Before the Open (Aug 22)

Good morning. Happy Monday. Hope you had a good weekend.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed. China, South Korea and Taiwan fell; New Zealand did well. Europe currently leans to the downside, but movement is minimal. The UK, Germany and Austria are down; Denmark is doing well. Futures in the States point towards a down 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 up. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are up.
There isn’t much to say on this Monday morning that wasn’t already discussed in the LB Weekly published yesterday morning.
In it I concluded longer term I like the market, but shorter term I am more neutral. Several divergences have formed between the price action and the breadth indicators, and I can make a decent case for both the bulls and bears regarding the market’s the next short term move. The market doesn’t look obvious in the near term.
Gold and silver continue to be iffy in the near term. Oil is extended and not worth chasing.
Pfizer (PFE) is acquiring Medivation (MDVN) for $14B.
Iraq plans to increase oil exports 5%, or 150,000 barrles, in the next couple days.
A conference at Jackson Hole, WY will take place later this week. Janet Yellen will be speaking.
Earnings season is basically over.
That’s it. More after the open. LB Weekly
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Freeport-McMoRan (FCX -2.13%) slid almost 3% in pre-market trading as metals price declined.
Medivation (MDVN -0.04%) jumped almost 20% in pre-market trading after people familiar with the situation said that Pfizer is close to an agreement to buy the company for about $14 billion, or $81.50 a share.
Workday (WDAY +0.87%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Needham & Co.
Cardiovascular Systems (CSII -0.26%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at Leerink Partners.
Hormel Foods (HRL +4.37%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at Credit Suisse.
Illumina (ILMN -0.41%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at CL King.
Mattress Firm Holding (MFRM) was downgraded to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at Raymond James.
Lockheed Martin (LMT -0.51%) won a $10 billion U.S. defense contract for support of the Air Force’s C-130J program with work expected to be completed by Aug 18, 2026.
Green Plains Partners LP (GPP +0.59%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at DA Davidson with a 12-month target price of $21.
Marvel (MRVL +4.29%) gained almost 1% in after-hours trading after DealReporter said the company was continuing steps to explore a sale.
SITO Mobile Ltd (SITO -0.96%) slid over 4% in after-hours trading after it registered a $50 million mixed securities shelf.
CIFC LLC (CIFC +0.43%) surged over 40% in after-hours trading after F.A.B. Partners acquired the company for $333 million of 11.46 a share, a 65% premium from Friday’s closing price.
Today’s Economic Calendar
8:30 Chicago Fed National Activity Index
Today’s Earnings here
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers