Before the Open (Apr 1)

Good morning. Happy Tuesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed. Indonesia rallied 2.2%, Hong Kong 1.3% and China 0.7%. Europe is currently mostly up. London, Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Russia are leading the way. Futures here in the States point towards a gap up open for the cash market.

The dollar is flat. Oil is down, copper up. Gold and silver are up.
The market rallied nicely yesterday. It was a good old fashion up day. The Nas and small caps led…the internals were strong all day…you could sense that dips would be bought. It was the type of day the bulls had not enjoyed in a while.
But the first move off a depressed level is the easy move. A combination of weak hands having left the market, short interest having increased and general psychology having taken a quick turn down, a bounce can play out rather routinely. I noted over the weekend in the Index Report a few indicators were pointing up. The move should not have been a big surprise.
But as just stated, the first move is the easy move. After a couple days, real buying – not short covering and not short term speculators – needs to take place. This is yet to be seen. This is what we should look for. Don’t get too opinionated here. Sure the bears can retake control, but dead-cat bounces that turn into full-blown rallies are more common than the bears would like to admit. The market has a way of surprising the most number of people at given times. Don’t be surprised. Contemplate different scenarios and have a plan for dealing with each. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
According to Beverage Digest, U.S. retail sales of carbonated soft drinks shrank 1% to $76.3 billion in 2013, representing the first downturn in dollar terms in at least 15 years, with soda volumes shrinking an estimated 3% last year, the ninth straight year of contraction. Beverage makers include Coca-Cola (KO -0.74%) , PepsiCo (PEP +0.66%) , Dr. Pepper Snapple (DPS +0.95%) , Monster Beverage (MNST -0.06%) and Starbucks (SBUX -0.43%) .
Potash (POT +1.86%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Cantor.
Oasis Petroleum (OAS -0.74%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Deutsche Bank.
United Continental (UAL +3.89%) and LabCorp (LH +0.17%) were both upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at UBS.
MetLife (MET +0.46%) was added to the U.S. 1 List at BofA/Merrill.
Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII +2.36%) said it received a $497 million government contract from the U.S. Coast Guard to build a seventh Legend-class National Security Cutter.
Crown Cork & Seal Company reported a 11.6% passive stake in AEP Industries (AEPI +0.98%) .
Strategic Value Partners reported a 9.4% passive stake in Genco Shipping (GNK +4.14%) .
Ionic Capital reported a 5.08% passive stake in LIN Media (LIN +0.72%) .
GLG Partners reported a 7.46% passive stake in Emerald Oil (EOX +0.15%) .
General Motors (GM -0.89%) said it will take a Q1 charge of up to $750 million for recall-related repairs.
Gabelli reported a 5.42% stake in BioScrip (BIOS +3.41%) .
Reuters reported that JPMorgan Chase (JPM +1.12%) failed to win dismissal of shareholder securities fraud lawsuit over “London whale” losses.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s economic calendar:
Auto sales
7:45 ICSC Retail Store Sales
8:30 Gallop US ECI
8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
9:45 PMI Manufacturing Index
10:00 ISM Manufacturing Index
10:00 Construction Spending
11:00 Global Manufacturing PMI
Notable earnings before today’s open: none
Notable earnings after today’s close: APOL
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers