Before the Open (Mar 4)

Good morning. Happy Tuesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly up. India led the way followed by Hong Kong, Singapore and New Zealand. South Korea and Taiwan dropped. Europe is up across-the-board. Russia is up 4.7%. Germany, France, Austria, Italy and Amsterdam are up more than 2%. Belgium, Stockholm, Switzerland, Prague and Spain are up more than 1%. Futures here in the States point towards a huge gap up open for the cash market.

The dollar is down. Oil is down $1.30, copper is up. Gold and silver are down.
Are we having fun yet? News over the weekend that Russia had invaded Ukraine sent markets down around the world down. Then news late yesterday that tensions had eased have led to soaring prices today.
Specifically, Russia clearly stated it wants a unity government in Ukraine’s capital city Kiev that represents both pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian interests. It also said it has no plans to annex Crimea.
So Putin isn’t a mad man. He’s a reasonable man who had one relatively simple demand – a demand that should easily be satisfied…after all, after kicking the pro-Russia president out, Ukraine didn’t exactly have a fair election to replace him.
News trumps the charts. We know this. And while most market related news is anticipated (we at least know when numbers will be released), sudden geopolitical news is much less predictable. I stated yesterday after the bell the market could gap up or gap down a bunch based on word Russian troops were entering mainland Ukraine or that tensions were easing. We got the latter, so we’re getting a big pop this morning.
If Russia is serious – that all they want is a unity government – I don’t expect the situation to be front page news for long…unless there’s nothing else for the media to talk about, so they therefore have to linger on this story.
Overall I still like the market. I don’t see a reason to abandon my stance. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
AutoZone (AZO +0.52%) reported Q2 EPS of $5.63, higher than consensus of $5.56.
Intuitive Surgical (ISRG +2.03%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Cantor due to valuation.
Lennar (LEN -0.09%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at KeyBanc due to valuation.
Magna (MGA +5.08%) was upgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Underweight’ at JPMorgan.
Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF -0.91%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at Credit Suisse.
Reuters reported that JPMorgan Chase (JPM -1.07%) will pay $400 million to settle lawsuits from bond insurer Syncora Guarantee.
Brookdale Senior Living reported an approximately 12.1% stake in Emeritus (ESC +0.70%) .
Starwood Hotels (HOT -2.11%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Goldman.
William Chang reported a 17.3% stake and Eric Semler reported a 12.1% stake in Selmer Scientific (SMLR -2.73%) .
Hilton (HLT +0.58%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Goldman.
J.C. Penney (JCP +9.34%) rose 2% in after-hours trading after Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services revised its outlook on JCP to stable from negative.
Wells Fargo kept an ‘Outperform’ rating on Allergan (AGN -0.54%) and raised its price target on the stock to $139-$140 from $133-$134.
Ascena Retail (ASNA +3.17%) fell 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 adjusted EPS of 23 cents, better than consensus of 20 cents, but then cut its fiscal 2014 EPS view to $1.00-$1.05 from $1.10-$1.15, below consensus of $1.15.
McDermott (MDR -2.64%) plunged 13% in after-hours trading after the company unexpectedly reported a Q4 EPS loss of -$1.37, well below consensus for a 15 cent profit.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s economic calendar:
7:45 ICSC Retail Store Sales
8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
Notable earnings before today’s open: AZO, BNS, BRLI, GTIV, GTXI, INSY, MCGC, OXF, RIGL, RSH, TSL
Notable earnings after today’s close: ABM, ALDW, AVAV, BOBE, BV, CKEC, DVR, GTY, HCI, IRG, MCEP, NYMT, SWHC, YY
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers