Before the Open (Jun 21)

Good morning. Happy Tuesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed with a lean to the upside. Japan rallied more than 1%; Hong Kong and Taiwan also did well. Europe is currently mostly up. Greece is up more than 4%; Germany, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, Belgium and the Czech Republic are also doing well. Russia is down. Futures in the States point towards a moderate gap up open for the cash market.
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The dollar is flat. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are down.
Sandwiched in between last week’s FOMC meeting and this week’s Brexit vote Janet Yellen will give her semiannual testimony on monetary policy before Congress today and tomorrow.
Over the weekend polls in Britain suggested voters are much more likely to vote “stay” instead of “leave.” Now we have prominent money managers, such as George Soros, saying if they leave, the pound will get hit hard and a recession will follow. It’s probably true, but it’s completely irrelevant. A vote to leave should be done because the benefits over several decades are significantly higher than the drawbacks. What happens in the next couple years shouldn’t matter. Maybe they do take a step back. So what. If it forms a foundation for future prosperity, then that’s your answer. I can’t imagine voting one way or the other based on what might happens in the next year. Oh well.
Yesterday the market posted a gain but closed well off its high. At today’s open some of the late-day losses will be recovered. I’m still of the opinion the stage is set for an eventual breakout and rally. At the very least the bulls deserve the benefit of the doubt. But for now, the indexes are stuck in a range. Moves aren’t lasting long, so we need to be good stock pickers and wisely manage positions.
Perhaps we get some volatility today because of Yellen. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Signature Bank/New York (SBNY +0.95%) was upgraded to ‘Strong Buy’ from ‘Outperform’ at Raymond James with a 12-month price target of $162.
Abbott Laboratories (ABT +0.96%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Edward Jones.
Imperva (IMPV +0.27%) rallied over 9% in after-hours trading after Elliott Associates disclosed a 9.8% stake in Imperva and said it began a dialogue with management and board regarding strategic and operational opportunities.
Knight Transportation (KNX +3.53%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch.
Prologis (PLD +0.06%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Deutsche Bank.
Kirby Corp. (KEX +0.90%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Outperform’ at Credit Suisse.
CNOOC Ltd. (CEO +2.55%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at UBS.
Paratek Pharmaceuticals (PRTK -2.59%) slid over 2% in after-hours trading after it proposed an offering of 3.75 million shares of common stock.
Sunrun (RUN +2.66%) gained over 1% in after-hours trading after it was rated a new ‘Outperform’ at Oppenheimer,
American Superconductor (AMSC +1.21%) was rated a new ‘Outperform’ at Oppenheimer with an 18-month price target of $12.
Opko Health (OPK +1.55%) rose nearly 4% in after-hours trading after a FDA approved-drugs website indicated approval for Opko’s Rayaldee drug came on June 17.
Werner (WERN +1.36%) dropped over 9% in after-hours trading after it warned that Q2 EPS may be only 21 cents-35 cents, below consensus of 40 cents, due to “sluggish” freight market conditions, driver pay and contractor cost increases.
Scynexis (SCYX +6.85%) tumbled over 11% in after-hours trading after it announced it will launch a public offering of common stock and warrants.
Today’s Economic Calendar
8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
10:00 Yellen delivers semi-annual monetary policy testimony
1:00 PM Results of $34B, 5-Year Note Auction
Today’s Earnings here
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers