Before the Open (Aug 31)

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed. Japan did well; China, India and Indonesia did okay. Australia and Taiwan were weak. Europe currently leans to the upside. Greece is up more than 2%, and Spain is up more than 1%; France, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Turkey and Italy are also doing well. Poland is weak. Futures in the States point towards a flat open for the cash market.
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The dollar is flat. Oil is down; copper is flat. Gold is flat; silver is down. Bonds are down.
The market remains slow. The S&P has dropped 6 of 8 day’s, but the net loss is only 11 points.
There’s lots of Fed talk out there, and these guys definitely didn’t get together to craft a unified statement. Talk has been more hawkish (resulting in the odds of a rate hike jumping), but I’m not sure why. I’ve been on board with a rate hike for a long time, but they say they’re data dependent blah blah blah, and the data hasn’t changed much. Boston Fed President Rosengren (voter) said the U.S. is likely to reach the Fed’s inflation/employment goals “relatively soon.” We’re going to reach our employment goals soon? Really. Employment has been pretty darn healthy for a long time. Now we’re suddenly going to reach our goal.
Stanley Fischer hinted that “one and done” is no guarantee. This is the most hawkish comment I’ve seen. Most who believe the Fed will raise also believe they’ll raise once and then sit tight for a while. Fischer essentially says that may not happen.
Anyways, employment numbers come out in two days, but the next FOMC meeting isn’t until Sept 21. Are we really going to get three weeks of nonstop Fed talk?
Don’t force trades right now. There aren’t many easy and obvious ones that jump off the screen. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Under Armour (UA -1.31%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Argus.
Frontline Ltd (FRO unch) dropped nearly 6% in pre-market trading after it reported Q1 net income of $14.3 million, well below consensus of $46.9 million.
Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD -0.03%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Edward Jones.
Caleres (CAL -5.71%) slid 7% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 adjusted EPS of 46 cents, below consensus of 51 cents, and then cut its 2016 fiscal sales view to $2.57 billion-$2.60 billion from a prior view of $2.60 billion-$2.63 billion.
PAREXWL International (PRXL +1.27%) fell over 3% in after-hours trading after it delayed reporting a 10-K on funds misappropriation report.
H&R Block (HRB -1.43%) dropped over 6% in after-hours trading after it reported a Q1 adjusted loss of -55 cents a share, wider than consensus of -53 cents.
Textron (TXT +0.07%) said it approved a plan to restructure via job cuts, facility consolidations and other actions that will be mostly completed by March 2017.
Palo Alto Networks (PANW +1.39%) slid 3% in after-hours trading after it said it sees Q1 adjusted EPS of 51 cents-53 cents, below consensus of 56 cents.
Veeva Systems (VEEV -2.66%) reported Q2 adjusted EPS of 15 cents, higher than consensus of 13 cents, and then raised its view on full-year adjusted EPS to 60 cents-61 cents from a prior estimate of 55 cents-57 cents.
Aerovironment (AVAV -0.17%) sank 13% in after-hours trading after it reported a Q1 adjusted loss of -51 cents a share, much weaker than consensus of -15 cents.
Concurrent Computer (CCUR +2.18%) jumped 8% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 revenue of $17.4 million versus $13.8 million y/y.
Medicines Co. (MDCO -0.22%) slumped 10% in after-hours trading after it said an interim analysis of the first 40 patients completing treatment with its MDCO-216 for acute coronary syndrome showed the data were inconclusive at first look.
Globalstar (GSAT +4.83%) climbed nearly 6% in after-hours trading after it signed a strategic agreement with Carmanah Technologies to collaborate on the design and manufacture of new solar powered M2M satellite solutions.
Today’s Economic Calendar
7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
8:15 ADP Jobs Report
9:45 Chicago PMI
10:00 Pending Home Sales
10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
3:00 Farm Prices
Today’s Earnings here
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers