Before the Open (Sep 2)

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed with a lean to the downside, but movement was very little relative to what it’s been. Hong Kong, Malaysia, India and New Zealand dropped more than 0.95%. There were no standout winners. Europe currently leans to the upside, but there are very few big movers. Denmark is up more than 1%; Italy is also doing well. Beyond Europe, South Africa and Israel are up more than 1%; Saudi Arabia and Nigeria are down more than 1%. Futures here in the States point towards a moderate gap up open for the cash market.
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The dollar is up. Oil is down, copper is up. Gold and silver are down slightly. Bonds are up.
Oil rallied 25% in three days – its best move since 1990 – but is down about 10% yesterday and today.
The S&P rallied 120 off its low, but as of yesterday’s close, was already 56 off its high.
Tons of movement = lots of opportunity, but you can’t be greedy. If you have an inkling to take profits, you probably should because waiting one extra day can see a chunk of them disappear. Yesterday NFLX fell almost 10 bucks. Today AMBA is down about 10 bucks in pre-market trading.
Overall my bias remains to the downside. I think the lows get taken out, and the market legs down again. I don’t expect a crash – just a healthy pullback and a continuation of the big ranges and high volatility. Some time in the early winter we’ll get a legit rally that lasts for a couple months.
That’s my back-up-and-see-the-bigger-picture-view – a healthy correction, but not a massive bear market. Ultimately we’ll get a chance to buy some quality stocks at deep discounts in the next few months. Until then I’ll maintain my down bias while recognizing there will be big rallies to play along the way. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
AT&T (T -2.65%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Citigroup.
Helmerich & Payne (HP -5.24%) was downgraded to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at BMO Capital.
General Mills (GIS -2.17%) was upgraded to ‘Equal Weight’ from ‘Underweight’ at Morgan Stanley.
Telefonica (TEF -3.13%) was downgraded to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
BB&T (BBT -4.31%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at Baird.
United Continental (UAL +0.28%) will replace Hospira (HSP -0.01%) in the S&P 500 as of today’s close.
PNC Financial (PNC -4.31%) was upgraded to ‘Market Perform’ from ‘Underperform’ at Keefe Bruyette.
Hologic (HOLX -4.10%) was upgraded to ‘Equal Weight’ from ‘Underweight’ at Barclays.
ARM Holdings (ARMH -2.13%) was upgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Underweight’ at JPMorgan Chase.
Qihoo 360 (QIHU -6.26%) reported Q2 non-GAAP EPS of 82 cents, higher than consensus of 72 cents.
Lockheed Martin (LMT -1.77%) was awarded a $311.4 million government contract for retrofit modification hardware necessary for upgrade of a previously issued basic ordering agreement for the F-35 Lighting II Block 3F for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, and the government of the United Kingdom.
CBOE Holdings (CBOE -1.07%) reported that total trading volume in August for options contracts on Chicago Board Options Exchange and C2 Options Exchange and futures contracts on CBOE Futures Exchange was 125.2 million contracts, up +26% y/y.
Integrated Core Strategies reported a 5.2% passive stake in Helix Energy (HLX -3.74%).
Bob Evans (BOBE -0.91%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 51 cents, well above consensus of 30 cents, and then raised guidance on fiscal 2016 adjusted EPS to $1.85-$2.00 from $1.75-$1.95, above consensus of $1.85.
CBRE (CBG -2.72%) buys Johnson Controls (JCI -4.30%) Global Workplace Solutions business for $1.48 billion.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s Economic Calendar
7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
8:15 ADP Jobs Report
8:30 Productivity and Costs
8:30 Gallup U.S. Job Creation Index
10:00 Factory Orders
10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
2:00 PM Fed’s Beige Book
Today’s Earnings here
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers