Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
The Asian/Pacific market closed mixed, but winners moved up more than losers moved down. India, Indonesia and Japan did the best. Europe is currently mixed, but other than Greece (up 1.9%), there are no big movers. Futures here in the States point towards a slight down open for the cash market.
The dollar is flat. Oil is down, copper is up. Gold is up slightly, silver down slightly.
Despite news, earnings, worldwide developments and shady hedge fund manager activity, the market has sung the same song the last 4+ weeks. Rallies get sold, dips get bought, and in the end the market has gone nowhere. The S&P has traded in a 30-point range.
Zooming in on the near term, the market has been in the habit of moving for 60-90 minutes and then sitting there in a tight range the rest of the day. It seems like there’s pent up pressure from being closed overnight, and once that pressure is released the market settles into a range and goes to sleep. Classic summer doldrums. The market is quiet, the Hamptons are hoping.
Don’t force trades. If the trend was up, you could buy, use a loose stop and give positions time and space to play out. But in the current environment, you have to lower your expectations. Shoot for 5% gains instead of 10-20%.
Stock headlines from barchart.com….
Aeropostale (ARO -0.53%) was downgraded to “Underweight” from “Hold” at KeyBanc.
Transocean (RIG -0.21%) was downgraded to “Neutral” from “Strong Buy” at ISI Group.
Deere & Co. (DE +0.64%) reported Q3 EPS of $2.56, stronger than consensus of $2.18.
US Airways (LCC -13.07%) and Delta Air Lines (DAL) were both downgraded to “Neutral” from “Overweight” at JPMorgan.
United Microelectronics (UMC +0.50%) was downgraded to “Sell” from “Neutral” at Goldman.
Citigroup upgraded (SINA +3.17%) to “Buy” from “Sell” and raised its price target for the stock to $96 from $35.
Towers Watson (TW +0.52%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of $1.36, better than consensus of $1.27.
CNBC said David Tepper added 7 million shares of Goodyear Tire (GT -0.88%) to his holdings, which now stand at 22 million shares, making Tepper the largest shareholder of Goodyear Tire.
JDSU (JDSU unch) dropped over 1% in European trading after it lowered its Q1 revenue estimate to $410 million-$430 million, lower than consensus $432.79 million.
SeaWorld (SEAS -0.41%) reported Q2 adjusted EPS of 41 cents, well below consensus of 51 cents, and cut its fiscal 2013 revenue estimate to 1.45 billion-$1.48 billion, below consensus $1.5 billion.
Cree (CREE +1.35%) fell 15% in after-hours trading after it cut its Q1 revenue estimate to $380 million-$400 million, below consensus of $398.4 million, and said its sees Q1 EPS of 36 cents-41 cents, also below consensus of 43 cents.
PennyMac (PMT -1.57%) files to sell 11.3 million shares of common stock.
Brocade (BRCD +1.02%) jumped 15% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 19 cents, stronger than consensus of 12 cents.
Earnings from seekingalpha.com…
Notable earnings before today’s open: DE, ELOS, HCLP, JKS, M, OSIS, PF, TW
Notable earnings after today’s close: A, CACI, CSCO, HIMX, NTAP, NTES, RENN, SLW
this week’s Earnings
this week’s today’s upgrades/downgrades
0 thoughts on “Before the Open (Aug 14)”
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PPI looks like there is no inflation. EU is out of recession just a matter of what you think and are willing to say: Spain, Italy and Greece and maybe Ireland were still moving down, but you know that is nothing. Watch out for EU. UK’s largest employer is the health system, the system is hiring so things are looking up in the UK. Congress and the President are planning a battle to prove something, neither knows what except maybe who can win the next congessional elections. How about a nothing day, Carl “Icon” and APPLE notwithstanding. Great set up for APPLE to spend its money on a buyback. Watch Precious metals, they suggest that either the dollar will fall further, or inflation, or both. Oh yes, have a nice day.
Neal,
did you make any money today shorting the dow
have fun ,dress up as a red indian with war paint and take scalps
whats happening to the euro–2nd day in a row at this time we just had a flash crash on my chart–some one cashing in their carry trade
We do it all the time…over and over and over. But when the market trends, we make much more.