Before the Open (Apr 29)

Good morning. Happy Friday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed with a lean to the downside. Hong Kong and Taiwan dropped more than 1%; Singapore was also weak. Australia and New Zealand did okay. Europe is currently mostly down. Germany, France, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Spain are down more than 1%. Futures here in the States point towards a slight down open for the cash market.
The dollar is down. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are down.
The market posted a solid loss yesterday on its biggest volume day of the month. Lots of people are coming out of the woodwork predicting a correction. Is it possible? Yeah I guess, but let’s remember the market hasn’t even put in back-to-back down days in almost four weeks. Tops take time to form, so even if the FOMC did act as an inflection point and a pullback is in the beginning stages, there’ll be some back and forth movement first. The market isn’t going to just drop unless there’s a major news event which changes Wall St’s psychology.
Many tech stocks have suffered big drops after releasing earnings. Today we’ll get a break from that. AMZN, EXPE, P and LNKD are set to gap up big.
Today is the last trading day of April. Then starts the “sell in May and go away” period. It’s a real phenomenon. The market really does do significantly worse May-September than the other months of the year. It’s not a reason to just to abandon all longs, and it’s definitely not a reason to go short. But it’s something to keep in mid. Here’s a chart with some old data.

I’ve had a defensive posture for a couple weeks, and as of yesterday’s close, the S&P was flat over the previous month. Most of my activity has been in oil…and then I’ve had a few gold/silver and steel plays. But my focus and energy have been in oil, and it’s treated me well. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Gilead (GILD -3.69%) dropped over 4% in pre-market trading after it reported Q1 adjusted EPS of $3.03, below consensus of $3.15, as sales of Harvoni were only $3.02 billion, below estimates of $3.17 billion.
Amazon.com (AMZN -0.75%) rallied 13% in pre-market trading after it reported Q1 revenue of $29.1 billion, higher than consensus of $27.97 billion, and said it sees Q2 revenue of $28 billion-$30.5 billion, above consensus of $28.3 billion.
Expedia (EXPE -0.72%) rallied over 10% in after-hours trading after it reported an unexpected Q1 adjusted EPS profit of 6 cents, better than consensus of a 6 cent loss.
LinkedIn (LNKD +3.50%) gained almost 7% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 74 cents, well above consensus of 60 cents.
Skyworks Solutions (SWKS -0.75%) slipped over 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 adjusted EPS of $1.25, below consensus of $1.32, and said it sees Q3 adjusted EPS of $1.21, weaker than consensus of $1.32.
Outerwall (OUTR -5.02%) jumped over 8% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 core EPS from continuing operations of $2.44, well above consensus of $1.33.
Pandora Media (P -0.11%) rose over 6% in after-hours trading after it reported a Q1 adjusted EPS loss of 20 cents, narrower than consensus of 32 cents
Molina Healthcare (MOH -1.53%) slumped over 11% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 51 cents, well below consensus of 81 cents, and then lowered guidance on 2016 adjusted EPS to $2.50-$2.95 from a previous forecast of $3.86.
B&G Foods (BGS -0.45%) rose 6% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 65 cents, higher than consensus of 51 cents, and then raised guidance on 2016 adjusted EPS to $2.05-$2.15 from a March 15 forecast of $1.90-$2.00.
Synaptics (SYNA -5.62%) tumbled over 12% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 adjusted EPS of $1.21, well below consensus of $1.51, and said it sees Q4 revenue of $300 million-$340 million, well below consensus of $478.9 million.
Regal Entertainment Group (RGC +1.12%) gained nearly 4% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 27 cents, better than consensus of 25 cents.
Qlik Technologies (QLIK +3.25%) rose over 3% in after-hours trading after it raised guidance on fiscal year adjusted EPS to 42 cents-45 cents from a February 11 estimate of 41 cents-44 cents.
NeoPhotonics (NPTN -3.75%) sank over 12% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 15 cents, higher than consensus of 14 cents, but said it sees Q2 adjusted EPS of 8 cents-15 cents, weaker than consensus of 17 cents.
Gigamon (GIMO -3.52%) jumped over 10% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 22 cents, higher than consensus of 18 cents.
NeuStar (NSR -1.67%) slumped over 10% in after-hours trading after it said it sees fiscal year revenue of $1.22 billion-$1.24 billion, below the midpoint estimate of $1.24 billion.
Friday’s Key Earnings
Outerwall (NASDAQ:OUTR) +8% with the bottom line improved.
Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) -4% after missing on both lines of its report.
Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) +6% after revenue popped 31%.
SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) +9% with profit soaring.
Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN) +4% after boosting EBITDA guidance.
LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD) +12% after a stronger-than-expected report.
Pandora (NYSE:P) +6% with listening hours on the rise.
Today’s Economic Calendar
6:30 Fed’s Kaplan: Monetary Policy
8:30 Personal Income and Outlays
8:30 Employment Cost Index
9:45 Chicago PMI
10:00 Consumer Sentiment
1:00 PM Baker-Hughes Rig Count
3:00 Farm Prices
Today’s Earnings here
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers