Before the Open (Jan 22)

Good morning. Happy Friday.
The Asian/Pacific markets posted solid, across-the-board gains. Japan rallied almost 6%; Hong Kong and South Korea more than 2%; and China, Singapore, Australia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan rallied more than 1%. Europe is currently up huge. France, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Spain and Portugal are up more than 3%; numerous markets, including London, Germany, Austria, Greece, Poland, Italy, Belgium and more are up more than 2%. Futures here in the States point towards a big gap up open for the cash market.
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The dollar is up. Oil and copper are up. Gold is down, silver is up. Bonds are down.
The last day of the economic conference in Davos, switzerland has produced reminders from those in power the will to stimulate economies and intervene in stock markets would be strong going forward.
ECB President Mario Draghi said: “We have plenty of instruments and especially we have the determination and willingness and capacity of the Governing Council to act and deploy these instruments.”
China’s Vice President Li Yuanchao said they would continue intervening in its stock market.
And there’s lots of speculation the Bank of Japan will opt for more stimulus at a policy meeting next week.
And there’s more talk of QE4 here in the States.
Crude oil had one of its best days in several months yesterday. It rallied over 5% and this morning is up another $1.57. The best short term trades I see right now are buying oil stocks off their lows. Many posted big gains yesterday, and those are likely to be built on today.
Short term bias remains to the upside. Don’t fight a bounce…it could last a couple weeks. Play it, but don’t get greedy.
My overall bias remains to the downside. Unless the Fed announces QE4 at next week’s FOMC meeting, the lows will be taken out….eventually. Just like many breadth indicators were oversold last week and the market fell a couple extra days before bouncing, this bounce could last a few extra days to break the backs’ of the bears and lure more bulls into the market. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Schlumberger (SLB +0.64%) gained almost 4% in pre-market trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 65 cents, better than consensus of 63 cents.
MetLife (MET +1.16%) was upgraded to ‘Strong Buy’ from ‘Market Perform’ at Raymond James with a 12-month price target of $56.
Dr Pepper Snapple (DPS -0.28%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Underperform’ at CLSA.
Boeing (BA +1.03%) fell over 1% in after-hours trading after it said it will cut its 747 production rate to 0.5/month from a planned 1.0/month.
Starbucks (SBUX +3.71%) fell over 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 revenue of $5.37 billion, below consensus of $5.39 billion.
Maxim Integrated (MXIM -0.42%) rose nearly 2% in after-hours trading after it reported fiscal year Q2 revenue of $510.8 million, above consensus of $505.1 million.
Intuitive Surgical (ISRG +0.19%) climbed almost 1% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of $5.89, well above consensus of $5.04.
American Express (AXP -0.62%) slipped over 4% in after-hours trading after it said it is targeting 2017 fiscal EPS at least $5.60, less than estimates of $5.96.
ResMed (RMD +0.52%) rose over 1% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 adjusted EPS of 69 cents, higher than consensus of 66 cents.
Digi International (DGII +0.48%) fell over 9% in after-hours trading after it lowered guidance on Q2 profit continuing operations to 3 cents-7 cents, below consensus of 9 cents.
E*Trade Financial (ETFC -0.12%) dropped nearly 3% in after-hours trading after it reported total Q4 net revenue of $454 million, below consensus of $454.5 million.
8×8 Inc. (EGHT +1.27%) jumped over 5% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 5 cents, higher than consensus of 3 cents.
Cardiovascular Systems (CSII -2.35%) slumped over 20% in after-hours trading after it lowered guidance on Q3 revenue to $40.5 million-$42.0 million, below consensus of $45.8 million.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s Economic Calendar
8:30 Chicago Fed National Activity Index
9:45 PMI Manufacturing Index Flash
10:00 Existing Home Sales
10:00 Leading Indicators
1:00 PM Baker-Hughes Rig Count
Today’s Earnings here
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers