Before the Open (Mar 20)

Good morning. Happy Thursday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly down. Indonesia dropped 2.5%; Japan, Hong Kong, China, Australia, South Korea and Taiwan fell more than 1%. Europe is currently down across the board. London and Stockholm are down more than 1%; Germany, France, Spain and Greece are also down moderately. Futures here in the States point towards a down open for the cash market.

The dollar is up. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down.
The market sold off quickly yesterday after the Fed statement was released. Then it sold off again when, during her Q&A session with the press, Yellen said rates could be raised about six months after the Fed’s bond purchasing ended. This would put a raise in rates taking place in Q2 of 2015 instead of at the end of the year. Wall St. didn’t like this, so buying interest disappeared.
Overall the market remains in very good shape. The indexes are in consolidation mode within strong uptrends, but in the near term, you know I’ve been saying the situation was iffy. Yesterday’s selling pressure didn’t change anything. The near term is still iffy.
Things could of course change, but in my view, just like Wall St. quickly adjusted to the Fed tapering their bond purchases, it’ll also adjust to the prospect of higher rates. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Ameren (AEE -1.48%) was downgraded to ‘Sell’ from ‘Neutral’ at Goldman Sachs.
Under Armour (UA -1.95%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Sterne Agee due to valuation.
Burlington Stores (BURL +0.86%) reported Q4 EPS of $1,07, better than consensus of $1.03.
J.B. Hunt (JBHT +0.01%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at BofA/Merrill.
JPMorgan Chase kept its ‘Overweight’ rating on First Solar (FSLR +20.57%) as it raised its price target on the stock to $75 from $64.
Ulta Salon (ULTA +2.67%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Goldman Sachs.
Williams (WMB +0.12%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Jefferies.
Lennar ({=LEN reported Q1 EPS of 37 cents, better than consensus of 28 cents.
Credit Suisse reported a 6.04% passive stake in Relypsa (RLYP -4.91%) .
Cintas (CTAS -1.06%) reported Q4 EPS of 69 cents, right on consensus.
Jabil Circuit (JBL -0.76%) reported Q2 EPS of 10 cents, lower than consensus of 11 cents.
Guess (GES -1.74%) slumped over 7% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 83 cents, higher than consensus of 79 cents, but then lowered guidance on fiscal 2015 EPS to $1.40-$1.60, well below consensus of $2.01.
Herman Miller (MLHR +0.10%) reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 34 cents, right on consensus, but reported Q3 revenue of $455.9 million, better than consensus $457.6 million.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s economic calendar:
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
9:45 Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index
10:00 Philly Fed Business Outlook
10:00 Leading Indicators
10:00 Existing Home Sales
10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
4:30 PM Money Supply
4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet
Notable earnings before today’s open: CAG, IHS, LEN, SCHL
Notable earnings after today’s close: AIR, NKE, SLW, TIBX, WTSL, XON
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers