Before the Open (Apr 15)

Good morning. Happy Tuesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed. Hong Kong, China and India dropped; Singapore, Taiwan, Australia and Japan moved up. Europe is currently mixed. Russia, Austria, Greece and Stockholm lead to the downside; Italy leads to the upside. Futures here in the States point towards a gap up open for the cash market.

The dollar is up. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are getting clobbered.
Yesterday turned out to be more of the same movement we’ve seen the last month – the Dow and S&P 500 did well while the Nas, small caps and mid caps pulled up the rear. Two of the developments I’m looking for to signal a potential bottom is the Nasdaq out-performing the NYSE and the small caps doing better than the large caps. Neither are happening, so I’m maintaining my bearish bias in the intermediate term. Short term anything goes – especially during a holiday-shortened week – but over the next several weeks, I see more downside coming.
Also, several technical indicators are pointing down but are still far from oversold levels.
If you’re a long only trader or someone who plays the bigger picture, patience is needed. If you buy too soon, you’ll get caught holding a basket of down stocks. Hold off, wait for more intense selling and for the indicators to hit extreme levels. Then do some buying.
If you’re shorter term, then trade…expect volatility…expect big moves in both directions. Have a plan and don’t dig your feet in and defend a position.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Morgan Stanley (MS +2.07%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at BofA/Merrill.
International Business Machines (IBM +1.32%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Citigroup.
Coca-Cola (KO +0.26%) reported Q1 EPS of 44 cents, right on consensus, although Q1 revenue of $10.58 billion was higher than consensus of $10.55 billion.
Jeffries keeps its ‘Buy’ rating on Google (GOOG +0.36%) as it raises its price target on the stock to $700 from $650.
International Paper (IP +0.31%) downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Longbow.
PetSmart (PETM +2.23%) was downgraded to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at BofA/Merrill.
Comerica (CMA +0.70%) reported Q1 EPS of 74 cents, higher than consensus of 72 cents.
Sensient (SXT +1.02%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 71 cents, better than consensus of 66 cents, and then raised guidance on fiscal 2014 adjusted EPS to $2.92-$3.00 from $2.86-$2.94, above consensus of $2.92.
WebMD (WBMD +16.46%) was reinstated with a ‘Strong Buy’ at Raymond James wit a price target of $54.
Dean Foods (DF +0.53%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ at BB&T with a proce target of $21.
OZ Management reported a 7.32% stake in Genco Shipping (GNK -3.65%) .
Pep Boys (PBY +0.67%) fell over 4% in after-hours trading after it reported a Q4 EPS loss of -6 cents with charge, well below consensus of a 5 cent profit.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s economic calendar:
7:45 ICSC Retail Store Sales
8:30 Consumer Price Index
8:30 Empire State Mfg Survey
8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
9:00 Treasury International Capital
10:00 Business Inventories
10:00 NAHB Housing Market Index
Notable earnings before today’s open: CMA, INFY, JNJ, KO, NTRS
Notable earnings after today’s close: ADTN, CSX, IBKR, INTC, LLTC, YHOO
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers