Before the Open (Apr 17)

Good morning. Happy Thursday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly up. India rallied 1.6%; Australia and Indonesia also did well. Europe is currently trading mixed but movement is minimal. Greece is up 2.2%, and Belgium and Norway are also doing well. Austria is down the most. Futures here in the States point towards a flat open for the cash market.

The dollar is down. Oil is flat, copper up. Gold is flat, silver is down.
The market has rallied three straight days this week, and unlike previous weeks, the Nas and small caps have either kept up with the large caps or led.
The price action looks constructive. There’s still a lot of overhead resistance to deal with, but the move is a good first step if the bulls are trying to retake control.
But several indicators need to turn around. The AD line, AD volume, new highs, bullish percent index, percent of stocks above certain MAs, percentage of stocks at intermediate term new highs – it seems like a long list, but I just look for subtle hints that a move has support or not. Right now some of these are ready and capable of supporting more upside; others are not.
Volume will be light today. I don’t expect any fireworks, but that doesn’t mean the S&P can’t move 10 points. Enjoy your long weekend. I’m going here…

Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Google (GOOG +3.75%) slid over 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 EPS of $6.27, below consensus of $6.40.
PepsiCo (PEP +0.96%) reported Q1 EPS of 83 cents, stronger than consensus of 75 cents.
Morgan Stanley (MS +1.15%) reported Q1 EPS of 68 cents, higher than consensus of 60 cents.
General Electric (GE +1.16%) reported Q1 EPS of 33 cents, better than consensus of 32 cents.
Mattel (MAT -1.51%) reported a Q1 EPS loss of -3 cents, weaker than consensus of a 7 cent gain.
Honeywell International (HON +1.73%) reported Q1 EPS of $1.36, stronger than consensus of $1.26.
Schlumberger Ltd, (SLM +2.61%) reported Q1 EPS of $1.21, better than consensus of $1.20.
Universal Forest (UFPI +2.38%) reported Q1 EPS of 36 cents, weaker than consensus of 38 cents.
International Business Machines (IBM -0.31%) fell nearly 4% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 adjusted EPS of $2.54, right on consensus, although Q1 revenue of $22.50 billion was below consensus of $22.91 billion.
Capital One (COF +0.86%) reported Q1 continuing operations EPS of $1.91, well above consensus of $1.69.
American Express (AXP +1.58%) reported Q1 EPS of $1.33, higher than consensus of $1.30.
SanDisk (SNDK +0.68%) gained over 6% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 EPS of $1.44, well ahead of consensus of $1.25.
Kansas City Southern (KSU +2.30%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of $1.05, higher than consensus of 99 cents.
Danaher (DHR +0.89%) reported Q1 EPS of 81 cents, better than consensus of 80 cents.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Thursday’s economic calendar:
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
9:45 Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index
10:00 Philly Fed Business Outlook
10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
4:30 PM Money Supply
4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet
Notable earnings before Thursday’s open: ADS, ALSN, AN, BAX, BBT, BHI, BLK, BX, CMG, COL, CY, DD, DOV, FCFS, FCS, FHN, FITB, GE, GS, HLSS, HON, KEY, MAT, MS, ORB, PEP, PM, PPG, PVTB, SAP, SHW, SLB, SNA, SON, SYNT, TSM, TZOO, UNH, UNP, WBS, WIT, WSO
Notable earnings after Thursday’s close: ACTG, AMD, ASBC, ATHN, CPHD, SCSS
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers