Before the Open (Apr 22)

Good morning. Happy Tuesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly up. Japan dropped 0.85%; Singapore rallied 0.67%. Otherwise movement was small. Europe is currently mostly up. London, Germany, France, Spain and Italy are leading the way. Russia and Amsterdam are down more than 1%. Futures here in the States point towards a flat open for the cash market.

The dollar is down. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down.
The week begins now. Yesterday doesn’t matter. Volume was light, and the range was small. Yes the indexes closed with across-the-board gains and yes the Nas led the way, but all that can be quickly negated when activity picks up today.
The charts have improved a bunch in the near term, but the Nas and Russell are still lagging by a long shot, and we need to be aware of the market’s tendency to give some back after options expire.
In my opinion, the Nas and Russell 2000 are calling the shots right now. The market will go as they go.
I’m still very long oil but otherwise I’ve trimmed my positions back and have lots of cash on hand. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Lockheed Martin (LMT +0.77%) reported Q1 EPS of $2.87, higher than consensus of $2.54.
Comcast (CMCSA +1.59%) reported Q1 EPS of 68 cents, better than consensus of 64 cents.
Harley-Davidson (HOG +1.35%) reported Q1 EPS of $1.21, stronger than consensus of $1.08.
Travelers (TRV -0.32%) reported Q1 EPS of $2.95, well ahead of consensus of $2.16.
Celanese (CE +0.96%) reported Q1 EPS of $1.33, well above consensus of $1.21.
Allergan (AGN +6.03%) surged 19% in European trading after Pershing Square reported a 9.7% stake in the company and then said that Valeant (VRX +3.24%) intends to propose a merger with Allergan.
Lone Pine Capital reported a 5.5% passive stake in Michael Kors (KORS +0.83%) .
Rent-A-Center (RCII -1.38%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 57 cents, better than consensus of 55 cents, and then raised guidance on fiscal 2014 EPS to $2.30-$2.50, higher than consensus of $2.29.
Werner (WERN -0.08%) reported Q1 EPS of 20 cents, below consensus of 21 cents.
Visium Asset reported a 5.1% passive stake in Brookdale Senior Living (BKD +0.41%) .
Polaris Venture Partners V reported a 17.3% stake in Cerulean (CERU +6.72%) .
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Eli Lilly’s (LLY +0.71%) Cyramza drug to treat patients with advanced stomach cancer or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma.
Hexcel (HXL unch) reported Q1 EPS of 50 cents, better than consensus of 49 cents.
Waste Connections (WCN -0.02%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 44 cents, higher than consensus of 41 cents.
Facebook (FB +3.90%) climbed over 2% in after-hours trading after it was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at Credit Suisse.
Netflix (NFLX +0.80%) rose 7% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 EPS of 86 cents, higher than consensus of 83 cents, and said it expects Q2 EPS of $1.12, better than consensus of $1.00.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s economic calendar:
7:45 ICSC Retail Store Sales
8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
9:00 FHFA House Price Index
10:00 Existing Home Sales
10:00 Richmond Fed Mfg.
1:00 PM Results of $32B, 2-Year Note Auction
Notable earnings before today’s open: ACI, AKS, AOS, ATI, BK, CMCSA, CNC, CP, CSL, FMER, GPC, HOG, HUB.B, IPG, ITW, JNS, LMT, LPT, LXK, MCD, MDSO, MTG, OMC, PCH, PHG, PLD, PNR, RF, SAH, SNV, SPG, TCB, TRV, UTX, XRX
Notable earnings after today’s close: ACC, AMGN, BCR, CBST, CNI, CREE, CVA, CYT, DFS, ETH, FBC, FTI, FULT, GILD, HA, HLIT, HTS, IEX, IGT, ILMN, IRBT, ISRG, JNPR, MANH, MSA, NBR, PKG, SANM, SKX, SMCI, SWKS, T, TMK, TSS, UIS, VASC, VMI, VMW, WRB, WWD, XOOM, YUM, ZIXI
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers