Before the Open (Mar 15)

Good morning. Happy Tuesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly down. Australia, India and Taiwan dropped more than 1%; Indonesia, New Zealand, Japan and Hong Kong were also weak. Europe is currently mostly down. France, Norway, Spain and Italy are down more than 1%; Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Portugal are also weak. Greece and Hungary are doing well. Futures here in the States point towards a moderate gap down open for the cash market.
The dollar is flat. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are up.
Yesterday the market trading very quietly in a tight range and on light volume. There was no effort on the part of the bulls and bears to push prices hard in either direction. It was classic pre-FOMC action, even though the FOMC meeting was still two days away.
Oil posted a decent loss and will fall further at today’s open. The commodity rallied 50% off its low and hasn’t dropped on consecutive days since early February.
Often times the Fed doesn’t matter. This isn’t the case right now. Even if the Fed does nothing with rates, their language could suggest one or two more rate hikes coming this year. This would not be well-received by Wall St. No big bets right now. News trumps the charts, and we’re a day away from a potentially major news item. We’ve had some great trades the last month. Don’t force it right now. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB -2.08%) is down over 1% in pre-market trading as the price of crude oil dropped to a 1-week low.
Tiffany (TIF +0.03%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Citigroup.
Freeport-McMoRan (FCX +4.40%) is down over 5% in pre-market trading as metals declined with the price of gold at a 1-1/2 week low.
Delphi Automotive (DLPH -0.31%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at UBS with a price target of $88.
Cardinal Health (CAH -0.32%) was downgraded to ‘Market Perform’ from ‘Outperform’ at Cowen.
TeleTech Holdings (TTEC +0.07%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 47 cents, below consensus of 52 cents.
Outerwall (OUTR +0.73%) rose 9% in after-hours trading after it boosted its quarterly dividend by 100% to 60 cents a share and said it hired Morgan Stanley for strategic and financial alternatives.
Black Diamond (BDE -4.50%) rallied over 12% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 2 cents, better than consensus of a -1 cent loss.
Dover (DOV -0.70%) may be active today after the CEO said in after-hours trading that it sees Q1 results “well below our prior expectations.”
MannKind (MNKD +4.51%) slumped over 10% in after-hours trading after it reported a Q4 loss of -66 cents, a much bigger loss than consensus of -5 cents.
InVivo Therapeutics Holdings (NVIV -4.74%) dropped over 8% in after-hours trading after it announced a public offering of stock and warrants, packaged as units. Prices and volumes have yet to be announced.
Biocryst Pharmaceuticals (BCRX -1.41%) rose over 5% in after-hours trading after D.E. Shaw raised his passive stake in the company to 5.1% from 3.5%.
Inigen (INGN +3.09%) jumped over 12% in after-hours trading after reported Q$ EPS of 19 cents, well above consensus of 7 cents, and raised guidance on 2016 revenue to $187 million-$191 million from a prior projection of $177 million-$181 million, above consensus of $181 million.
Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (AMPH +2.99%) climbed over 8% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 19 cents, well above consensus for a -5 cent loss.
Immunomedics (IMMU +3.92%) slumped over 15% in after-hours trading after it terminated a Phase 3 trial after patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer showed no improvement after receiving it its 90Y clivatuzumab tetraxetan.
Celator Pharmaceuticals (CPXX +9.80%) exploded over 300% higher in after-hours trading after it announced positive results from a Phase 3 clinical trial on usage of its Vyxeos Liposome for treatment of patients with acute myeloid leukemia.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s Economic Calendar
FOMC meeting begins
8:30 Empire State Mfg Survey
8:30 Producer Price Index
8:30 Retail Sales
8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
10:00 Business Inventories
10:00 NAHB Housing Market Index
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