busch InBEv SA joined into a research partnership with Tilray where both companies will invest $50 million each into a partnership to develop non-alcoholic, cannabis-infused beverages.
Halliburton (HAL -4.62%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Societe Generale with a price target of $34.
Cal-Maine Foods (CALM -0.54%) was downgraded to ‘Sell’ from ‘Hold’ at Goldman Sachs with a 6-month price target of $32.
G1 Therapeutics (GTHX +0.88%) tumbled 23% in after-hours trading after it said a Phase 2 trial of its Trilaciclib in patients with small cell lung cancer failed to show a benefit over chemotherapy in response rate and progression-free survival.
Herman Miller (MLHR -1.43%) jumped 7% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 net sales of $652.6 million, better than consensus of $647 million, and then forecast Q3 sales of $615 million to $630 million, stronger than consensus of $602.5 million.
Limoneira (LMNR +0.86%) fell 5% in after-hours trading after it forecast 2019 adjusted EPS of 75 cents to 85 cents, weaker than consensus of 89 cents.
Spectrum Pharmaceuticals (SPPI -1.51%) plunged nearly 30% in after-hours trading after the FDA did not grant Breakthrough Therapy Designation status to its Poziotinib drug for the treatment of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.
Wednesday’s Key Earnings
General Mills (NYSE:GIS) +5% topping earnings forecasts.
Pier 1 Imports (NYSE:PIR) -14.4% AH as CEO resigned on failed turnaround.
Rite Aid (NYSE:RAD) +9.7% AH on strong guidance, McKesson pact.
Today’s Economic Calendar
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
8:30 Philly Fed Business Outlook
10:00 Leading Indicators
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