Before the Open (Sep 8)

Good morning. Happy Thursday. And Happy Birthday Leavitt Brothers – 14 years old today. 🙂
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed. Hong Kong and India did well; Japan, Australia and New Zealand fell. No market moved more than 1%. Europe currently leans to the downside. Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Greece are down; Austria, the Czech Republic and Spain are up. No market there has moved 1% either. Futures in the States point towards a flat open for the cash market.
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The dollar is down. Oil is up; copper is down. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are down.
The market hasn’t changed so far this week. The large caps (S&P 500, Dow) remain in their ranges while the small caps and micro caps trend up. The Nas moved to a new high yesterday, and the Nas 100 put in a new high the day before.
Energy is doing well; XLE is not far from a new high. Financials (XLF) put in a new high two days ago, and tech (XLK) put in a new high yesterday. So we’re getting good leadership.
There isn’t much to complain about. The overall trend is up, and the breadth indicators offer no warnings. I have no reason to abandon my SPX 2300-2400 target.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Nike (NKE +0.54%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Overweight’ at Piper Jaffray.
Pier 1 (PIR +3.23%) tumbled 12% in pre-market trading after it reported a preliminary Q2 loss of -5 cents to -6 cents a share, weaker than consensus of -3 cents, and the CEO Alex Smith said he will step down effetive Dec 31.
AutoNation (AN +2.10%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at CL King with a 12-month target price of $57.
Wingstop (WING -0.80%) was rated a new ‘Overweight’ at Keybanc Capital Markets with a 12-month price target of $36.
Apple (AAPL +0.61%) was downgraded to ‘Market Perform’ from ‘Outperform’ at Wells Fargo Securities.
Tailored Brands (TLRD +3.04%) jumped over 10% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 adjusted EPS of 99 cents, higher than consensus of 93 cents.
Guidewire Software (GWRE +0.60%) fell nearly 6% in after-hours trading after it lowered guidance on full-year EPS to 69 cents-79 cents, weaker than consensus of 84 cents.
Tractor Supply (TSCO -0.02%) slumped over 9% in after-hours trading after it cut its full-year EPS outlook to $3.22-$3.26 from a prior view of $3.35-$3.40.
Sage Therapeutics (SAGE +1.03%) dropped nearly 6% in after-hours trading after it announced a $150 million public offering of common stock.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE +1.05%) lost nearly 2% in after-hours trading after it said it will spin off some of its software assets and merge them with Micro Focus.
Abeona Therapeutics (ABEO +2.13%) climbed over 4% in after-hours trading after Cantor Fitzgerald rated the stock a new ‘Buy.’
Bazaarvoice (BV +4.60%) gained 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 adjusted EPS at breakeven, better than consensus for a -4 cent loss.
Repros Therapeutics (RPRX -2.56%) surged 40% in after-hours trading after the company said its Proellex drug cut menstrual pain in a Phase 2 trial versus a placebo.
Netlist (NLST -2.84%) tumbled 14% in after-hours trading after it said it will offer $15 million in common stock.
Wednesday’s Key Earnings
HP Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) -3% AH following an $8.8B deal with Micro Focus (OTC:MCFUY).
Today’s Economic Calendar
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
9:45 Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index
10:00 Quarterly Services Report
10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
11:00 EIA Petroleum Inventories
3:00 PM Consumer Credit
4:30 PM Money Supply
4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet
Today’s Earnings here
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers