Good morning. Happy Friday. Happy Options Expiration Day.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly up. India rallied 2.2%; otherwise there were no big movers. Europe is currently mostly up. Greece is up 3.3%, Norway 1% and Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic are doing well too. Futures here in the States point towards an up open for the cash market.
The dollar is down slightly. Oil and copper are up. Gold is up, silver is down.
MCD has raised its dividend 10%, to 77 cents
TXN is raising its dividend 24%, from 17 cents to 21 cents.
COV is raising its dividend 16%, to 26 cents.
LII upped its dividend 11%, to 20 cents.
AGX is paying a special 60 cent dividend (they paid a special 50 cent one earlier this year).
ORCL announced earnings…stock is up 1.2% before the open.
KORS raised its Q2 profit forecast and full year guidance…the stock is up 3% in premarket trading.
Here are the daily index charts. The small caps are lagging a little. Otherwise these charts look great…steady uptrend…trading at new highs…currently in consolidation mode. Certainly the current rest period could continue or even increase in depth, but purely from a technical perspective, there are no major warnings here.
Don’t over analyze. There are lots of reasons the market should move down, but so far it’s not happening. Keep it simple, and play the best set ups only. More after the open.
headlines at Yahoo Finance
headlines at MarketWatch
today’s upgrades/downgrades
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers