Before the Open (Sep 14)

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly down. Indonesia fell more than 1%; Japan, China, Malaysia and New Zealand were also weak. Europe is currently mostly up. The UK, Germany, Denmark, Finland and Hungary are doing well. Turkey and Austria are weak. Futures in the States point towards a slight positive open for the cash market.
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The dollar is down. Oil is down; copper is up. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are up.
After no 1% days for two months, we’ve gotten three 1.5% days in a row. Volatility has spiked. Volume is up. A sleeping giant has been woken.
Safe-havens and dividend stocks have gotten hit. Utilities, consumer staples, REITs – all weak.
And bonds have taken hit, so the yields have jumped.
Risk is elevated in both directions. A 1-2% move in either direction is very doable on any given day. There are no easy and obvious trades. There are no trades you can just close you eyes and enter at a key level. Being on the wrong side a month ago meant losing a small amount and having lots of time to exit. Being wrong today could mean taking a sizable hit in the near term. Be careful.
Options expire this week, and then we get the FOMC meeting next Wednesday.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
F5 Networks (FFIV -1.62%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at Oppenheimer with an 18-month price target of $140.
Consolidated Edison (ED -1.64%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Jeffries with a 12-month target price of $82.
Macy’s (M -2.72%) gained nearly 2% in pre-market trading after Citigroup upgraded the stock to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral.’
Aerie Pharmaceuticals (AERI -5.94%) jumped nearly 6% in after-hours trading after it was rated a ‘Strong Buy’ at Raymond James with a 12-month target price of $48.
At Home Group (HOME +6.23%) gained over 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 adjusted EPS of 13 cents, better than consensus of 11 cents.
Brooks Automation (BRKS -1.67%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at Janney Montgomery with a 12-month target price of $20.
American Electric Power (AEP -1.39%) slid nearly 2% in after-hours trading after it said it will sell its Midwest power plants to Blackstone, Arclight for about $2.1 billion.
Oasis Petroleum (OAS -6.55%) lost nearly 3% in after-hours trading after it offered $250 million of senior convertible notes due 2023.
Callidius Software (CALD -1.97%) dropped 4% in after-hours trading after it reported a public offering of 4 million shares of common stock.
Avinger (AVGR -1.59%) gained over 4% in after-hours trading after it signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs for Lumivascular technology.
Herbalife (HRB -0.54%) is up over 2% in after-hours trading after Carl Icahn asked the FTC for permission to raise his stake in the company to 50%, up from the 35% he already has permission to buy.
Agios Pharmaceuticals (AGIO +0.33%) fell 5% in after-hours trading after it proposed an offering of up to $150 million of common stock.
Radiant Logistics (RLGT -3.55%) slipped 5% in after-hours trading after it reported a Q4 loss of -1 cent per share and said Q4 revenue was down -6.4% y/y to $183.6 million.
Today’s Economic Calendar
7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
8:30 Import/Export Prices
10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
Today’s Earnings here
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers