Before the Open (May 13)

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly up. India rallied 1.4%; Australia, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan also did well. Hong Kong and China dropped. Europe is currently mostly up. France, Greece and Stockholm are up more than 1%; Germany, Austria, Norway and Italy are also doing well. Futures here in the States point towards a moderate gap up open for the cash market.
Thanks for your votes on my public list at stockcharts.com. Keep ’em coming.
The dollar is down. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are up.
Yesterday the market plunged the opening 30 minutes, but it recovered just as fast before quieting down during lunch and the afternoon session. The indexes closed within a tight range of each other, and volume was on the lighter side.
This doesn’t add or subtract or change anything that has taken place the last couple months. The market is dead set on shaking traders out in both directions before the next directional move begins. Rallies get sold, dips get bought. Bulls get lured in, and then the floor gets pulled out…bears get lured in, and then we get a surprise surge. After a couple months there has been lots of ups and downs but virtually no net change.
Short term traders who like the ping pong action are in heaven…trend traders hate this. Make sure your trading style is in sync with the market. Otherwise sit out. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Microsoft (MSFT -0.04%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Deutsche Bank.
Danaher (DHR +2.92%) said it will separate into two independent, publicly traded companies.
Precision Castparts (PCP -0.62%) reported Q4 EPS of $2.94, below consensus of $2.95, and then lowered guidance on fiscal 2016 EPS to $12.50-$13.40, below consensus of $13.39.
Piper Jaffray kept its ‘Overweight’ rating on Acuity Brands (AYI +1.11%) and raised its price target on the stock to $207 from $194.
Vale (VALE -3.79%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Outperform’ at Macquarie.
Humana (HUM +4.06%) was downgraded to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at Sterne Agee CRT.
American Eagle (AEO -1.40%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at Cowen.
Jefferies upgraded Magellan Health (MGLN +0.15%) to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ with a $78 price target.
Kimberly-Clark (KMB -0.15%) was upgraded to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Equal Weight’ at Barclays.
AOL (AOL +18.62%) was upgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Sell’ at Goldman Sachs.
Vertex (VRTX -2.61%) jumped over 7% in after-hours trading when it confirmed that an FDA panel voted 12-to-1 to recommend approval of its drug Orkambi for use in people with cystic fibrosis.
American Express (AXP -0.78%) rose nearly 2% in after-hours trading after it authorized a 150 million share repurchase and raised its dividend.
McKesson (MCK +0.44%) reported Q4 adjusted adjusted EPS of $2.94, higher than consensus of $2.75, although Q4 revenue of $44.93 billion was below consensus of $45.04 billion.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s economic calendar:
7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
8:30 Retail Sales
8:30 Import/Export Prices
10:00 Atlanta Fed’s Business Inflation Expectations
10:00 Business Inventories
10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
1:00 PM Results of $24B, 7-Year Note Auction
Notable earnings before today’s open: ACAT, ARMK, CRME, DSX, ELOS, EZCH, IGT, M, MRKT, MTLS, PCP, RL, SHLX, ZAYO, ZBRA
Notable earnings after today’s close: CSCO, CTRP, FENG, FPRX, JACK, JCP, MIDD, NTES, RNDY, SHAK, TGB, VIPS, VOXX, WX
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers