Good morning. Happy Friday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed. India rallied 2.9% and Indonesia 0.85%. Otherwise the indexes didn’t move much. Europe currently leans to the downside. Italy, Spain and Greece are down more than 1%. France is down 0.7%. Russia is up 0.6%. Futures here in the States point towards a down open for the cash market.
The dollar is up. Oil is up, copper down. Gold and silver are up.
The market continues to be in a ominous place. The Dow and SPX are doing just fine, but the small caps and Nas are sitting near previous lows and could slice through at any time. One of these days we may get an SPX-down-40 day. How long can the big caps sit up here, clinging to previous gains near their highs while such a big percentage of stocks are trending down? About 16% of stocks are more than 5% below their 10-day MA, but only 2.4% are more than 5% above their 10-day. Earnings season has not been kind to the bulls. The ratio of stocks that gapped down big vs. those that gapped up big has heavily favored the downside. The bulls have their backs against the door almost daily. I wonder when they step aside.
For two months I’ve been saying the market has been iffy…that there was no reason to place big bets. Hopefully you’re not getting chopped up out there. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Roundy’s (RNDY -24.92%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at BofA/Merrill.
The Financial Times reports that Apple (AAPL -0.73%) is in talks to acquire Beats Electronics for $3.2 billion.
Twitter (TWTR +4.24%) was upgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Underperform’ at BofA/Merrill.
Darling (DAR +0.30%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 15 cents, well below consensus of 28 cents.
CSC (CSC +0.03%) reported Q4 EPS ex-items of $1.09, higher than consensus of $1.04.
Kemper (KMPR -0.19%) reported Q1 EPS of 63 cents, weaker than consensus of 65 cents.
Triangle Capital (TCAP -4.66%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Janney Capital.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Merck’s (MRK -1.81%) Zontivity drug to lower heart attack and stroke risk in high-risk patients.
Mettler-Toledo (MTD -0.32%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of $2.00, better than consensus of $1.98.
Nuance (NUAN -1.71%) reported Q2 EPS of 28 cents, higher than consensus of 23 cents.
Monster Beverage (MNST +1.44%) reported Q1 EPS of 55 cents, above consensus of 49 cents.
News Corp. (NWSA +0.18%) reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 11 cents, over three times consensus of 3 cents.
Stifel Financial (SF -0.26%) reported Q1 EPS of 69 cents, better than consensus of 68 cents.
Gap (GPS +1.16%) jumped over 5% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 revenue of $3.77 billion, higher than consensus of $3.69 billion, and then raisd guidance on Q1 EPS of 56 cents-57 cents, better than consensus of 53 cents.
CBS (CBS +2.40%) reported Q1 EPS of 78 cents, higher than consensus of 75 cents.
Symantec (SYMC -0.45%) rose over 2% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 EPS of 47 cents, better than consensus of 42 cents, and then raised guidance on fiscal 2015 EPS to $1.84-$1.92, above consensus of $1.83.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s economic calendar:
10:00 Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey
10:00 Wholesale Trade
12:00 PM Fed’s Fisher: Monetary Policy
Notable earnings before today’s open: ALU, AMRN, ATRS, BECN, BLMN, BR, CLDT, CNQ, CQB, EBIX, ERF, GSM, HLT, HMSY, HZNP, MHR, MT, NRF, PGNX, RL, SATS, SIRO, SSYS, TTI
Notable earnings after today’s close: VVC
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers