Before the Open (Oct 12)

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets lean to the downside. Japan and Singapore dropped more than 1%; Hong Kong was also weak. Europe is currently mixed and little changed. Greece, Austria, and the Netherlands are up; the UK, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic are down. Futures in the States point towards a down open for the cash market.
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The dollar is up. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are down.
Most of the foreign markets were quiet today, and with the Jewish holiday, the US market is likely to be slower than normal.
I’m seeing more weakness beneath the surface. We already know many breadth indicators have flattened out and are no longer indicative of a strong market – they’re not necessarily in bad shape; they’re just not suggesting robust strength. Many groups are now trending down. Of the 9 major S&P Select industries, 5 are below their declining 50-day moving averages. If one or two random ones start moving down, it’s not a dire situation because as money rotates around the market, there will always be laggards. But when more than half would be considered in short term downtrends, that should get our attention.
Don’t be a hero out there. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Xilinx (XLNX -2.34%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Outperform’ at Baird.
GrubHub (GRUB -2.89%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at Argus Research with a price target of $52.
Hanesbrands (HBI +1.09%) was downgraded to ‘Market Perform’ from ‘Outperform’ at Cowen.
Norfolk Southern (NSC -1.21%) was downgraded to ‘Market Underperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at Avondale Partners LLC.
Euronet Worldwide (EEFT +1.11%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at SunTrust with a price target of $98.
Motorola Solutions (MSI -1.57%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at BMO Capital Markets with a target price of $84.
Barracuda Networks (CUDA -2.95%) climbed nearly 7% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 adjusted EPS of 21 cents, higher than consensus of 13 cents.
Blackhawk Network Holdings (HAWK -0.84%) gained nearly 2% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 14 cents, well above consensus of 8 cents, and then raised guidance on full-year adjusted EPS to $1.45-$1.64 from a prior view of $1.43-$1.62.
Fortinet (FTNT -2.57%) slumped over 10% in after-hours trading after it said it sees Q3 adjusted EPS of 15 cents-16 cents, below consensus of 18 cents.
VOXX International (VOXX unch) surged 15% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 EPS of 12 cents versus a loss of -18 cents y/y.
Intellipharmaceutics International (ICPI) jumped over 15% in after-hours trading after it granted Makkinckrodt an exclusive license to market, sell and distribute in the U.S. extended-release drug products in which ICPI has ANDAs filed with the U.S. FDA.
Idera Pharmaceuticals (IDRA -7.18%) rose almost 10% in after-hours trading after Baker Brothers Advisors increased their stake in the company to 7.2% from 4.9%.
Today’s Economic Calendar
MBA Mortgage Applications
10:00 Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey
1:00 PM Results of $24B, 3-Year Note Auction
1:00 PM Results of $20B, 10-Year Note Auction
2:00 PM FOMC minutes
Today’s Earnings here
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers