Before the Open (Aug 23)

Posted on by Jason Leavitt

Good morning. Happy Thursday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed up across the board (except for South Korea). Hong Kong was the sole 1% winner. Europe is currently mixed; there are no 1% movers. Futures here in the States point towards a slight down open for the cash market.

The dollar is down slightly. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are up.
There are more signs from China their economy is slowing. The flash PMI readind dropped again, and the Bank of China posted its smallest quarterly profit growth in more than three years.
The German Chancellor and French President will meet today to discuss the Spanish and Greek bailouts.
Chicago Fed President Charles Evans made dovish comments reguardng QE3. He said: “I don’t need to see any more data to know that I think we should have more accommodation. I certainly would applaud anybody who takes action in order to strengthen their economies.” Evans is not on the FOMC, although he does attend the meetings.
HPQ released earnings…in addition to yesterday’s 3.7% drop, the stock is down another 4.3% in pre market trading.
BIG is down 18%…earnings related. The stock will open just above its 52-week low.
Sony is laying off 1,000 employees in its mobile division.
CRM is also out with earnings this morning, but I don’t have the numbers yet or a see the stock trading.
From a technical standpoint the market remains in decent shape. The indexes took out highs two days ago but failed to follow through or hold the levels. That’s fine because the highs were made after an extended move, and it’s hard to pile gains on top of gains. The market is entitled to rest. I maintain my conservative stance. This isn’t a time to let positions run with a loose stop; be aggressive taking partial profits. Don’t let a profit turn into a loss. Don’t let a loss turn into a big loss. Preserve capital; better times are coming soon. More after the open.
headlines at Yahoo Finance
headlines at MarketWatch
today’s upgrades/downgrades
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers

0 thoughts on “Before the Open (Aug 23)”

  1. Watch PMs no one seems to believe that there will be restraint in monetary policy.
    Yes, the market might rise, but the fiscal issues still cast a long shadow over the markets.

  5. obstensibly all is fine and we have a corrective overlaping up,which could have been a double top in a downtrend,with a slight throw over false break so far
    double tops rarly happen in real uptrends ,but this is a overlapping corrective
    technicals currently are amusingly ambiguose,with many divergences
    ofcourse all irrelevent as if the big insto mafia market makers want obarma or merkell out,then the market will go down
    if not we will have more of the deception up
    the intraday chart is the only real chart
    have fun be a daytrader

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