Before the Open (Sep 1)

Good morning. Happy Tuesday. Happy September.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed down across-the-board. Japan dropped almost 4%, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia and Australia more than 2% and Taiwan, South Korea, China and Singapore more than 1%. Europe is currently down across-the-board. London, Germany, France, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal are down more than 2%; Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, Prague, Russia, Poland, Turkey, Denmark, Finland and Italy are down more than 1%. Futures here in the States point towards a big gap down open for the cash market.
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The dollar is down. Oil and copper are down. Gold is up, silver is down. Bonds are up.
Big up days last Wednesday and Thursday…quiet day Friday…down yesterday and now pointing down today. If the current move is just a little pullback within a short term move up, it doesn’t have much more wiggle room. It can’t pull back too much, otherwise the momentum that built up last week will completely disappear.
Overall I still heavily favor the downside, and if the damage done today can be limited, one more pop to the upside may be in the cards.
If you’re a longer term trader, you can short anywhere and hold on for the ride. If you’re shorter term, you have to be more nimble and flexible. A 50-point SPX move in either direction can take place at any time.
In yesterday’s after-market report I outlined the indicators I’m looking at. Absent reversals and quick improvement the market will not recover much more. FOMO (fear of missing out) will dissipate, and the market will leg down again. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Freeport McMoRan (FCX +1.33%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Citi.
Donaldson (DCI -0.82%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 45 cents, better than consensus of 42 cents.
Constellation Brands (STZ +0.05%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Underperform’ at CLSA.
McCormick (MKC -0.80%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ at BB&T with a price target of $99.
BB&T upgraded Cal-Maine Foods (CALM +5.71%) to ‘Buy’ with a $62 price target.
American Airlines (AAL +0.93%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Deutsche Bank.
Endo (ENDP -2.16%) was downgraded to ‘Equal Weight’ from ‘Overweight’ at Morgan Stanley.
Scientific Games (SGMS -5.16%) was upgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Sell’ at Deutsche Bank.
VMware (VMW +2.06%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at Baird.
Barron’s says in its ‘Barron’s Take’ column Berkshire Hathaway’s stake in Phillips 66 (PSX +2.38%) drove shares higher and the stock could continue to rise.
Glenhill Advisors reported a 5.3% stake in Allscripts (MDRX -0.22%).
Adage Capital reported a 5.56% stake in Olin Corp (OLN +0.86%).
Samuel Zell reported a 5.6% stake in Anixter (AXE +2.50%).
SunEdison (SUNE +0.97%) rose over 4% in after-hours trading after Point72 reported a 5.1% passive stake in the company.
Trevena (TRVN -0.66%) surged over 30% in after-hours trading after the Phase 2b study of its TRV130 drug achieved its primary endpoint.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s Economic Calendar
Auto sales
8:30 Gallup US ECI
8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
9:45 PMI Manufacturing Index
10:00 ISM Manufacturing Index
10:00 Construction Spending
1:10 PM Fed’s Rosengren: Economic Outlook
Today’s Earnings here
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers