Before the Open (Aug 12)

Good morning. Happy Friday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly up. Japan, China and India posted gains greater than 1%; Hong Kong and Australia also did well. Europe is currently mixed. Austria, the Czech Republic, Greece and Hungary are up; Turkey is down. Futures in the States are flat.
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The dollar is flat. Oil is flat; copper is down. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are up.
It’s Friday. It’s been another slow, small-range week. But for the 6th consecutive week, the S&P has taken out its previous week’s high. The market is grinding and churning up. There isn’t much enthusiasm and excitement, but the net of everything has been a nearly-vertical move on the weekly chart.
I don’t have much to say right now. The S&P traded in a range for about three weeks…moved up a small amount…and then immediately settled into a smaller range. If you’re long and just holding, you’re happy. If you’re long and wanting to add, it’s been frustrating because the market hasn’t dipped since the Brexit vote. If you’re short, we’ll, I’m not sure why you’re reading this. There are plenty of gloom and doom reports out there you can cling to.
Nothing else to say right now. Summer doldrums. Trend is up. Higher prices are coming.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA +5.08%) was upgraded to ‘Strong Buy’ from ‘Outperform’ at Raymond James with a 12-month target price of $124.
Nvidia (NVDA +2.03%) gained 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 adjusted EPS of 53 cents, higher than consensus of 48 cents.
Dillards (DDS +7.76%) dropped over 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 same-store sales fell 5%, a bigger decline than consensus of a 4% drop.
Nordstrom (JWN +7.53%) jumped over 10% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 EPS of 67 cents, higher than consensus of 57 cents, and raised its full-year adjusted EPS view to $2.60-$2.75 from a May 12 view of $2.50-$2.70.
Planet Fitness (PLNT +0.79%) gained 2% in after-hours trading after it boosted its full-year adjusted EPS estimate to 63 cents-66 cents from a prior view of 62 cents-65 cents.
Itron (ITRI +0.97%) rose nearly 6% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 44 cents, higher than consensus of 32 cents,
Viavi Solutions (VIAV +0.69%) lost 3% in after-hours trading after it said it expects Q1 adjusted EPS of 6 cents-8 cents, below consensus of 8 cents.
Sunrun (RUN +3.64%) jumped over 10% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 revenue of $122.5 million, above consensus of $111.3 million.
Ruby Tuesday (RT -2.61%) dropped 10% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 same-restaurant sales fell -3.7% accelerating from a -3.1% decline in Q3, and said it will close 95 underperforming restaurants.
Delek U.S. Holdings (DK +4.34%) rallied 14% in after-hours trading after the New York Post reported that CVR Energy is preparing to make an offer for the company.
Acacia Communications (ACIA -2.17%) jumped over 20% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 revenue of $116.2 million, well above consensus of $85.8 million, and said it expects Q3 adjusted EPS of 64 cents-76 cents, higher than consensus of 43 cents.
Silicon Graphics International (SGI +8.73%) surged over 28% in after-hours trading after Hewlett Packard Enterprise acquired the company for $275 million.
Voxeljet AG (VJET +7.59%) tumbled 19% in after-hours trading after it cut its 2015 revenue estimate to 24 million euros-25 million euros from a May 12 estimate of 28 million euros-30 million euros.
Ocean Rig UDW (ORIG +10.20%) plunged over 50% in after-hours trading after it said it will reschedule installments and engaged advisers to assess viability of its capital structure and alternatives that may be available to pursue.
Thursday’s Key Earnings
Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) +5.1% showing strong global growth.
Kohl’s (KSS) +16.2% after topping expectations.
Macy’s (M) +17.1% beating estimates, closing stores.
Nordstrom (JWN) +10.6% AH on strong Q2 results.
Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) +2.4% AH with big demand for its new products.
Twilio (NYSE:TWLO) unchanged AH following its first post-IPO report.
Today’s Economic Calendar
8:30 Producer Price Index
8:30 Retail Sales
10:00 Business Inventories
10:00 Consumer Sentiment
1:00 PM Baker-Hughes Rig Count
Today’s Earnings here
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers