Before the Open (Oct 7)

Good morning. Happy Friday. Happy Employment Numbers Day.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed down across-the-board. Hong Kong, Indonesia, New Zealand and South Korea posted the biggest losses (down 0.4 – 0.6%). Europe is currently mostly down, but losses aren’t too extreme. France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Russia, Poland, Denmark, Finland and Spain are down the most. The UK is posting a solid gain. Futures in the States point towards a gap down open for the cash market. This of course may change when the employment data is released.
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The dollar is up. Oil and copper are flat. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are down.
Here are the employment numbers…
unemployment rate: 5.0% (was 4.9% last month)
nonfarm payrolls: +156K
private payrolls:
average workweek: down 0.1 hour to 34.4 hours
hourly wages: up 0.2% to $25.79
labor participation rate: 62.8% (up from 62.7%)
August job gains raised from 151K to 167K.
July job gain reduced from 275K to 252K.
These numbers are considered a little on the weaker side. Some will say a rate increase in December is not necessarily a given, so the futures initially moved up with gold and silver. Overall the moves are very muted.
The British pound dropped as much as 9% overnight is what is being called a fat finger error. The US dollar, which has been on a little run lately, is up a small amount.
It’s Friday. The market has been sitting in a teeny tiny range. I looked at many charts yesterday and didn’t see much that jumped off my screen. There are decent set ups, but the risk/rewards aren’t great.
Trade, but I see no reason to swing for the fences. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Carnival (CCL +0.12%) is down nearly 2% in pre-market trading after Hurricane Matthew forced cruise line operators to alter their routes because of the storm.
Zillow Group (ZG -2.73%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at Needham & Co. with a 12-month target price of $40.
Tyson Foods (TSN +0.83%) was downgraded to ‘Sell’ from ‘Buy’ at Pivotal with a price target of $40.
Honeywell International (HON +0.30%) sold-off 5% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 sales of $9.8 billion, missing guidance of $10 billion-$10.2 billion.
The Gap (GPS +1.11%) jumped 6% in after-hours trading after it reported September comparable sales down -3%, a smaller decline than expectations of -3.6%.
Citizens Financial Group (CFG +0.47%) was rated new ‘Outperform’ at Wedbush with a 12-month target price of $29.
Helen of Troy Ltd (HELE +0.43%) lost nearly 3% in after-hours trading after it lowered guidance on fiscal 2017 revenue to $1.55 billion-$1.59 billion from a July 7 estimate of $1.57 billion-$1.62 billion.
CIT Group (CIT +0.39%) rose nearly 6% in after-hours trading after it said it will sell its commercial air craft leasing business for $10 billion to Avalon Holdings.
Mistras Group (MG +0.34%) dropped 6% in after-hours trading after it lowered guidance on fiscal 2017 revenue to $690 million-$705 million from a prior view of $720 million-$735 million.
Regions Financial (RF +0.10%) was rated a new ‘Outperform’ at Wedbush with a 12-month target price of $12.
AxoGen (AXGN -2.49%) slid over 2% in after-hours trading after it proposed an offering of stock, although no amount was given.
Dynavax Technologies (DVAX -3.67%) climbed over 4% in after-hours trading after Point72 boosted its stake in the company to 5.9% from 1.2% in June.
Ruby Tuesday (RT +1.62%) dropped 5% in after-hours trading after it said it was discontinuing guidance to “focus on long-term strategic objectives.”
Wednesday’s Key Earnings
Monsanto (NYSE:MON) +1.6% after beating expectations.
Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) -2.2% AH on poor Chinese sales.
Today’s Economic Calendar
8:30 Non-farm payrolls
10:30 Stanley Fischer
12:45 PM Fed’s Mester speech
1:00 PM Baker-Hughes Rig Count
3:00 PM Fed’s George speech
3:00 PM Consumer Credit
4:00 PM Fed’s Reserve Gov. Lael Brainard speech
Today’s Earnings here
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers