Before the Open (Mar 12)

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets are mostly down. Japan is down 2.6%, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea more than 1%. Europe is currently down across the board. London, Germany, France, Italy, Amsterdam, Norway, Russia and Prague are down more than 1%. Futures here in the States point towards a down open for the cash market.

The dollar is flat. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are up.
For the first time since the end of January, the market has fallen on consecutive days. Today won’t be any easier with many of the overseas markets posting solid losses and this Histogram divergence on the daily still playing out

On a short term basis, we need to be careful. Warnings have popped up the last week in the form of indicators cycling down and leadership stocks hitting targets at nose-bleed levels.
The risk/reward is not the same, so you must adjust your expectations. At the beginning of a run, you can use a loose stop and give positions time and space to play out. But after a big run – as we’ve had the last month – you gotta be content with quicker trades and smaller profits.
Longer term, I still like the upside and believe new highs will be made again. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Express (EXPR -0.92%) reported Q4 EPS of 57 cents, weaker than consensus of 59 cents.
MRC Global (MRC -2.14%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Longbow.
Toll Brothers (TOL -0.68%) and PulteGroup (PHM -0.35%) were both downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Outperform’ at Credit Suisse.
PharMerica (PMC -0.80%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at Credit Suisse.
Deutsche Bank kept its ‘Buy’ rating on Delphi Automotive (DLPH +1.36%) and raised its price target on the stock to $90 from $75.
UBS kept its ‘Buy’ rating on Walgreen’s (WAG -0.39%) and raised its price target on the stock to $90 from $67.
Citigroup kept its ‘Buy’ rating on Las Vegas Sands (LVS -1.31%) and raised its price target for the shares to $97 from $92.50 citing strong growth trends in Macau and Las Vegas.
Reuters reported that China’s central bank, the PBOC, is prepared to cut bank reserve requirementsthe if growth slips below 7.5% towards 7%, citing sources involved in internal policy discussions.
Barron’s reported that the CEO of Ross Stores (ROST -0.15%) sold 150,673 shares of the company and two other Ross insiders sold shares as well for a total of 193.079 shares.
Riley Investment reported a 7.6% stake in STR Holdings (STRI -3.07%) .
Men’s Wearhouse (MW +4.71%) reported a Q4 adjusted EPS loss of -10 cents, a smaller loss than consensus of -13 cents.
Caesar’s (CZR +0.12%) reported a Q4 EPS loss of -$12.83, a much bigger loss than consensus of -$1.49 as Q4 revenue was $2.08 billion, weaker than consensus of $2.12 billion.
VeriFone (PAY -0.24%) climbed over 5% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 EPS of 31 cents, higher than consensus of 27 cents.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s economic calendar:
7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
10:00 Quarterly Services Report
10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
1:00 PM Results of $21B, 10-Year Bond Auction
2:00 PM Treasury Budget
Notable earnings before today’s open: AMED, EXPR, QIWI, SCLN
Notable earnings after today’s close: ADUS, CPE, DCTH, DEPO, EOX, GERN, HMIN, IRET, KKD, MTDR, MTN, SGMS, SUPN, WSM
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers