Before the Open (Sep 6)

Good morning. Happy Tuesday. Hope you had a great weekend.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly up. India and Taiwan gained more than 1%; Malaysia, Hong Kong and China also did well. Europe is currently mixed and little changed. Germany, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Russia are up; Greece, Norway and the UK are down. Futures in the States point towards a slight up 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 down. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are mostly down.
As is typically the case on the first day of a new week I don’t have much to say that wasn’t already said in the LB Weekly published over the weekend.
The market has done very little the last seven weeks. It has just sat in a small range without making progress in either direction. I can’t even say rallies have gotten sold and dips have gotten bought because there haven’t been any rallies or dips – at least none that would register.
Maybe the market is waiting for the next FOMC meeting? Or the election? or for the passage of time to solve a world problem? Or the end of summer? I don’t know. The market will wake up when it wants. It’s our job to have a plan and be ready. Don’t force things. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Monsanto (MON +0.50%) is up nearly 3% in pre-market trading after Bayer AG raised its takeover bid for a second time as it up its offer to $127.50 a share and said the two companies are in advanced talks.
Navistar International (NAV +3.99%) soared over 25% in pre-market trading after the WSJ reported that Volkswagen is said to be near a deal to take a 19.9% stake in the company and a person with knowledge of the matter said the stake could ultimately provide a stepping stone for a full takeover.
Danaher (DHR -0.31%) agreed to buy Cepheid (CPHD +0.47%) in a deal valued at about $4 billion or $53 a share in cash, a 54% premium to last Friday’s close.
State Street (STT +0.73%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Sandler O’Neill with a 12-month target price of $73.
CBS Corp. (CBS +0.35%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at Drexel Hamilton LLC with a 12-month target price of $65.
Equinix (EQIX +1.28%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at Oppenheimer with an 18-month target price of $420.
Credit Acceptance (CACC -0.49%) was downgraded to ‘Sell’ from ‘Neutral’ at Compass Point Research & Trading LLC with a 12-month target price of $170.
Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF +1.34%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at Brean Capital with a 12-month target price of $27.
AvalonBay Communities (AVB -0.20%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Sandler O’Neill with a 12-month target price of $200.
Herbalife (HLF +0.29%) gained almost 1% in after-hours trading after Carl Icahn disclosed that he bought 306,846 shares of Herbalife on Aug 31 at $60.39 to bring his total holdings to 19.6 million shares.
PennantPark Investment (PNNT +1.00%) rose 4% in after-hours trading after it declared a 28 cent quarterly dividend.
Today’s Economic Calendar
8:30 Gallup US Consumer Spending Measure
9:45 PMI Services Index
10:00 ISM Non-Manufacturing Index
10:00 Labor market condition index
12:30 PM TD Ameritrade IMX
2:00 PM Gallup US ECI
8:30 PM Fed’s Williams: Economic Outlook
Today’s Earnings here
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers