Before the Open (Sep 16)

Good morning. Happy Friday. Happy Options Expiration Day.
Half of Asia/Pacific was closed today. The open markets posted gains. Japan, Singapore, Australia, India and New Zealand did well. Europe is mostly down. Germany, France, Austria, the Netherlands, Turkey, Spain, Italy and Portugal are down more than 1%. Futures in the States point towards a moderate gap down open for the cash market.
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The dollar is up. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are up.
It’s been an active week – huge move up Monday…big move down Tuesday…big move up yesterday. The net so far has been a decent up week on strong volume, but there has been no consistency – lots of ups and downs and big intraday ranges. Despite what is the biggest up week in two months and the strongest volume since the beginning of August, it doesn’t feel like a market that can be trusted.
In fact I’m not sure what to make of it…
Last Friday was a huge move down on huge volume. Coming into this week I was thinking 1) follow through, which would give us some very good buys or 2) robust bounce (a sign Friday was just a 1-day event and wasn’t a big deal). We’ve gotten neither. There has been no downside follow through and no lasting bounce on super strong volume. So we’re somewhat stuck in limbo and without a near-term bias.
It’s been heaven for day traders because of the intraday ranges, but for swing traders, the lack of an intermediate term trend and the constant back and forth movement are not ideal.
Choose you spots wisely. FOMC next Wednesday.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Citigroup (C +0.71%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Goldman Sachs which sites no earnings “inflection.”
Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC -0.80%) was downgraded to ‘Underweight’ from ‘Neutral’ at Atlantic Equities.
Helmerich & Payne (HP +0.86%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at DA Davidson with a price target of $72.
Enterprise Products (EPD -0.31%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at Evecore ISI with a 12-month target price of $30.
Progressive (PGR +1.04%) was upgraded to ‘Market Perform’ from ‘Underperform’ at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.
McCormick & Co. (MKC +1.19%) was downgraded to ‘Market Perform’ from ‘Outperform’ at Bernstein.
Depomed (DEPO +1.87%) rallied over 10% in after-hours trading after it rejected an approach from Arbor Pharmaceuticals.
Oracle (ORCL +1.52%) dropped over 1% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 55 cents, below consensus of 58 cents.
Avis Budget Group (CAR +1.98%) jumped over 5% in after-hours trading after it was announced that it will replace Questar in the S&P Midcap 400 effective at the close of trading Friday, September 16.
Twenty-First Century Fox (FOXA +0.59%) slid 1% in after-hours trading after Bernstein downgraded the stock to ‘Market Perform’ from ‘Outperform.’
Pandora Media (P unch) gained almost 2% in after-hours trading after it confirmed a direct licensing pact with Warner Music group for recorded music.
comScore (SCOR +0.23%) climbed over 6% in after-hours trading after it restated financial statements for the past three years.
Novavax (NVAX +0.36%) plummeted over 80% in after-hours trading after it said its vaccine for respiratory disease failed to meet its main goals in a final-stage study in elderly patients.
Thursday’s Key Earnings
Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) -3.2% AH after missing estimates.
Today’s Economic Calendar
8:30 Consumer Price Index
10:00 Consumer Sentiment
1:00 PM Baker-Hughes Rig Count
4:00 PM Treasury International Capital
Today’s Earnings here
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers