MARKET UPDATE
Stocks in the U.S. are indicated a tad lower after yesterday's rocket gains. DJIA futures are down 0.35% and S&P futures are off by 0.25%. European markets are higher with the UK FTSE up 0.5%, the German DAX up 0.75% and the French CAC up 0.35%. Asian markets were also higher with Japan's NIKKEI rose 0.8% and the Hong Kong Hang Seng up 1.8%.
Bonds are a bit lower in price and higher in yield, with the 10-Year Treasury yield at 3.58% and the 30-Year Treasury yield at 4.36%.
Commodities are trading up this morning with Nymex August WTI traded up $0.80 around the $71.00 per barrel mark, while gold was up 0.5% or so around the $943.00 per ounce mark.
ECONOMIC & MACRO EVENTS
These are today’s top economic data:
8:30 AM EST May's Personal Income & Spending
9:55 AM EST June University of Michigan Sentiment (Revision Data)
Earnings: Gerber (GRB), KB Home (KBH), Logility (LGTY), Shaw Communications (SJR).
ANALYST UPGRADES & DOWNGRADES
Upgrades
Central European Media (CETV) Raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Chiquita Brands (CQB) Raised to Buy at Janney Montgomery Scott.
CME (CME) Raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Colfax (CFX) Raised to Buy ar KeyBanc.
Polaris (PII) Raised to Outperform at RBC.
UBS (UBS) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Webster Financial (WBS) Raised to Market Perform at FBR.
Downgrades
Jazz Phamraceuticals (JAZZ) Cut to Underweight at Barclays.
Overseas Shipholding Group (OSG) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
BULLISH EVENTS
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) was able to sell a larger credit card backed deal. The size was boosted from $1.5 billion to more than $1.8 billion. While $300 million is small, this is more evidence of some return to the securitization markets.
GE (GE) is opening a new research center in Michigan in metro-Detroit and will employ 1,200 workers to to R&D in clean energy and related sectors. 1,200 might not sound like much, but it is expansion.
Palm (PALM) posted a pretty wide loss as expected. But because of unit shipments and because of the interest in the Palm Pre smart phone, shares are actually trading higher by about 10% pre-market.
Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. (CETV) has not yet traded, but the company does have that large Time Warner investment it had gotten a boost from before. This morning the stock was raised to "Neutral" from "underweight" by JPMorgan. This removes one more of the negative analyst calls out there even if the call is still not a loud thundering endorsement.
Tibco Software Inc. (TIBX) said quarterly profits nearly tripled as its gross margins grew and expenses fell. Revenues were lower as most infrastructure software companies are seeing, but shares are indicated up over 5% and over $7.00 this morning.
BEARISH EVENTS
Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, Inc. (POT) is getting hit this morning to the tune of less than 10%. The company guided earnings lower to approximately $0.70 from a prior range of $1.10 to $1.50. This is a bit late of the company considering the severe warning of K+S that already hit these stocks in the sector. Other tickers in same space: AGU, MOS, IPI, CF, TRA.
Legg Mason (LM) may be under pressure after yesterday's confusion. Reports had Nelson Peltz taking a larger stake, but then the reports came out that he had not made any changes to his 1% stake in the troubled asset manager.
Nike is looking a bit soft again. This would mark the second weak day after futures orders were a large disappointment in the earnings report. Adding to pressure this morning is the downgrade from Argus Research to Hold from Buy in analyst coverage.
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) posted a wider loss on lower sales. The company noted that a write-down on the value of its imaging unit hurt as well, but its gross margin turned positive for the first time in almost a year. This marks more than two years worth of losses now consecutively. Shares are indicated down 3% around $5.15.
Finish Line (FINL) posted a loss rather than a $0.01 EPS expected from analysts. The reasons are weak Man Alive chain sales (that needs a name change, seriously) and a decline in sales at the Finish Line brand stores. No indications have been seen this morning.
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