Good morning. Happy Tuesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed, but China (down 2.1%) was the only big loser. Europe is currently mostly down, but only Spain and Greece are down much. Futures here in the States are flat.
The dollar is down. Oil is down, copper flat. Gold and silver are up.
The 2-day FOMC meeting begins today and will end tomorrow with the Fed’s latest statement where they’re expected to decrease their bond purchasing activity. The key word there is “decrease.” Notice I did not say “end.” The market has priced in a $10 billion reduction. More than that could bring sellers to the table because although the market is doing well, the economy is muddling along.
At any given time, something – the technicals, news, earnings, the Fed, something – dominates. Right now it’s the Fed. Put all other analysis techniques to the side for now. The Fed is in control.
Once the Fed is done, focus will turn back to the technicals. Unless things escalate in Syria, we’ll have a couple weeks off before earnings season starts and debt ceiling talks ramp up.
For now, the Fed is in charge.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
ConAgra (CAG +0.66%) was downgraded to “Neutral” from “Overweight” at JPMorgan.
Kellogg (K +0.56%) was downgraded to “Underweight” from “Neutral” at JPMorgan.
US Airways (LCC +1.12%) and Delta Air Lines (DAL +3.03%) were both pgraded to “Overweight” from “Neutral” at JPMorgan.
Verizon (VZ +1.13%) was upgraded to “Outperform” from “Sector Perform” at RBC Capital.
The WSJ report that JPMorgan (JPM +1.05%) is expected to pay $800 million in ‘London Whale’ fines.
Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB +0.60%) was downgraded to “Neutral” from “Buy” at Goldman.
Huntsman (HUN -0.67%) will acquire Rockwood (ROC +0.94%) TiO2 business for $1.1 billion.
Chico’s FAS (CHS +1.98%) was upgraded to “Buy” from “Hold” at KeyBanc.
Altria Group (MO +0.83%) raised guidance on fiscal 2013 EPS view to $2.57-$2.62 from $2.51-$2.56, well above consensus of $2.39.
Pandora (P unch) filed to sell 14 million shares of common stock.
Outerwall (OUTR -2.32%) plunged over 17% in after-hours trading after it lowered guidance on fiscal 2013 EPS view to $4.72-$5.12 from $5.76-$6.26, well below consensus of $5.91.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s economic calendar:
FOMC meeting begins
7:45 ICSC Retail Store Sales
8:30 Consumer Price Index
8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
9:00 Treasury International Capital
10:00 NAHB Housing Market Index
Notable earnings before today’s open: FDS
Notable earnings after today’s close: ADBE
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers
0 thoughts on “Before the Open (Sep 17)”
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The major event this month is Budget and Debt Ceiling. The Fed debacle is done and any taper is insignificantly in the market. Being flat or long and hedged is the bias for this week. So far the madness of the market is confusing; up but not across the board. Is the Nifty Fifty returning in the form of the Dow?? The NYSE seems positive mean anything?
The total put call ratio is beginning to slip a bit but not enough to allow a correction. As long as people are buying insurance puts they won’t need them.