Before the Open (Sep 20)

Good morning. Happy Tuesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed and little changed. New Zealand, Malaysia and South Korea posted gains; Japan, China, Hong Kong, India and Indonesia posted losses. Europe currently leans to the upside. The UK, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium are leading. Hungary, Turkey and Italy are down. Futures in the States point towards a moderate gap up open for the cash market.
—————
Join our email list – get technical research reports sent directly to you.
—————
The dollar is flat. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are flat. Bonds are up.
The market did well early yesterday but then faded. We entered the week in limbo, and with no questions answered,we remain there.
Today starts the 2-day FOMC meeting, which will culminate in a rate decision tomorrow afternoon. The odds of a rate hike moved up at the end of August and beginning of September, but those odds have fallen back. Most Wall Streeters don’t expect the Fed to do anything with rates, but there are still higher odds now than there have been since the beginning of the year. And it’s hard to say what’s being priced in. If Wall Street really does think there’s a possibility, then we could get a decent relief rally if it doesn’t happen. But if they’re just paying lip service to the possibility while being positioned to for rates to be held steady, “sell the news” is a definite possibility regardless of what happens.
After tomorrow, I guess the market will start looking forward to the next major event. It’s the election, which is an utter joke. Has there ever been a time where the two leading candidates are so disliked? I don’t want to go off on a tangent here. I’m guessing the market stays in range until the Fed meeting.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Wells Fargo (WFC +1.28%) was upgraded to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Equal Weight’ at Morgan Stanley with a price target of $53.
Community Health Systems (CYH -9.76%) is up over 8% in pre-market trading after Reuters reported that Apollo Global Management is interested in the company’s assets.
Novartis (NVS +0.76%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at Chardan Capital Markets with a 12-month price target of $95.
Cirrus Logic (CRUS +0.91%) gained 1% in after-hours trading after it was announced that it will replace Fairchild in the S&P Midcap 400 as of the close of trading on Wednesday, Sep 21.
Ultimate Software Group (ULTI -0.08%) was rated a new ‘Overweight’ at Pacific Crest with a 12-month target price of $245.
HNI Corp. (HNI +2.30%) dropped nearly 8% in after-hours trading after it lowered guidance on Q3 sales to down -4% to -7% from a prior view of flat to up +3%, and then lowered its full-year adjusted EPS view to $2.50-$2.70 from a prior view of $2.80-$2.95.
Ascena Retail Group (ASNA +1.88%) plunged over 20% in after-hours trading after it said it sees full-year adjusted EPS of 60 cents-65 cents, weaker than consensus of 82 cents.
Chesapeake Energy (CHK -7.35%) slid over 3% in after-hours trading after Carl Icahn cut his stake in the company to 4.55% from a 9.4% stake.
Hortonworks (HDP +0.26%) jumped over 5% in after-hours trading after the company announced a collaboration with IBM and provide IBM customers with open source data disribition for big data processing.
Genpact Ltd (G +1.59%) gained 1% in after-hours trading after the company expanded its stock buyback program by $250 million.
8Point3 Energy Partners LP (CAFD +1.43%) jumped over 5% in after-hours trading after it boosted its quarterly dividend to $0.2406 a share from $0.2325 a share.
TherapeuticsMD (TXMD -1.19%) rose nearly 5% in after-hours trading after the U.S. FDA said it will review the company’s filing for its drug Yuvvexy to treat vulvar vaginal atrophy in postmenopausal women.
SeaWorld Entertainment (SEAS +0.55%) tumbled over 6% in pre-market trading after it cut its dividend to 10 cents from 21 cents and said it plan to suspend its dividend after the current declaration.
Oclaro (OCLR +2.36%) dropped nearly 5% in after-hours trading after it filed to sell 13 million shares of common stock.
Today’s Economic Calendar
FOMC meeting begins
8:30 Housing Starts
8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
Today’s Earnings here
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers