Before the Open (Aug 26)

Good morning. Happy Friday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed with a lean to the downside. Japan lost most than 1%; Singapore, Australia and New Zealand were also weak. Hong Kong did okay. Europe is currently mixed and little changed. The Czech Republic, Turkey and Hungary lean to the downside. Futures in the States point towards a flat open for the cash market.
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The dollar is down. Oil is flat; copper is up. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are mixed.
It’s Friday of yet another horrendously slow week. The S&P is down 11.4 points, which would be the biggest weekly drop since mid June. And if the market drops today, it’ll be the third consecutive down day for only the first time in ten weeks.
Yellen speaks today at Jackson Hole at 10:00 ET. Because there isn’t much else going on, it’s being view as important. Considering how slow the market has been, I guess she could move prices around by hinting the situation is right for another slight rate hike. She could also make conditional statements about upcoming data, which would keep everything in check until next Friday’s employment report.
Don’t over-analyze things here. By several measures the market hasn’t been this quiet in decades. It’ll move when it wants to. Other than a handful of oil charts, there is much to play right now anyways.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Burlington Stores (BURL +3.12%) were upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at MKM Partners with a 12-month target price of $94.
Autodesk (ADSK +0.84%) gained over 1% in after-hours trading after it reported a surprise Q2 adjusted EPS profit of 5 cents, much better than consensus of a -13 cent loss, and said it now sees a full-year adjusted loss of -55 cents to -70 cents, narrower than a May 19 view of -70 cents to -95 cents.
GameStop (GME +1.42%) slid over 7% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 revenue of $1.63 billion, below consensus of $1.71 billion, and said Q2 comparable sales fell -10.6%, weaker than consensus of -5.3%.
Mettler-Toledo (MTD +0.52%) may be active today after it was announced that it will replace Johnson Controls in the S&P 500 after the close of trading on Friday, September 2.
Nautilus (NLS -0.81%) climbed 4% in after-hours trading after it was announced that it will replace Outerwall in the S&P SmallCap 600 after the close of trading on Thursday, September 1.
Dollar General (DG -17.63%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Outperform’ at Credit Suisse.
Splunk (SPLK +1.35%) dropped over 6% in pre-market trading after it reported Q2 license revenue growth rose 32% y/y, a slower pace than the 41% y/y growth in Q1.
Bottomline Technologies (EPAY +4.52%) rallied 9% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 core EPS of 37 cents, higher than consensus of 30 cents.
Synaptics (SYNA -0.61%) dropped over 4% in after-hours trading after it filed to delay reporting its 10-K for 2016 citing “matters arising late in the year end reporting process.”
American Software (AMSWA +2.84%) fell 4% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 revenue of $27.4 million, less than consensus of $27.8 million.
Pure Storage (PSTG +1.89%) jumped over 7% in pre-market trading after it reported a Q2 adjusted loss of -16 cents, a smaller loss than consensus of -23 cents.
Ocwen Financial (OCN -2.15%) climbed over 6% in after-hours trading after it said it will pay the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions $900,000 to conclude a matter related to the Washington Consumer Loan Act without admitting or denying any wrongdoing.
Talend SA (TLND +5.52%) slumped over 20% in after-hours trading after it reported its Q2 adjusted EPS loss widened to -$1.84 a share and that it sees a full-year adjusted loss of -93 cents to -$1.01 a share.
Today’s Economic Calendar
8:30 GDP Q2
8:30 Corporate Profits
8:30 International trade in goods
10:00 Reuters/UofM Consumer Sentiment
10:00 Janet Yellen speech
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