Before the Open (Aug 19)

Good morning. Happy Tuesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed up across-the-board. Taiwan, Korea, New Zealand and Japan rallied more than 0.8%; Hong Kong moved up 0.7%. Europe is currently mostly up. Greece is up 1.2% followed by Germany (up 0.9%), Russia (up 0.8%), Belgium (up 0.7%) and Amsterdam and Switzerland (up 0.6%). Futures here in the States point towards an up open for the cash market.

The dollar is up. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are up.
The market posted solid gains yesterday…the small and mid caps led…the Nas pushed to its highest level since 2000.
The AD line and AD volume line continued up…new highs at the NYSE and Nas expanded…new lows contracted…the SPX and Nas bullish percent charts moved up…the percentage of SPX stocks hitting a 20-day high and moving above their 20-day MAs expanded. So there is broad-based support for the market’s near-term strength.
I turned bullish two weeks ago, and given what has developed, I see no reason to abandon my bias. Sooner or later we’ll get a pullback. If it’s shallow and lacks conviction, SPX 2000 is a no brainer…the market will go much higher. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Home Depot (HD -0.12%) climbed 3.5% in pre-market trading after it reported Q2 earnings of $1.52 a share, better than consensus of $1.44.
Medtronic (MDT +0.35%) reported Q1 EPS of 93 cents, better than consensus of 92 cents.
Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS +1.26%) reported Q2 non-GAAP EPS of 67 cents, higher than consensus of 65 cents.
Ingersoll-Rand (IR +2.69%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Outperform’ at RW Baird.
Morgan Stanley recommends adding to Apple (AAPL +1.20%) positions as it keeps its ‘Overweight’ rating on the stock with a $110 price target.
Guess (GES +2.62%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Overweight’ at Piper Jaffray.
Teekay (TK +2.43%) was upgraded to ‘Strong Buy’ from ‘Outperform’ at Raymond James.
Rackspace (RAX +1.95%) climbed nearly 4% in pre-market trading after Blue Harbour reported a 6.4% stake in the company.
Aeropostale (ARO +2.21%) jumped over 4% in after-hours trading after it raised guidance on Q2 adjusted EPS to a loss of -45 cents- 42 cents, a smaller loss than consensus of 58 cents.
Lone Pine Capital reported a 5.3% passive stake in Cognizant (CTSH +1.14%) .
CNOOC (CEO +5.28%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Jefferies.
Urban Outfitters (URBN +2.41%) reported Q2 EPS of 49 cents, right on consensus, although Q2 revenue of $811 million was better than consensus of $806.99 million. RW Baird then upgraded the stock to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Neutral.’
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s economic calendar:
7:45 ICSC Retail Store Sales
8:30 Housing Starts
8:30 Consumer Price Index
8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
Notable earnings before today’s open: CMCM, CYRN, DKS, HD, MDT, RDEN, TJX
Notable earnings after today’s close: LZB, PLAB, RGSE, YOKU
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers