Before the Open (Sep 16)

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly up. China rallied almost 5%, Hong Kong more than 2% and Australia, India and South Korea more than 1%. Europe is currently mostly up. London, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal are up more than 1%. Futures here in the States point towards a flat open for the cash market.
Report: Comparing 2015 to 2011
The dollar is up. Oil is up, copper is up. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are down.
The market posted a solid gain yesterday, and now the S&P sits near the top of its consolidation range. Here’s the 10-min chart going back a month.

All eyes are on the Fed. The 2-day FOMC meeting starts today and will culminate tomorrow with their statement regarding the economy and rates. Because of the 200-point SPX drop last month most so-called experts believe the Fed will hold off raising rates. I don’t disagree. While I wish they would raise just a little bit – mostly to get it over with – the Fed is more likely to err on the side of raising too late rather than raising too early. In either case, the market is likely to be quiet today and tomorrow leading up to the statement.
In the near term I still favor the upside. If we do get a pop, we’ll have to see how much the internals improve. If there’s broad-based participation, then the odds favor the gains holding. But if few stocks participate, the market will go back down. Keep it simple. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
FedEx (FDX +2.51%) reported Q1 EPS of $2.42, weaker than consensus of $2.46.
Carter’s (CRI +0.85%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Overweight’ at Piper Jaffray.
Oracle (ORCL +1.14%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at SunTrust.
Hasbro (HAS +1.93%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ at Sterne Agee CRT with a price target of $84.
LinkedIn (LNKD +0.61%) was upgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Sell’ at Brean Capital.
SanDisk (SNDK +0.70%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Goldman Sachs.
AMC Networks (AMCX +2.49%) rose over 2% in after-hours trading after Bloomberg reported that AMC is in talks to acquire Starz (STRZA +1.39%) .
Gabelli reported a 6.8% stake in Madison Square Garden (MSG +2.66%).
Vertex (VRTX +0.44%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ at Nomura with a price target of $162.
DENTSPLY International (XRAY +1.36%) and Sirona Dental Systems (SIRO +1.24%) announced that the Boards of Directors of both companies have unanimously approved a definitive merger agreement under which the companies will combine in an all-stock merger of equals.
Genuine Parts (GPC +2.24%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ at Jefferies with a price target of $95.
O’Reilly Automotive (ORLY +2.10%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ at Jefferies with a price target of $290.
Six Flags (SIX -0.04%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ at Janney Capital with a price target of $55.
Yandex (YNDX +1.58%) was upgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Sell’ at Goldman Sachs.
United Natural Foods (UNFI +1.56%) reported Q4 EPS of 72 cents, right on consensus.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s Economic Calendar
FOMC meeting begins
7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
8:30 Consumer Price Index
10:00 NAHB Housing Market Index
10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
4:00 PM Treasury International Capital
Today’s Earnings here
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers