Before the Open (Oct 31)

Good morning. Happy Thursday. Happy Halloween.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly down. India and New Zealand did well; China, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea did poorly. Europe is currently mixed. France, Amsterdam and Italy are leading to the upside while Norway, Stockholm and London are leading to the downside. Futures here in the States point towards a down open for the cash market.

The dollar is up. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down.
Yesterday the Fed announced more of the same. Rates continue to be held down, and $85B in mortgage-back securities and longer-term treasury securities continues. They don’t have a plan of attack. They are data-dependent and will make judgement calls as new data becomes available.
The market’s initial reaction was to the downside, but then prices recovered to their pre-Fed level. The market has had a tendency to do the opposite the next day, but since there wasn’t a forceful move that lasted, there is nothing to reverse today.
My stand right now is as follows…the long term trend is up, and I expect it to remain up. The last two months of the year should be good ones for the bulls, especially after hedge fund managers, who are lagging the market, realized their jobs are on the line if they don’t post better returns by the end of the year. But in the near term I lean toward a little weakness. Some downside to cast down would perfectly set up a year-end rally. In the mean time, I’m not crazy about entering new positions. I’ll manage what I have and wait for new and better set ups to form.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Cardinal Health (CAH -0.84%) reported Q1 EPS of 84 cents, weaker than consensus of 85 cents.
Marathon Petroleum (MPC +2.39%) reported Q3 EPS of 59 cents, below consensus of 63 cents.
ConocoPhillips (COP -1.47%) reported Q3 EPS of $1.47, better than consensus of $1.45.
Cigna (CI +0.46%) reported Q3 EPS of $1.89, well ahead of consensus of $1.62.
Marriott (MAR -0.92%) reported Q3 EPS of 52 cents, stronger than consensus of 45 cents.
Avis Budget (CAR -1.07%) reported Q3 adjusted EPS of $1.48, weaker than consensus of $1.52.
Jarden (JAH -1.21%) reported Q3 adjusted EPS of $1.04, better than consensus of $1.00.
Con-way (CNW -1.36%) reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 58 cents, weaker than consensus of 62 cents.
Owens-Illinois (OI -0.23%) reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 79 cents, higher than consensus of 77 cents.
MetLife (MET -0.41%) reported Q3 EPS of $1.34, below consensus of $1.36.
Hanesbrands (HBI -0.48%) reported Q3 EPS of $1.23, stronger than consensus of $1.13, and then raised guidance on fiscal 2013 EPS view to $3.75-$3.85 from $3.50-$3.65.
Arris (ARRS -0.60%) rose 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 39 cents, better than consensus of 34 cents.
Facebook (FB -0.79%) initially jumped 16% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 EPS of 25 cents, stronger than consensus of 19 cents, but then fell back to a gain of 4% after it said that has seen a decrease in daily users among younger teens.
Molina Healthcare (MOH -1.78%) reported Q3 EPS of 16 cents, well below consensus of 31 cents, and then lowered its outlook for fiscal 2013 EPS to $1.15, well below consensus of $1.62.
Starbucks (SBUX +1.52%) fell 2% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 EPS of 63 cents, better than consensus of 60 cents, but then lowered guidance on fiscal 2014 EPS to $2.55-$2.65, below consensus of $2.67.
Expedia (EXPE -1.42%) surged 19% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 adjusted EPS of $1.43, stronger than consensus of $1.35.
Kraft Foods (KRFT -0.63%) reported Q3 EPS of 83 cents, well above consensus of 69 cents, and then raised guidance on fiscal 2013 EPS outlook to $3.58 from $3.40.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s economic calendar:
7:30 Challenger Job-Cut Report
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
9:45 Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index
9:45 Chicago PMI
10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
3:00 PM USDA Ag. Prices
4:30 PM Money Supply
4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet
Notable earnings before today’s open: AAP, ABC, ABX, ACOR, ALKS, ALU, ANR, ARRY, AVP, AYR, AZN, BEAM, BGCP, BLC, BUD, BYD, CAH, CI, CLX, COP, COR, COT, CRR, DGI, DISCA,EL, EPD, EPL, FCH, FIG, GBX, GTI, GTLS, HAR, HGG, HSH, IDCC, INCY, IQNT, IRDM, IRM, ITC, ITT, IVZ, KEM, LECO, LIOX, LKQ, MA, MGM,MMP, MOD, MPC, MPLX, MSCI, MYL, NI, NIHD, NILE, NMM, NVO, NYT, O, OCN, OSK, PDCE, PNW, PPL, PRGO, PRLB, PWR, Q, RFP, SCG, SFY,SHOO, SMP, SNAK, SNE, STRA, TDC, TE, TEVA, TWC, VICL, VPHM, VRX, WNR, WWE, XOM
Notable earnings after today’s close: ADNC, AHS, AIG, AIV, AMRS, ANH, AVD, BBG, BODY, CALD, CPSI, CPT, DCT, DRC, ELLI, FLR, FRT, FSLR, GDOT, HME, HTCH, KOG, LRE, MDU, MHK,MRC, MTZ, NATI, NEM, NU, OHI, ONNN, PDM, PSA, RSG, RWT, SEM, SPF, SSNC, SWN, TLAB, TRMB, WRI
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers