Before the Open (Sep 11)

Good morning. Happy Thursday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly down. South Korea dropped 0.74%, followed by Australia (down 0.5%) and Taiwan (down 0.4%). Japan rallied 0.76%, and New Zealand moved up 0.5%. Europe is currently mostly down. Russia is down 0.7%, followed by Spain (down 0.55%), London and France (down 0.5%) and Norway and Belgium (down 0.45%). Futures here in the States point towards a moderate gap down open for the cash market.
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The dollar is down. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down.
The bulls gave themselves some breathing room yesterday by rallying off their early-morning lows and posting moderate gains, but those gains will be wiped out at today’s open. Back on the clock they go…with their backs against the wall. The market is in a dangerous spot. With the indexes off their highs and near 3-week lows, the floor can be pulled out at any time.
Otherwise the market hasn’t changed in 2+ weeks. Gaps continue…sudden reversals continue…lack of follow through continues…the consolidation period that has now lasted 2+ weeks continues.
For over two weeks I’ve been saying the market was iffy in the near term, and swing traders were better off laying low. The essence of trading is to minimize losses when there aren’t many good opportunities and push it when there are great opportunities…just like poker. Right now the environment is so-so, so most traders would be better off waiting.
Conserve capital during the down times…and be ready to roll when things improve.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Macy’s (M -0.86%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Sterne Agee.
lululemon (LULU -0.75%) reported Q2 EPS of 33 cents, higher than consensus of 29 cents.
BofA/Merrill kept its ‘Buy’ rating on Signet Jewelers (SIG +0.42%) and raised its price target on the stock to $140 from $125.
Men’s Wearhouse (MW -0.35%) reported Q2 adjusted EPS of $1.10, better than consensus of $1.06.
JDSU (JDSU +3.33%) jumped over 12% in after-hours trading after it said it will separate into two publicly traded companies.
CBOE Holdings (CBOE +1.08%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ at Deutsche Bank with a pric target of $63.
CME Group (CME +0.44%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ at Deutsche Bank with a price target of $85.
Edwards Lifesciences (EW +1.46%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ at Sterne Agee with a price target of $110.
Restoration Hardware (RH +0.05%) reported Q2 adjusted EPS of 67 cents, higher than consensus of 64 cents.
Intel (INTC +0.32%) announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to buy over 1,400 patents and patent applications from an affiliate of The Gores Group, which obtained the patents in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy of Powerwave Technologies.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s economic calendar:
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
10:00 Quarterly Services Report
10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
1:00 PM Results of $13B, 30-Year Note Auction
2:00 PM Treasury Budget
4:30 PM Money Supply
4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet
Notable earnings before today’s open: FLWS, BRC, KR, LULU, RSH
Notable earnings after today’s close: ULTA
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers