Before the Open (May 4)

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly down. Singapore, Australia and Taiwan lost more than 1%; India, South Korea and Hong Kong were also weak. Europe is currently mostly down. Russia is down more than 2%; London, Austria, Belgium, Poland and Turkey are down more than 1%; Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, Italy and the Czech Republic are weak too. Greece is up more than 2%. Futures here in the States point towards another moderate gap down open for the cash market.
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The dollar is up slightly. Oil is up; copper is down. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are down.
The market is certainly experiencing a character shift – much bigger gap downs and much stronger volume on down days. Over the weekend I stated: “There just isn’t much worth playing. We’d all be wise to lay low in the near term.” This attitude has served us well. When so many breadth indicators head south, it’s simply not prudent to continue operating has we had previously. Less stocks were participating, and until the charts had a chance to re-set, unless you’re a day trader, the best course of action was to patiently wait for the environment to improve. Plus the quality and quantity of set-up were very low. We just haven’t had much to work with lately. Commodities had run too far and were not playable. Other stocks just weren’t interesting. Throw in earnings season, “going fishing” (Jesse Livermore) was the smartest thing a trader could have done.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
KB Home (KBH -2.97%) was downgraded to ‘Sell’ from Neutral’ at UBS.
Under Armour (UA -2.31%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Brean Capital.
CBS Corp. (CBS -1.43%) climbed almost 2% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 adjusted EPS continuing operations of $1.02, higher than consensus of 94 cents.
Illumina (ILMN -1.67%) fell nearly 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 71 cents, below consensus of 72 cents, and said it sees Q2 adjusted EPS of 72 cents-74 cents, weaker than consensus of 83 cents.
Avis Budget Group (CAR -4.43%) gained over 2% in after-hours trading after it said it sees 2016 revenue of $8.75 billion-$8.9 billion, higher than consensus of $8.69 billion.
Papa John’s International (PZZA -3.47%) fell over 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 revenue of $428.6 million, below consensus of $441 million.
Match Group (MTCH -1.15%) rose 5% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 11 cents, better than consensus of 8 cents.
Paycom Software (PAYC -1.72%) rallied over 5% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 33 cents, above consensus of 20 cents, and then raised guidance on 2016 revenue to $320 million-$322 million from a prior estimate of $309 million-$311 million.
Lannett (LCI -1.87%) rose nearly 8% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 75 cents, above consensus of 69 cents.
Plantronics (PLT -1.16%) jumped nearly 7% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 64 cents, better than consensus of 56 cents, and said it sees Q1 non-GAAP EPS of 63 cents-73 cents, higher than consensus of 62 cents.
Cray (CRAY -1.09%) slumped over 15% in after-hours trading after it said there’s now “an increased level of risk” to hitting its full-year sales target of $825 million on “reliance on key third-party components, some of which have already been delayed, and the level and timing of new orders.”
Zillow Group (ZG -0.96%) climbed over 10% in after-hours trading after it raised guidance on fiscal 2016 revenue to $825 million-$835 million from a February 11 estimate of $805 million-$815 million.
Nutrisystem (NTRI +0.71%) rallied 14% in after-hours trading after it raised guidance on fiscal 2016 adjusted EPS to $1.17-$1.27 from a prior view of $1.09-$1.19, above consensus of $1.11.
Glaukos (GKOS +0.46%) surged over 20% in after-hours trading after it boosted its 2016 sales forecast to $100 million-$102 million from a March 1 estimate of $91.9 million.
Etsy (ETSY -1.29%) climbed over 5% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 revenue of $81.8 million, higher than the highest estimate of $77.0 million.
Callidus Software (CALD -1.92%) slumped over 12% in after-hours trading after it lowered guidance on fiscal 2016 revenue to $206 million-$210 million from a February 9 estimate of $210 million-$215 million.
Tuesday’s Key Earnings
CBS (NYSE:CBS) +2.4% AH boosted by ad growth and Super Bowl 50.
CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) +2.4% on climbing prescription volumes.
Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN) +2.3% AH following deep cost cuts.
Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) -0.1% as profit fell on mild winter weather.
Etsy (NASDAQ:ETSY) +12.9% AH crafting its first quarterly profit since its IPO.
Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) -3.8% on a big drop in revenues.
Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) -3.9% AH missing estimates amid climbing expenses.
Pfizer (PFE) +2.8% after topping expectations.
Sprint (NYSE:S) +5% as cost cuts showed effects.
Valero (NYSE:VLO) -3.6% with earnings cut nearly in half.
Zillow (NASDAQ:Z) +11.5% AH issuing strong sales guidance.
Today’s Economic Calendar
7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
8:15 ADP Jobs Report
8:30 Gallup U.S. Job Creation Index
8:30 International Trade
8:30 Productivity and Costs
8:30 Treasury Refunding Quarterly Announcement
9:45 PMI Services Index
10:00 Factory Orders
10:00 ISM Non-Manufacturing Index
10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
Today’s Earnings here
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers