ECONOMIC REPORTS
Domestic economic reports scheduled for today include:
DOE petroleum inventory reports for week of March 13 at 10:30
FOMC meeting announcement at 14:00
Fed Chair Yellen to hold press conference at 14:30
ANALYST RESEARCH
Upgrades
Calumet Specialty Products (CLMT) upgraded to Outperform at RBC Capital
Kronos Worldwide (KRO) upgraded to Neutral from Reduce at SunTrust
Lifeway Foods (LWAY) upgraded to Outperform from In-Line at Imperial Capital
Monro Muffler (MNRO) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at SunTrust
Pandora (P) upgraded to Buy from Fair Value at CRT Capital
T2 Biosystems (TTOO) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Leerink
Downgrades
FX Energy (FXEN) downgraded to In-Line from Outperform at Imperial Capital
iRobot (IRBT) downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James
Macerich (MAC) downgraded to Sell from Neutral at UBS
MercadoLibre (MELI) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan
Navistar (NAV) downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley
RSP Permian (RSPP) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Roth Capital
Ryerson (RYI) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan
Salix (SLXP) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies
St. Jude Medical (STJ) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo
USG (USG) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at RW Baird
Vectrus (VEC) downgraded to Fair Value from Buy at CRT Capital
Initiations
Columbia Pipeline (CPPL) initiated with a Buy at Citigroup
Columbia Pipeline (CPPL) initiated with a Neutral at Goldman
Columbia Pipeline (CPPL) initiated with an Equal Weight at Barclays
Columbia Pipeline (CPPL) initiated with an Overweight at JPMorgan
Crown Holdings (CCK) resumed with a Buy at Citigroup
Genocea (GNCA) initiated with an Overweight at Piper Jaffray
NiSource (NI) initiated with a Neutral at JPMorgan
NiSource (NI) reinstated with an Outperform at Credit Suisse
On Deck Capital (ONDK) initiated with a Sell at Compass Point
Shutterfly (SFLY) initiated with a Buy at Axiom
COMPANY NEWS
JPMorgan (JPM) formally authorized $6.4B equity repurchase program
Kraft Foods (KRFT) voluntarily recalling approximately 242,000 cases of the Original flavor of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Dinner due to the possibility that some boxes may contain small pieces of metal
Oracle (ORCL) raised its quarterly dividend 25% to 15c per share and said it is growing faster than Salesforce.com (CRM)
Terry Myerson, executive VP of Windows at Microsoft (MSFT), announced that Windows 10 will launch in 190 countries and 111 languages around the world this summer
Vermillion (VRML) announced a new commercialization and services agreement with Quest Diagnostics (DGX) related to Vermillion's OVA1 ovarian cancer test
Ignyta (RXDX) acquired four oncology R&D assets from Teva (TEVA) in exchange for 1.5M shares of common stock
Akorn (AKRX) said it will restate 2Q14, 3Q14 financial statements
Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR) said NKTR-102 trial did not achieve statistical significance
CARBO Ceramics (CRR) cut quarterly dividend to 10c from 33c per share
Chimera (CIM) announced 1-for-5 reverse stock split and raised quarterly dividend 7% to 9.6c per share
EARNINGS
Companies that beat consensus earnings expectations last night and today include:
Tenax Therapeutics (TENX), Aeterna Zentaris (AEZS), Quiksilver (ZQK), CareDx (CDNA), Entellus Medical (ENTL), Celator Pharmaceuticals (CPXX), Adobe (ADBE)
Companies that missed consensus earnings expectations include:
Leju (LEJU), Five Prime (FPRX), Macrocure (MCUR), Navigator Holdings (NVGS), Papa Murphy's (FRSH), Evolving Systems (EVOL), Great Ajax (AJX)
Companies that matched consensus earnings expectations include:
Oracle (ORCL)
NEWSPAPERS/WEBSITES
American Express (AXP) to launch Plenti loyalty program this spring, WSJ reports (M, XOM, T, RAD)
Google (GOOG) sees self-driving car on market within five years, Re/code reports
iPhone 6 (AAPL) shipments expected to reach 53M, DigiTimes reports
Herbalife (HLF) wins dismissal of 'pyramid scheme' lawsuit, Bloomberg reports
Time Warner (TWX), CBS (CBS) CEOs discussed possible merger last year, Bloomberg reports
Discovery (DISCA), Viacom (VIA) in talks to be on Apple TV (AAPL) service, WSJ reports
SYNDICATE
Anthera Pharmaceuticals (ANTH) files to sell common stock, no amount given
Atlas Resource Partners (ARP) files to sell 24.71M common units for holders
DryShips (DRYS) files to sell 180M shares of common stock for holders
Epizyme (EPZM) 6M share Secondary priced at $20.75
Esperion (ESPR) files to sell $150M of common stock
Goldman Sachs BDC (GSBD) 6M share IPO priced at $20.00
HubSpot (HUBS) 4.114M share Secondary priced at $37.00
Ocean Rig UDW (ORIG) files to sell 90M shares of common stock for holders
RSP Permian (RSPP) 9M share Spot Secondary priced at $25.80