7:52 am S&P futures vs fair value: +8.00. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +26.90. (:WRAPX) : U.S. equity futures trade near their pre-market highs amid upbeat action overseas. The S&P 500 futures hover eight points above fair value after rallying off lows at the start of the European session. Overnight, the People's Bank of China held a press conference, during which central bank officials tried to calm the market by saying the yuan adjustment "is almost complete" and that rumors of a 10.0% devaluation were false. The press conference appears to have calmed Asian markets for the time being as regional indices rallied across the board. Domestically, Treasuries trade near their recently-established lows with the 10-yr yield higher by two basis points at 2.17%. On the economic front, weekly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 271K), July Retail Sales (consensus 0.5%), and July Import/Export Prices will be reported at 8:30 ET while the June Business Inventories report (expected 0.3%) will be released at 10:00 ET. In U.S. corporate news of note: Cisco Systems (CSCO 28.78, +0.88): +3.2% after beating bottom-line estimates on light revenue. Coty (COTY 30.50, +1.78): +6.2% after beating estimates and announcing a $700 million share repurchase program. Kohl's (KSS 57.38, -4.12): -6.7% after missing earnings/revenue estimates and guiding lower. Reviewing overnight developments: Asian markets ended higher. Hong Kong's Hang Seng +0.4%, Japan's Nikkei +1.0%, and China's Shanghai Composite +1.8% In economic data: Japan's June Core Machinery Orders -7.9% month-over-month (expected -5.6%; prior +0.6%); +16.6% year-over-year (expected +16.4%; prior +19.3%) Australia's MI Inflation Expectations 3.7% (prior 3.4%) In news: The People's Bank of China held a press conference, during which central bank officials tried to calm the market by saying the yuan adjustment "is almost complete" and that rumors of a 10.0% devaluation were false. The press conference appears to have calmed Asian markets for the time being as regional indices rallied across the board The Bank of Korea left its main policy rate unchanged at 1.50%, as expected Major European indices trade higher across the board. UK's FTSE +0.8%, France's CAC +1.9%, and Germany's DAX +2.0%. Elsewhere, Italy's MIB +2.3% and Spain's IBEX +1.5% Investors received several data points: Germany's July CPI +0.2% month-over-month, as expected; +0.2% year-over-year, as expected France's July CPI -0.3% month-over-month (expected -0.4%; prior -0.1%) Spain's July CPI -0.9% month-over-month (consensus -1.0%; last 0.3%); +0.1% year-over-year, as expected Swiss July PPI -0.3% month-over-month (expected -0.2%; prior -0.1%); -6.4% year-over-year (consensus -6.3%; last -6.1%) Among news of note: The European Central Bank released the minutes from its latest meeting, showing willingness to employ additional easing measures, if necessary 7:50 am On the Wires (:WIRES) : Rentrak (RENT) announced a multi-platform contract with Broad Green Pictures to provide the studio with access to the company's OnDemand Essentials and Digital Download Essentials services, as well as its Dynamic Studio Share and Digital Download Essentials Industry productsTASER International (TASR) announced it is now offering its Axon body camera and digital evidence management solution to police agencies across Canada. The announcement includes the incorporation of Axon Public Safety Canada Inc. as a wholly owned subsidiary of TASER InternationalFinancial Engines (FNGN) announced that the company's chief investment officer Christopher Jones will testify at today's U. S. Department of Labor hearings on the proposed Conflict of Interest Rule. The co supports the rule, which would require more retirement investment advisors to serve as fiduciaries, legally required to place their clients' interests ahead of their own 7:47 am Pfenex beats by $0.12, beats on revs (PFNX) : Reports Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.27 per share, $0.12 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of ($0.39); revenues fell 30.3% year/year to $2.3 mln vs the $2.1 mln consensus. "we look forward to updating you on progress for PF530, our biosimilar candidate to Betaseron later in 2015 as well as on PF708, our generic to Forteo, which we expect to enter bioequivalence studies in 2H15." 7:46 am InterCloud Systems announces a $1.5 mln contract, for a multi-site deployment of its network infrastructure in Yonkers (ICLD) : 7:33 am Dillard's beats by $0.03, beats on revs (DDS) : Reports Q2 (Jul) earnings of $0.75 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.72; revenues rose 2.5% year/year to $1.55 bln vs the $1.5 bln consensus. Total merchandise sales remained unchanged on a percentage basis for the 13-week period ended August 1, 2015. Sales in comparable stores for the period increased 1%. Sales trends were notably strong in shoes followed by juniors' and children's apparel. Sales were notably weak in the home and furniture category. Sales trends were strongest in the Central region, followed by the Eastern and Western regions, respectively 7:32 am Eldorado Gold announces favorable rulings from the Greek government, regarding forestry land and site clearing rights at its gold-copper project in Halkidiki (EGO) : Co announce that the Council of State, Greece's Supreme Court on administrative and environmental matters, has issued two court decisions pertaining to Hellas Gold S.A., a subsidiary of Eldorado in Greece. The two decisions, both in favour of Hellas Gold, are related to forestry land and site clearing rights at the Company's Skouries gold-copper project in Halkidiki, Northern Greece. The co stated: "The decisions of the Council of State confirm once more the legality of our activities in northern Greece. This will allow Eldorado to accelerate construction activities at our Skouries Project in Halkidiki." 7:32 am Ceragon beats by $0.04, reports revs in-line (CRNT) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.04 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.00); revenues rose 4.9% year/year to $94.8 mln vs the $95.01 mln consensus. Gross margin: 28.2%, compared to 26.3% in the second quarter of 2014 and 25.9% in the first quarter of 2015."We reached a very important milestone in the second quarter by clearly restoring our financial stability with solid profitability and positive cash flow," said Ira Palti, president and CEO of Ceragon. "More important, we are much more confident that we can continue the trend of profit improvement." 7:31 am Swisher Hygiene to sell its U.S. operations to Ecolab (ECL) for $40 mln in cash (SWSH) : The co announced that it agreed to sell the stock of its wholly owned U.S. subsidiary Swisher International, Inc. and other assets relating to Swisher's U.S. operations, which comprise all of Swisher's remaining operating interests, to Ecolab (ECL) for $40.0 million in cash, of which $2.0 million is subject to a holdback for working capital adjustments. In the transaction, Swisher will retain certain debt and liabilities as set forth in the Purchase Agreement governing the sale. Completion of the transaction is subject to stockholder approval and other customary conditions. 7:31 am Hooper Holmes appoints Steven Balthazor as interim CFO, effective upon the company's filing of its Q2 10-Q (HH) : Balthazor's appointment reflects the decision by Tom Collins, SVP and Chief Financial Officer of Hooper Holmes, to accept a new opportunity as chief operating officer with a private company in the Kansas City area. Balthazor recently served as the Principal of J. Galt Financial, a consulting firm providing executive management consultation and hands-on business services to public and private companies. 7:30 am One Horizon signs agreement to be the exclusive supplier of Voice over IP services to KeyIdea Information Technology (OHGI) : KeyIdea will commence operations of their new maritime satellite service in the fourth quarter of 2015 and will supply their crew-calling services exclusively using the Aishuo platform. 7:26 am Tribune Media reports Q2 (Jun) results, revs in-line; reaffirms FY15 and long term guidance (TRCO) : Reports Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.04 per share (-$3.3 mln), including a $37 mln loss from debt extinguishment and $8 mln investment gain, may not be comparable to the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.30; revenues rose 5.6% year/year to $501.5 mln vs the $503.29 mln consensus. Co reaffirms guidance for FY15, sees FY15 revs of $2.0-2.03 bln vs. $2.01 bln Capital IQ Consensus; adj. EBITDA $480-495 mln. Long term:2016 Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA year-over-year growth of greater than 30% In addition, the Company currently expects the following for the period of 2016 - 2019: WGN America and Tribune Studios revenue growth to be greater than 20% annually WGN America and Tribune Studios programming expenses ~50% of net revenues Digital and Data net revenue growth of 10% to 12% annually Digital and Data Adjusted EBITDA margins growing to low 30% range 7:22 am Amaya beats by $0.05, misses on revs; reaffirms FY15 EPS guidance, revs guidance (AYA) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of CAD $0.43 per share, CAD $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of CAD $0.38; revenues rose 10.5% year/year to CAD $319.6 mln vs the CAD $344.5 mln consensus. Co reaffirms guidance for FY15, sees EPS of CAD $1.77-2.00 vs. CAD $1.85 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY15 revs for the B2C business of CAD $1.446-1.564 bln vs. CAD $1.5 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co sees FY15 Adjusted EBITDA for the B2C business of CAD 600-650 mln.The Corporation's B2C business added an aggregate of 1.9 million customer registrations during the quarter, with registered customers totalling more than 95 million as of June 30, 2015. The aggregate number of... More