Before the Open (Sep 30)

Good morning. Happy Friday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly down. Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan dropped more than 1%. Europe is currently down across-the-board. France, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Spain, Italy and Portugal are down more than 1%. Futures in the States point towards a slight down open for the cash market.
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The dollar is up. Oil is up; copper is down. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are up.
Today is the last day of the week, month and quarter. The S&P is down 14 for the week and about 20 for the month. The index is up 52 for the quarter on declining volume.
Deutsche Bank (DB) still lingers, and it’s likely to linger for a while. Their stock is falling, so it’s more difficult to use as collateral to raise money. Their bonds are falling, so the price of borrowing is increasing, if the bond market is open to them in the first place. Hedge funds are pulling money out of their accounts. And the German government has said there will be no bailout. There is legit fear a Bear Sterns or Lehman Brothers-type situation is lurking. I personally have no idea – I can only read stuff on the internet like most of you. Keep this in the back of your mind. What if…
I’m less encouraged now than when the week began. The S&P seems to be forming a bear wedge within its range, and the quality and quantity of good set-ups among individual stocks is not very good. I looked at many charts yesterday and didn’t find many that jump off the screen at me. If strength is building beneath-the-surface, I’m not sure where it is.
No big bets here. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Amazon.com (AMZN +0.04%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at Guggenheim with a price target of $950.
Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH +0.20%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at HSBC wuth a target price of $62.
Qualcomm (QCOM +6.30%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Mizuho with a price target of $75.
Nordstrom (JWN -0.58%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ at Guggenheim with a 12-month price target of $60.
Casy’s General Stores (CASY -0.91%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Jeffries with a 12-month target price of $134.
Under Armour (UA -1.98%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ at Guggenheim with a 12-month target price of $50.
Wal-Mart (WMT -1.48%) rose almost 1% in after-hours trading after Keybanc initiated it with an ‘Overweight’ and a price target of $90.
Nike (NKE -2.05%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at Guggenheim with a price target of $70.
Costco Wholesale (COST -1.29%) gained nearly 2% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 EPS of $1.77, higher than consensus of $1.73.
Mentor Graphics (MENT -0.24%) climbed 6% in after-hours trading after holder Elliot reported that it doubled its stake in MENT to 8.1% from 4.01% back on June 30.
CalAmp (CAMP -0.55%) tumbled over 12% in after-hours trading after it said it sees Q3 adjusted EPS between 24 cents and 30 cents, below consensus of 31 cents.
Ship Finance International Ltd. (SFL -0.41%) lost nearly 2% in after-hours trading after it offered $200 million in convertible notes.
Cempra (CEMP -8.92%) rose 4% in after-hours trading after interim results showed anti-NASH effects in a Phase 2 study of 6 nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) patients dosed with solithromycin.
Arbutus Biopharma (ABUS +2.37%) surged 25% in after-hours trading after it said it saw a reduction in serum HBsAG levels in a Phase 2 study in patients taking its ARB-1467 for chronic hepatitis B infection.
Thursday’s Key Earnings
Accenture (NYSE:ACN) +4.3% after topping estimates.
ConAgra Foods (NYSE:CAG) +7.2% beating earnings expectations.
Costco (NASDAQ:COST) +1.7% AH on lower fees to Visa (NYSE:V).
PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP) +0.4% buoyed by organic growth.
Today’s Economic Calendar
8:30 Personal income and outlays
8:30 Chicago PMI
10:00 Consumer sentiment
1:00 PM Baker-Hughes Rig Count
1:00 PM Fed’s Kaplan speech
Today’s Earnings here
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers