Before the Open (May 23)

Good morning. Happy Monday. Hope you had a good weekend.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed. Taiwan rallied 2.6%; China and Indonesia also did well. Australia and Japan were weak. Europe currently leans to the downside. Italy is down more than 2%; Russia more than 1%; Germany, France, Spain and Portugal are also weak. Greece is doing well. Futures here in the States point towards a flat open for the cash market.
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LB Weekly – the indexes, the breadth indicators, a look at the big picture
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The dollar is flat. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are up.
As is typically the case on a Monday morning, I don’t have anything to add to the comments I made in the weekly report posted over the weekend.
The market entered last week near the bottom side of its consolidation range, and after three up days and two down days and a close very close to the open, last week’s net change was very small…so the range continues.
But despite the market not doing much on a week-over-week closing basis, there was a notable occurrence. The market dropped hard after the FOMC minutes were released, and the S&P fell to its lowest level in eight weeks. But the bulls couldn’t take control. The market bounced back and then followed through for a day. Failure to take control when they had the opportunity gives the bulls the slight advantage heading into this new week.
But overall the market is still in 2-month consolidation range, so I wouldn’t say anyone has complete control. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Boston Scientific (BSC) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at BTIG.
Alcoa (AA -0.11%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Prologis (PLD +0.69%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Evercore ISI.
Big Lots (BIG +1.65%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Deutsche Bank.
Staples (SPLS +1.00%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Underperform’ at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Square (SQ -2.19%) rose 3% in pre-market trading after it was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Outperform’ at CLSA.
K2M Group Holdings (KTWO +3.19%) was upgraded to ‘Strong Buy’ from ‘Buy’ at Needham & Co. with a 12-month price target of $21.
U.S. Silica Holdings (SLCA +4.00%) was upgraded to ‘Outpeform’ from ‘Sector Perform’ at RBC Capital Markets.
Energy Transfer Partners LP (ETP +2.15%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Goldman Sachs.
The Gap (GPS +4.22%) gained over 1% in after-hours trading as it added onto Friday’s 4% increase after it said it would close 75 Old Navy and Banana Republic stores outside North America as it focuses on more profitable regions.
Lending Club (LC +7.84%) fell nearly 1% in after-hours trading after Reuters reported that people familiar with the matter said the company hired Jeffries to help find investors for loan funding.
Actions Semiconductor (ACTS +3.40%) surged over 20% in after-hours trading after former CEO Hsuan-Wen and affiliates proposed to acquire the company for $2/ADS, well above Friday’s closing price of $1.52.
Today’s Economic Calendar
5:30 Fed’s Bullard: U.S. Monetary and Economic Policy
8:00 Fed’s Williams: Monetary Policy
9:45 PMI Manufacturing Index Flash
6:30 PM Fed’s Harper speech
Today’s Earnings here
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers