Before the Open (Jan 23)

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed. Japan and South Korea were noticeable losers; there were no big winners. Europe is currently mostly up. Switzerland and Greece are posting solid gains; there are no big losers. Futures here in the States point towards a slight down open for the cash market.

The dollar is down. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are flat.
Yesterday the S&P moved up for the 5th straight day and 7th time in nine day. The index is sitting at a new higher high along with the Dow, S&P 400 mid caps, S&P 600 small caps and the big three Russell indexes (1000, 2000, 3000). Except for the Nas (mostly thanks to AAPL, MSFT and INTC), the market is clicking on all cylinders. There are so many things going on in the world that could derail the rally, but one thing is for sure. The market is rallying on all time frames, and it’d be silly to fight it, step in front of it or try and guess when it will end. I’ll leave the guessing games for smarter people. My goal is to make money, not accurately predict what will happen and when. And yes there is a big difference. You don’t have to know what’s going to happen to make money. You can in fact just see what’s happening, go with the flow and play good defense.
Google (GOOG) is up 4.6% after releasing earnings yesterday after the close.
Cree (CREE) is up 13%…earnings related.
IBM (IBM) is up 4%…earnings related.
Texas Instruments (TXN) is down 1.7%…semis can’t catch a break.
Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) is up 8%…huge move from an expensive stock.
McDonalds (MCD) is flat after releasing earnings. Revenue and profits moved up slightly, but the currency exchange had a negative affect.
United Technologies (UTX) is up fractionally.
Motorola Solutions (MSI) is up 1.2% after their earnings call. Sales increased a small amount; its profit jumped a bunch.
Coach (COH) missed…stock is down more than 15%.
Abbott Labs (ABT) beat by a small amount…stock is up just under 1%.
St. Jude Medical (STJ) is up 0.6%.
Molycorp (MCP) is down better than 13%.
MAP Pharmaceuticals (MAPP) is up 60%.
Baker Hughes’ (BHI) profits dropped 32%…the stock is down fractionally.
Textron (TXT) has swung to a gain…the stock is down slightly.
Check Point (CHKP) is down 3.7%
WellPoint (WLP) has not traded premarket…it did well with earnings.
Air Products & Chemicals (APD) raised its full-year guidance….stock has not traded premarket.
US Airways (LCC) is up 2.3%…earnings related.
After today’s close, AAPL, NFLX, SNDK and AMGN post results.
Let’s see if GOOG, IBM, ISRG and CREE can help the Nas have a leadership day for a change. More after the open.
headlines at Yahoo Finance
headlines at MarketWatch
today’s upgrades/downgrades
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers