Before the Open (Oct 1)

Good morning. Happy Tuesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly up. India, Indonesia and Singapore did the best. Europe is currently mostly up. London is down 0.5%, but Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Czech Republic are doing well. Futures here in the States point towards a positive open for the cash market.

The dollar is down. Oil is flat, copper down. Gold and silver are down.
For the first time in 17 years the government has partially shutdown. All nonessential employees (~ 800K) were told not to show up for work today. It’s not the first time, but it is the first time in a while. The longest shutdown lasted 21 days. The average is 7.
The market will be held somewhat hostage until Congress agrees on a budget. As I’ve said many times, Wall St is agnostic. It doesn’t take sides; in fact it routinely donates money to both parties. Wall St can handle anything thrown its way, but it doesn’t like to be left in limbo; it doesn’t like uncertainty. Until this mess passes, uncertainty is what we’ll have.
The technicals don’t matter as much right now, but let’s keep them in mind. The S&P is sitting right at my first target (1680). I still consider the recent action to be a normal pullback within an uptrend.

Long and intermediate term I like the market. Short term anything goes – especially with what’s going on in Washington.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Nike (NKE -1.36%) was upgraded to “Buy” from “Hold” at Argus.
Agilent (A -0.74%) was downgraded to “Hold” from “Buy” at Stifel.
T-Mobile (TMUS -0.38%) was upgraded to “Outperform” from “Perform” at Oppenheimer.
Walgreen (WAG -1.30%) reported Q4 EPS of 73 cents, right on expectations.
Wells Fargo (WFC -0.65%) announced that it will pay Freddie Mac (FMCC +0.80%) $780 million in a loan settlement that resolves all repurchase liabilities related to loans sold to Freddie Mac prior to Jan. 1, 2009.
The FDA approved the drug Brintellix, co-marketed by Takeda Pharmaceuticals (TKPYY +0.59%) and Lundbeck, to treat adults with major depressive disorder.
Pratt & Whitney (UTX -1.41%) was awarded a $2.5 billion government contract for various weapons systems spare parts.
Raytheon (RTN -2.12%) was awarded a $230 million government contract modification for operation and sustainment efforts of the X-Band radar in support of the Missile Defense Agency’s Sensors Program.
Clarcor (CLC +0.87%) boosted its quarterly dividend to 17 cents from 13.5 cents per share.
Mercury Systems (MRCY +1.94%) was awarded a $3.9 million contract from the U.S. Navy for advanced Digital RF Memory jammers.
Diamond Foods (DMND -2.57%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 9 cents, better than consensus for a -3 cent loss.
Paychex (PAYX +0.72%) reported Q1 EPS of 44 cents, better than consensus of 43 cents.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s economic calendar:
Auto sales
7:45 ICSC Retail Store Sales
8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
9:00 PMI Manufacturing Index
10:00 ISM Manufacturing Index
10:00 Construction Spending
Notable earnings before today’s open: WAG
Notable earnings after today’s close: GPN
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers