MARKET UPDATE
After a down week in stocks, the markets are showing some stability but no real gains. DJIA futures are up 10 points and S&P futures are up 1 point. ASIAN MARKETS: Nikkei +0.8%; Hang Seng +1.7%; Shanghai +0.1%. EUROPEAN MARKETS: FTSE +0.4%; CAC +0.6%; DAX +0.7% to 5781.
Commodities are soft this morning with NYMEX WTI Crude trading down by -$0.15 per barrel at $80.35, while gold is trading down marginally by -$1.00 around $1,055.10 per ounce.
ECONOMIC & MACRO EVENTS
These are today’s top economic data:
10:00 AM EST Existing Home Sales (Sept.)
Major earnings reports are due from AAWW, ARRS, COG, GLW, CR, EHTH, EPIQ, EXTR, HMA, LO, PCH, RSH, SGMS, SOHU, TLAB, VZ, WINN, ZRAN.
ANALYST UPGRADES & DOWNGRADES
Upgrades
Delphi Financial (NYSE: DFG) Started as Outperform at KBW.
Gentex (NASDAQ: GNTX) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) Started as Overweight at Barclays.
Riverbed Technology (NASDAQ: RVBD) Raised to Overweight at Piper Jaffray.
Downgrades
BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) Started as Neutral at HSBC.
Rio Tinto plc (NYSE: RTP) Started as Neutral at HSBC.
BULLISH EVENTS
Yahoo! (YHOO) may be out from under all former activist fire. Carl Icahn has left the board of directors at Yahoo!. The reason given is that Yahoo! no longer needs activist pressure.
Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) has reported earnings and it appears a tad better than what AT&T reported last week. The telecom giant posted $0.60 non-GAAP EPS vs 0.59 estimates and its revenues were $27.3 billion vs. $27.1 billion expected.
Legg Mason Inc. (NYSE: LM) is indicated higher. Billionaire investor Nelson Peltz will join the asset management firm's board after his investment firm has now taken a 4.3% stake in the company. This is via Peltz's Trian investment group.
National Oilwell Varco (NYSE: NOV) has beaten earnings expectations. It reported $0.95 EPS vs $0.79 estimates and reported a drop of 14.5% in revenue to $3.09 billion vs. $2.9 billion estimates. The oil rig and field equipment maker noted that difficult credit market conditions have led to order rates below expectations so far this year. But it also noted that it has gone after new rig opportunities aggressively.
Netflix (NFLX) announced that the Sony PS3 was its 'big device maker partnership' that it hinted at with earnings last week. This deal comes as its exclusivity period with Xbox Live is ending in November.
BEARISH EVENTS
ING Groep NV (NYSE: ING) has taken a decisive action to fix its woes. The financial giant in Europe has announced its plans to split itself in two. This will be done by spinning off its insurance arm to simplify its business. It also plans to issue over $11 billion in new shares to repay the government bailout and stabilization money.
CIT Group (NYSE: CIT) has amended its debt terms offer to bond holders. If this deal was accepted, it would be under a prepackaged bankruptcy reorganization, and you probably know what that usually means for shareholders of the common stock. Shares are not really trading lower early this morning.
Juniper Networks (NASDAQ: JNPR) was listed as a potential takeover target by Barron's over the weekend. Interestingly enough, it was at the end of the week where the CEO was downplaying any imminent deals for Juniper or by Juniper.
Corning (GLW) beat earnings estimates, but it may not be enough to excite traders. The glass maker posted Q3 EPS of $0.42 vs. $0.39 estimates. Revenue fell almost 5% down to $1.48 billion vs. estimates of $1.42 billion. Shares are actually trading marginally higher, so 'bearish' may be a relative issue.
Dole Food Company Inc. (NYSE: DOLE) was a bad IPO and will be one to watch. It priced on Friday at $12.50 and traded down to $12.28 as a busted IPO. This was already a soft IPO pricing as it priced under its anticipated price range.
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