Before the Open (Apr 25)

Good morning. Happy Friday.
The Asian/Pacific markets leaned to the downside. Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong and China dropped more than 1%. There were no big winners. Europe is mostly down. Russia, Amsterdam and Germany are down more than 1%. Spain, Italy, Austria, Prague and Greece are also down noticeably. Futures here in the States point towards a moderate gap down open for the cash market.

The dollar is down. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down.
This week may go down as the big week that wasn’t. It was supposed to be a big week. The market had moved down with force and then had bounced off a local bottom. It was decision time. The bulls had made progress to somewhat neutralize the negativity, but with options expiring, a few indicators lagging and the Nas and small caps lagging, the onus was on the bulls to keep pressing the issue and not quickly step aside.
What we’ve gotten is a decent gain for the week but slow, methodical, low volume movement. The gain is nice, but there’s been a definite lack energy and conviction.
You could call it a victory for the bulls since the gains have held, but it’s not a convincing victory because volume has been so light.
Still, it’s a step. All rallies, legs up, up trends – whatever you want to call them – start with a few up days, and despite the lack of conviction, the bears are worried again.
In the near term, anything goes. I don’t think the near term is obvious.
In the intermediate term, the Dow and S&P seem intent on hitting a new high. Then the fun begins.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Of the 15 of the S&P 500 companies that report earnings today, 11 have already reported. Results have been mixed. Better-than-expected results include Weyerhaeuser (WY +0.49%) (0.26 vs 0.24), Tyco (TYC -0.45%) (0.45 vs 0.41), Covidien (COV +0.58%) (0.96 vs 0.95), Aon (AON +0.16%) (1.28 vs 1.18), Moody’s (MCO -0.29%) (1.00 vs 0.91), VF Corp (VFC -0.66%) (0.67 vs 0.63), DTE Energy (DTE +0.34%) (1.69 vs 1.47). Weaker than expected results include: Whirlpool (WHR +0.74%) (2.20), Colgate-Palmolive (CL +0.85%) (0.68 vs 0.682), Ford (F +0.55%) (0.25 vs 0.31), and State Street (STT -0.27%) (0.99 vs 1.00).
Under Armour (UA -7.38%) will replace Beam (BEAM -0.02%) in the S&P 500 as of the close of trading on Apr 30.
Navient (NAVIV -0.89%) will replace Sallie Mae (SLM -0.62%) in the S&P 500 as of the close of trading on Apr 30.
Universal Health (UHS +1.98%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of $1.36, stronger than consensus of $1.22.
Masco (MAS +1.35%) reported Q1 continuing operations EPS of 21 cents, better than consensus of 17 cents.
Bloomberg reported that U.S. prosecutors are seeking more than $13 billion from Bank of America (BAC -0.18%) as part of a deal to resolve probes into the bank’s sale of residential mortgage-backed securities.
Hanesbrands (HBI +1.36%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 76 cents, well above consensus of 58 cents, and then raises guidance on fiscal 2014 adjusted EPS view to $4.80-$5.00 from $4.60-$4.80, higher than consensus of $4.73.
Chubb (CB +1.42%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of $1.50, weaker than consensus of $1.56.
Swift Transport (SWFT +0.64%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 12 cents, right on consensus, although Q1 revenue of $1.0 billion was slightly less than consensus of $1.02 billion.
Visa (V +0.28%) reported adjusted Q2 EPS of $2.20, higher than consensus of $2.18.
Edwards Lifesciences (EW +0.44%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 76 cents, better than consensus of 69 cents.
Amazon.com (AMZN +3.87%) reported Q1 EPS of 23 cents, right on consensus, but Q1 revenue of $19.74 billion ws higher than consensus of $19.43 billion.
Starbucks (SBUX +0.99%) reported Q2 EPS of 56 cents, right on consensus, although Q2 revenue of $3.87 billion was below consensus of $3.95 billion.
Broadcom (BRCM +2.40%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 51 cents, stringer than consensus of 46 cents.
Microsoft (MSFT +0.43%) reported Q3 EPS of 68 cents, higher than consensus of 63 cents.
Las Vegas Sands (LVS +1.96%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 97 cents, better than consensus of 93 cents.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s economic calendar:
9:45 PMI Services Index Flash
9:55 Reuters/UofM Consumer Sentiment
Notable earnings before today’s open: AAN, ABBV, AEP, ALK, ALV, AON, B, BKW, CL, COV, CVLT, DAN, DTE, F, FLIR, HMC, IDXX, IMGN, LEA, LPNT, MCO, MDXG, SAIA, SIR, STT, TYC, VFC, VTR, WBC, WHR, WY
Notable earnings after today’s close: none
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers