Before the Open (May 22)

Good morning. Happy Thursday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly up. Japan rallied 2.1%; Australia, Indonesia and Taiwan moved up more than 1%. Europe is currently mixed. Austria is up 1.4%, Prague 0.5%. Russia and Italy are down more than 1%. Futures here in the States point towards a flat open for the cash market.

The dollar is up. Oil is down, copper up. Gold and silver are up.
From yesterday’s post market report…
Are we having fun yet? I’m a broken record…rallies get sold, dips get bought…repeat, repeat, repeat.
If you don’t like the market, wait a day or two…it’ll change.
If you do like this market, enjoy it while it’s here because it’ll change in another day or two.
Seriously! The market can’t make up its mind. It looks good for a couple days…then gets smacked down for a day or two. Then it looks good, then it gets smacked down.
One day you’re building your long list because the charts have improved. The next day you’re emptying your list and looking short.
I don’t know what the market is going to do next. I do know the market wants to make sure as few people participate as possible.
The long term charts remain in solid uptrends.
The intermediate term charts are mixed…Dow and S&P look good, Russell small caps have corrected 10%.
Breadth indicators suggest internal deterioration…for example, the SPX bullish % is well below its high while the underlying isn’t far from a new all time high.
Many charts have neutralized. Perhaps a week or two again they leaned to the downside, but now that they’ve moved sideways in a range for a period, odds are equal we get a breakout in either direction.
Oil and solar stocks are back in play.
We don’t have clarity right now. Day traders can do their thing, but swing traders need to pick their spots wisely and protect their downside. Don’t force trades. Preserve capital. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Best Buy (BBY +2.80%) reported Q1 EPS of 33 cents, well ahead of consensus of 19 cents.
Signet Jewelers (SIG +2.13%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of $1.29, better than consensus of $1.27.
Marathon Petroleum’s Speedway (MPC -1.06%) will acquire Hess Retail (HES +1.44%) for $2.87 billion.
Dollar Tree (DLTR -2.19%) reported Q1 EPS of 67 cents, higher than consensus of 66 cents.
Keurig Green Mountain (GMCR -0.01%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Roth Capital.
Sears (SHLD -3.66%) reported a Q1 EPS loss of -$3.79, over double consensus for a -$1.87 loss.
Patterson Companies (PDCO +0.91%) reported Q4 EPS of 61 cents, below consensus of 66 cents.
Raging Capital reported a 11.1% passive stake in GSI Technology (GSIT +1.09%) .
L Brands (LB +0.65%) reported Q1 EPS of 53 cents, higher than consensus of 52 cents.
Aegean Marine (ANW +2.53%) reported Q1 EPS of 11 cents, below consensus of 17 cents.
Williams-Sonoma (WSM +0.52%) climbed over 4% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 EPS of 48 cents, higher than consensus of 44 cents.
Spartan Stores (SPTN +0.74%) reported Q1 EPS of 40 cents, better than consensus of 38 cents.
According to Reuters, Reynolds American (RAI +4.38%) is in advanced negotiations to acquire Lorillard (LO +10.40%) .
Synopsys (SNPS +0.76%) reported Q2 EPS of 65 cents, higher than consensus of 59 cents.
NetApp (NTAP +1.59%) reported Q4 EPS of 84 cents, stronger than consensus of 79 cents.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s economic calendar:
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
8:30 Chicago Fed National Activity Index
9:45 PMI Manufacturing Index Flash
10:00 Existing Home Sales
10:00 Leading Indicators
10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
11:00 Kansas City Fed Mfg Survey
4:30 PM Money Supply
4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet
Notable earnings before today’s open: ASEI, BBY, BKE, BONT, BRC, CAJ, DLTR, ESI, LTXC, MOV, PDCO, PERY, PLCE, RY, SHLD, TF, TTC
Notable earnings after today’s close: ARO, ARUN, BRCD, CPWR, DRYS, GME, GPS, HPQ, MENT, MRVL, NDSN, NWY, ORIG, ROST, TFM, TIVO, VNET, YOKU, ZUMZ
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers