Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed. Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore moved up; India and Indonesia moved down. Europe is currently trading mixed with perhaps an upward bias. Norway, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and London are up; Stockholm and Greece are down. Futures here in the States point towards a slight positive open for the cash market.
The dollar is up. Oil is flat, copper up. Gold and silver are up.
Alcoa (AA) matched analysts’ earnings estimates and topped sales expectations. The stock is up 1.7% before the open.
Dish Networks (DISH) wants to buy Clearwire (CLWR) for $3.30/share…Sprint Nextel (S) has already agreed to buy the shares it does not own for $2.97/share.
Helen of Troy (HELE) did well with earnings but lowered its full-year revenue guidance. The stock has not traded premarket yet.
Apollo Group (APOL) is down almost 10%…earnings related.
Constellation Brands (STZ) is up almost 4%…earnings related.
MGM Resorts (MGM) is up 2.3% premarket…it got approval to open a 2nd Macau casino.
Ever since the huge 2-day rally which closed 2012 and opened 2013 the market has traded slowly and in a relatively tight right. As far as I’m concerned, not only is this perfectly normal coming off such a big move, it’s been necessary because a few of our indicators hit extreme levels and needed to cycle back.
Overall I still like the market, but in the near term I would not be surprised to see a little more weakness. This is my technical take on things. Earnings season will ramp up next week, so any given day could gap up or down based on what’s announced.
That’s it for now. There isn’t a whole lotta news out, and the technicals remain unchanged. More after the open.
headlines at Yahoo Finance
headlines at MarketWatch
today’s upgrades/downgrades
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers