The Market In 5 Minutes: Nike, BlackBerry And A Flurry Of Downgrades

Below is a tool used by the Benzinga News Desk each trading day -- it's a look at everything happening in the market, in five minutes. Apply for daily AM access by clicking here or email minutes@benzinga.com.

Macro Focus

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 5 points to 18,146.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures slipped 0.50 points to 2,152.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 2 points to 4,862.75.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures gained 1.57 percent to trade at $46.69 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also rose 1.25 percent to trade at $45.23 a barrel.

Core Durable Goods (MoM) for Aug -0.40% vs -0.40% consensus estimate. Durable Goods Orders (MoM) for Aug 0.00% vs -1.40% consensus estimate.

• Minnesota Fed President Neel Kashkari will speak in Minneapolis, Minn at 8:45 a.m. ET.
• Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is set to testify before the House Financial Services Committee at 10:00 a.m. ET.
• St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard will speak in St. Louis at 10:15 a.m. ET.
• The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.
• The Treasury is set to auction 7-year notes at 11:30 a.m. ET.
• Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans is set to speak in St. Louis at 1:30 p.m. ET.
• Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Loretta Mester will speak in Cleveland, Ohio at 4:35 p.m. ET.
• Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Esther George is set to speak in Kansas City at 7:15 p.m. ET.

BZ News Desk Focus

• Nike NKE Reports Q1 EPS $0.73 vs $0.56 Est., Sales $9.1B vs $8.87B Est.
• Blackberry BBRY Reports Q2 EPS $0.00 vs. Est. $(0.05), Rev. $352M vs. Est. $394M
• Cintas CTAS Reports Q1 EPS $1.26 vs $1.08 Est, Revenue $1.29B vs $1.28B Est
• Landec LNDC Sees Q2 EPS $0.05-$0.07 vs $0.08 Est., Sales $137M-$142M vs $140.3M Est.

Sell-Side Themes

Credit Suisse upgraded Dillards DDS to Outperform and downgraded Macy's M to Neutral.

Sell-Side's Most Noteworthy Calls

• Mizuho downgraded Twitter TWTR to Underperform.
• UBs downgraded AT&T T to Neutral.
• Wedbush downgraded Alphabet GOOGL to Underperform.
• Stifel upgraded Cypress Energy CELP to Buy.
• Goldman Sachs upgraded Taubman Centers TCO to Buy.
• Nomura assumed Amazon AMZN at Buy with a $950 target.

Deal Talk

WWE WWE is said to be back in contention to acquire competitor TNA Wrestling, according to Dave Meltzer on of Wrestling Observer Radio. Sinclair Broadcasting SBGI, Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins are also said to be in the running, though no deal is in place. Corgan needs funding for Sunday’s Bound For Glory pay-per-view event and upcoming TV tapings. WWE is said to be interested in TNA's tape library, a few wrestlers and plans to shut down TNA, the report said.

Private equity firms are not swallowing the remedy for a giant drug-chain merger being served up by the Obama administration, The New York Post has learned. Firms are passing on the chance to purchase 650 Walgreens WBA stores that are being peddled by the company — a recently started sale process prompted by a Federal Trade Commission antitrust review of the $17 billion Walgreens Boots Alliance-Rite Aid RAD merger, sources said.

In The News

U.S. officials are increasingly confident that the hacker Guccifer 2.0 is part of a network of individuals and groups kept at arm’s length by Russia to mask its involvement in cyberintrusions such as the theft of thousands of Democratic Party documents, according to people familiar with the matter.

Elon Musk has been obsessed with space travel for a long time. On Tuesday, he gave a keynote talk at the 67th International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, and explained how he plans to send humans to live in a self-sustaining city on Mars. The billionaire estimated that traveling to Mars would cost about $10 billion per person. Nonetheless, he said he intends to bring the cost down to just $200,000. Time will also be a factor, with the trip expected to take about 80 days, initially, and about 30 days as technologies develop.

Blogosphere

Anheuser Busch's BUD 12-month journey to acquiring SABMiller has been a strange and difficult one. On the way, the Belgian brewer has set precedents likely to change the course of dealmaking in the UK and globally, says Gadfly's Chris Hughes.

Trending

BBRY RGSE NKE TWTR ARRY OPTT WMT BUD DB MACK MSFT AMZN FGP

#ShimonPeres, the Israeli elder statesman who shared a Nobel Prize for forging a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians, has died. He served as a constant force for generations in Israeli politics. The 93-year-old died after suffering a massive stroke two weeks ago.

Guess This Chart

• This company's stock was $148 in 2008, but has not been above $10 since May 2015.
• Fairfax's Prem Watsa has a notable stake.
• Sympathy plays inclue Apple AAPL and Samsung Electronics SSNLF.