Before the Open (Aug 5)

Good morning. Happy Friday. Happy Employment Numbers Day.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly up. Hong Kong and India gained more than 1%; Indonesia, South Korea and Taiwan also did well. Europe is currently mostly up. Austria and Italy are up more than 1%; Greece, Finland and Spain are also doing well. Denmark is down 3%, and Hungary is down more than 1%. Prior to the employment data release, futures in the States point towards a positive open for the cash market.
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The dollar is down. Oil and copper are down small amounts. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are up.
Here are the employment numbers…
unemployment rate: 4.9% (was 4.9% last month)
nonfarm payrolls: +255K
private payrolls:
average workweek:
hourly wages: up 0.3% to $25.69
labor participation rate: 62.8% (up from 62.7%)
June job gain raised from 292K to 287K.
May job gain raised from 11K to 24K.
After the release, S&P futures moved up a couple more points. The dollar moved up about 50 cents…Oil held steady…gold and silver dropped.
I don’t think anything has changed. The S&P has spent 15 of the last 16 days trading quietly in a range. Volume has been very light, and intraday movement has been minimal. There has been no conviction. Despite lots of external events going on – not go mention earnings season – the market just isn’t ready to do anything right now. It’s consolidating within an uptrend, and it’s correcting with time instead of a price decline. The Hamptons are hoping, and kids are getting ready to go back to school.
Oil is trying to bounce off a key area. We got some great moves in individual stocks yesterday, but I’m not convinced oil is in the beginning stages of a leg up. Not yet.
Gold and silver look great. They are buys on pullbacks. Just close your eyes and do it.
Otherwise it’s a stock pickers market. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Kraft Heinz (KHC +0.75%) rose over3% in pre-market trading after it reported Q2 adjusted EPS of 85 cents, higher than consensus of 71 cents.
Priceline Group (PCLN -0.81%) climbed nearly 5% in pre-market trading after it reported Q2 adjusted EPS of $13.93, well above consensus of $12.67.
Esterline Technologies (ESL +1.19%) rallied over 4% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 adjusted EPS of $1.38, better than consensus of $1.30.
Activision Blizzard (ATVI +1.11%) gained over 1% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 adjusted EPS of 54 cents, above consensus of 43 cents.
Monster Beverage (MNST +0.52%) rose over 2% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 revenue of $827.5 million, higher than consensus of $804.2 million.
Weight Watchers International (WTW +5.37%) dropped over 6% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 revenue of $309.8 million, below consensus of $318.5 million.
Symantec (SYMC +0.62%) climbed over 4% in after-hours trading after it raised guidance on fiscal 2017 adjusted EPS of $1.08-$1.14 from a May 12 view of $1.06-$1.10.
Take-Two Interactive Software (TTWO -0.54%) gained over 3% in after-hours trading after it reported a Q1 loss of -21 cents per share, a smaller loss than consensus of -29 cents.
Universal Display (OLED -2.40%) dropped 8% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 EPS of 46 cents, weaker than consensus of 51 cents.
El Pollo Loco Holdings (LOCO -0.15%) rose over 8% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 system-wide comparable sales were up +2.4%, better than consensus of +1.6%,
Mastec (MTZ -1.69%) climbed over 12% in after-hours trading after it raised guidance on 2016 adjusted EPS to $1.57, above a prior forecast of $1.37-$1.47.
Pacific Biosciences of California (PACB unch) jumped over 13% in after-hours trading after it reported a Q2 loss of -21 cents, smaller than consensus of -22 cents.
FireEye (FEYE -3.01%) slumped over 13% in after-hours trading after it said it now sees an adjusted loss per share this year between -$1.28 to -$1.32, a bigger loss than a previous estimate of -$1.20 to -$1.27.
Rackspace Hosting (RAX +14.64%) surged over 18% in after-hours trading after Dow Jones reported that it is in advanced talks to be sold to a PE firm.
Hortonworks (HDP -0.47%) plunged over 25% in after-hours trading after it reported a Q1 non-GAAP loss of -72 cents, wider than expectations of -68 cents.
Thursday’s Key Earnings
Activision (NASDAQ:ATVI) +1.2% AH following a surge in revenues.
Chesapeake Energy (NYSE:CHK) -3% after missing estimates.
Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN) +1.6% increasing its production guidance.
EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG) +3.2% AH boosting its fracking plans.
FireEye (NASDAQ:FEYE) -17.6% AH cutting forecasts, announcing layoffs.
Kellogg (NYSE:K) +1.7% AH raising its profit outlook.
Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) +4.1% AH increasing its dividend.
LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD) +0.1% AH after topping expectations.
Priceline (NASDAQ:PCLN) +5.4% AH lifted by strong travel demand.
SeaWorld (NYSE:SEAS) -13.2% on declining attendance.
Teva Pharmaceutical (NYSE:TEVA) +3.5% on specialty drug sales.
Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA) -4.4% AH on a shrinking user base.
Today’s Economic Calendar
8:30 Non-farm payrolls
8:30 International Trade
1:00 PM Baker-Hughes Rig Count
3:00 PM Consumer Credit
Today’s Earnings here
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers