Before the Open (Jun 15)

Good morning. Happy Wednesday. Happy Fed Day.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed with a lean to the upside. India and China rallied more than 1%; New Zealand, Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong did moderately well. Europe is currently mostly up. Germany, France, London, Austria, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Turkey and Hungary are up more than 1%. Futures here in the States point towards a positive open for the cash market.
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The dollar is down. Oil is down; copper is up. Gold is down; silver is flat. Bonds are down.
So it’s Fed day. Two weeks ago Wall St. had warmed up to the idea of higher rates, but after the latest employment figures came in weaker than expected and “Brexit” talk ramped up, odds now favor the Fed standing pat.
The Fed held off raising rates for a very long time, choosing to play it safe and err on the side of inducing inflation and allowing the economy to heat up too much, so they aren’t going to suddenly get reckless. They probably would like to raise rates, but their history is to pull the trigger only if the situation is perfect…which it isn’t.
So they’ll keep rates the same, and then tomorrow morning the media can begin the obsessive debate for the next meeting. Oh joy.
There are no easy & obvious trades right now. There aren’t any that jump off my screen at me. The best group (commodities) are suspect, and most other groups are just bouncing around in a range. Unless you’re a skilled day trader, I think laying low is best. There’s no sense pushing it when there just aren’t many good set ups to be had. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
U.S. Steel (X -4.44%) was upgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Under Perform’ at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch
Cisco (CSCO +0.42%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Goldman Sachs.
Best Buy (BBY -0.58%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Outperform’ at Credit Suisse.
United Therapeutics (UTHR -2.54%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at HC Wainwright & Co. LLC.
Select Equity Group cut its stake in Shake Shack (SHAK +3.44%) to 5.5% from 7.4%, according to a Schedule 13D.
Salesforce.com (CRM -0.49%) was rated a new ‘Outperform’ at BMO Capital Markets with a target price of $98.
Cynapsus Therapeutics (CYNA +0.14%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at Janney Montgomery with a 12-month price target of $24.
LinkedIn (LNKD -0.30%) was downgraded to ‘Sector Perform’ from ‘Outperform’ at RBC Capital Markets.
Infinity Pharmaceuticals (INFI -69.16%) was downgraded to ‘Market Perform’ from ‘Outperform’ at Wells Fargo Securities.
Bob Evans Farms (BOBE +0.95%) lost nearly 6% in after-hours trading after it lowered guidance on full-year adjusted EPS to $2.00-$2.15, below consensus of $2.19.
Hi-Crush Partners LP (HCLP +0.85%) dropped over 6% in after-hours trading after it announced a public offering of 3 million common units.
Liberty Tax (TAX +3.52%) slid over 2% in after-hours trading after it reported fiscal 2016 non-GAAP EPS of $1.41, below consensus of $1.79.
Scorpio Bulkers (SALT -7.71%) tumbled over 7% in after-hours trading after it announced a public offering of 20 million shares of common stock.
Today’s Economic Calendar
7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
8:30 Producer Price Index
8:30 Empire State Mfg Survey
9:15 Industrial Production
10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
2:00 PM FOMC Announcement
2:00 PM FOMC Forecast
2:00 PM Chairman Press Conference
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