Before the Open (Feb 27)

Good morning. Happy Thursday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed. Hong Kong rallied 1.7%; Indonesia also did well. Australia is up the most but not posting a huge gain. Europe is currently mostly down. Austria, Russia, Greece, Italy, Spain and Germany are posting sizable losses; Belgium is up 2.3%. Futures here in the States point towards a down open for the cash market.

The dollar is up a little. Oil is flat, copper is down. Gold is flat, silver is down.
On the daily chart, the market has formed two consecutive inside days. That’s where a day’s movement fits within the high and low of the previous day. It implies a day of rest, a day to restore previously spent energy. It also builds pressure because intraday rallies get sold and dips get bought – the market doesn’t move far enough in either direction to exhaust buying or selling demand.
We have two of these such days in a row…and given they took place right at the S&P’s all-time highs, the odds of a forceful move are heightened.
In fact I’d say the bulls need to take control soon and push prices up or else or the bears will take control. I don’t think prices just sits here.
Be on your toes. We’ve had many good trades lately, but much of the easy money has been made.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Chico’s FAS (CHS +2.27%) reported Q4 EPS of 4 cents, well below consensus of 15 cents.
Wendy’s (WEN +0.39%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 11 cents, stronger than consensus of 9 cents.
Kohl’s (KSS +2.31%) reported Q4 EPS of $1.56, higher than consensus of $1.54.
Baidu (BIDU +1.62%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Stifel.
Windstream Holdings (WIN -0.75%) reported Q4 EPS of 20 cents, double consensus of 9 cents.
Best Buy (BBY +2.02%) reported Q4 EPS of $1.24, better than consensus of $1.01.
Transocean (RIG -0.94%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 73 cents, right on consensus, but reported Q4 revenue of $2.332 billion, below consensus of $2.36 billion.
American Water (AWK -0.18%) reported Q4 EPS of 33 cents, well below consensus of 45 cents.
Senator Investment reported a 5.0% passive stake in Brookdale Senior Living (BKD +5.62%) .
L Brands (LB +4.01%) reported Q4 EPS of $1.65, higher than consensus of $1.61.
PetroChina (PTR +1.24%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Goldman.
Greif (GEF +1.97%) reported Q1 EPS with items of 51 cents, below consensus of 55 cents.
Cree (CREE +2.95%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Overweight’ at Piper Jaffray.
Autodesk (ADSK +0.11%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 40 cents, better than consensus of 34 cents.
Roundy’s (RNDY -0.15%) reported Q4 adjsuted EPS of 25 cents, above consensus of 17 cents.
Whiting Petroleum (WLL -1.69%) reported Q4 EPS of 88 cents, right on expectations, but reported Q4 revenue of $720.5 million, better than consensus of $683.45 million.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s economic calendar:
8:30 Durable Goods
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
9:45 Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index
10:00 Yellen testimony before Senate Banking Committee
10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
11:00 Kansas City Fed Mfg Survey
1:00 PM Results of $29B, 7-Year Note Auction
4:30 PM Money Supply
4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet
Notable earnings before today’s open: ACAD, ALKS, AMCX, ANSS, BBEP, BBY, BDBD, CECO, CHS, CIE, CNSL, CQB, CWH, DANG, DATE, DYN, EPL, FIG, FRO, FWLT, GCAP, GTI, HII, IQNT, IRDM, ITC, KSS, LAMR, LKQ, LPI, LTXC, LXU, MYL, NRF, NTI, NTLS, NXTM, OCN, PLL, PQ, RDC, RTI, SFY, SNAK, SRE, SRPT, TD, VAC, VRX, WAC, WEN, WIN, WNR, WPX, YRCW
Notable earnings after today’s close: ACAD, AHT, AIRM, AL, ALIM, AMRN, APEI, ARNA, ATLS, AVD, BAGL, BCEI, BID, BIO, CEMP, CHUY, CLNE, CRM, DCO, DECK, ELGX, EPR, EVC, GPS, HALO, HTGC, KBR, KOG, LINE, MDVN, MELI, MENT, MNST, MTZ, NGD, NMBL, NOG, OLED, OVTI, PKT, PODD, REGI, ROST, SD, SFM, SLXP, SPLK, SPNC, SQNM, SWN, TESO, TUMI, UHS, WES, WG, WTR, XTEX, YOKU
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers