Before the Open (May 6)

Good morning. Happy Tuesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed. There were no big movers…Australia and Taiwan moved up, New Zealand down. Europe is currently mixed. Russia is up 1.3%, Greece down 0.9%…otherwise the markets are little changed. Futures here in the States point towards a flat open for the cash market.

The dollar is down. Oil is flat, copper is up. Gold and silver are down
The market feels stuck in a rut right now. Sometimes it has a one-track mind – it wants to move up. Sometimes it wants to move down regardless of what’s thrown its way. Right now, despite a massive amount potentially market-moving news hitting the wires, the market seems very set on staying right where it is. Rallies get sold, dips get bought. Good news doesn’t produce much movement, bad news doesn’t do anything either. There doesn’t seem to be an interest in moving much in either direction. Such is the current state of things. The market is happy to sit in a range. Typically when this happens, pressure builds, so a subsequent breakout comes with a sudden rush to ride the newly-formed momentum. But for some reason, I don’t sense pressure is building. My gut says a break to the upside or downside fizzles soon after and no trending move follows. We’ll see. For now the market is just a spit swapping exercise. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Avago (AVGO -0.03%) jumped over 4% in pre-market trading after it was announced that it will replace LSI Corp. (LSI unch) in the S&P 500 as of the May 7 close.
Emerson Electric (EMR +0.13%) reported Q2 EPS of 77 cents, weaker than consensus of 81 cents.
Discovery Commnications (DISCA +1.51%) reported Q1 EPS of 75 cents, higher than consensus of 71 cents.
DirecTV (DTV -0.04%) reported Q1 EPS of $1.44, below consensus of $1.48
EOG Resources (EOG +2.26%) reported Q1 EPS of $1.21, better than consensus of $1.20.
Barron’s reported that four Discover (DFS -0.16%) insiders sold 140,353 shares of stock.
Axiall (AXLL +0.91%) reported a Q1 adjusted EPS loss of -8 cents, a wider loss than consensus of -5 cents.
athenahealth (ATHN -0.02%) plunged 10% in after-hours trading after activist investor David Einhorn said he is short the stock.
Murphy USA (MUSA +4.51%) reported Q1 EPS of 21 cents, below consensus of 22 cents.
Alleghany (Y +0.56%) reported Q1 EPS of $12.28, well above consensus of $8.02.
Thor Industries (THO -0.34%) reported Q3 preliminary revenue of $1.05 bllion, below consensus of $1.09 billion.
Anadarko (APC -0.08%) reported Q1 EPS of $1.26, better than consensus of $1.16.
Scotts Miracle-Gro (SMG -1.08%) reported Q2 adjusted EPS of $2.17, stronger than consensus of $1.97.
AIG (AIG +0.71%) reported Q1 EPS of $1.21, higher than consensus of $1.07.
Genpact (G -1.34%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 24 cents, better than consensus of 23 cents.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s economic calendar:
7:45 ICSC Retail Store Sales
8:30 Gallop US ECI
8:30 International Trade
8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
1:00 PM Results of $29B, 3-Year Note Auction
Notable earnings before Tuesday’s open: ACM, ACOR, AER, AKRX, AME, ARCC, ARCO, ARW, BCE, CBOE, CNK, COCO, CRTO, CRZO, CYNO, DISCA, DNR, DTV, DWRE, EMR, EXH, EXLP, FE, GDP, GLDD, HCP, HFC, HPT, HSH, HSIC, HTH, IFF, ISIS, KWK, MMP, MNTA, MONT, MOS, MPW, MSO, MVIS, MWIV, NRG, NTI, NUS, ODP, OXF, PDCE, PQ, PRIM, RDC, RHP, RTI, OTC:RTRX, STWD, TDG, TGH, TPH, TW, UBS, VMC, VSH, VTG, WCG, WNR, XRAY, ZBRA, ZTS
Notable earnings after Tuesday’s close: ACLS, AFG, AGU, ALL, AMTG, ARC, ARRS, ATVI, AVNR, AVNW, AWR, BEAT, BID, BIO, CENT, CHUY, CNVR, CODE, CPT, CSU, CYH, CYNI, DDR, DIS, DLR, DPM, DTLK, EA, EGAN, ENPH, ETE, ETP, EXTR, FEYE, FMC, FNGN, FRGI, FSLR, FST, FTR, GALE, GHDX, GNC, GNMK, GRPN, IAG, ICUI, IMI, JIVE, LBTYA, LGCY, LLNW, LYV, MCHP, MITT, MOVE, MPO, MRO, MTDR, MYGN, NYMT, OCLR, OKE, OKS, PBPB, PEGA, PSEC, PXD, PZZA, QGEN, QUAD, RDN, REGI, RGP, RLOC, RP, SAAS, SAPE, SGMO, SPA, SSNI, SXL, THOR, THRX, TRIP, TRMB, TRMR, TSRA, WES, WFM, WTI, ZAGG, ZU
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers