Before the Open (Oct 17)

Good morning. Happy Friday. Happy Options Expiration Day.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly up. Japan and Taiwan dropped 1.4%; South Korea dropped 0.95%. Everything else closed up, led by Indonesia (up 1.56%) and Malaysia (up 0.97%). Europe is curretly posting very big, across-the-board gains. Greece is up almost 7%; Norway is up better than 3%; Spain and Italy are up better than 2%; Austria, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Switzerland, Prague, Russia, Germany and France are up more than 1%. Futures here in the States point towards a big gap up open for the cash market.

The dollar is down. Oil is up, copper down. Gold and silver are flat.
Two days ago I switched my short term bias to the up direction. We got a little scare at yesterday’s open with a big gap down, but all was good by the close. Now we’re going to get a big gap up, so as of today’s open, the S&P will be almost 60 points off its low.
This is my official stance ->> short term I favor the upside but longer term I favor the downside until/unless the bulls definitely take control. The bulls no longer deserve the benefit of the doubt, and I simply don’t trust them. Things could change. Almost every bottom over the last 5 years has been a V bottom and what started as an innocent bounce within a downtrend kept going and going and going…and before traders could get long, they were shaking their heads at the fact that the S&P was 100 points off its low and closing in on new highs. If the bulls want to do this again, fine, but until they definitely take control, I won’t trust any move.
I’m long, but I’m not giving positions a lot wiggle room. I’m in momentum trades off depressed levels, and I will not give profits back. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Morgan Stanley (MS -0.25%) reported Q3 EPS of 65 cents, much better than consensus of 54 cents.
Comerica (CMA +1.23%) reported Q3 EPS of 74 cents, less than consensus of 79 cents.
Honeywell International (HON +1.50%) reported Q3 EPS of $1.47, higher than consensus of $1.41.
General Electric (GE -0.12%) reported Q3 EPS of 38 cents, better than consensus of 37 cents.
Kindred Healthcare (KND +0.73%) reported a 14.6% stake in Gentiva Health (GTIV +0.36%) .
Crown Holdings (CCK +2.33%) reported Q3 ex-items EPS of $1.36, stronger than consensus of $1.21.
Urban Outfitters (URBN -0.37%) tumbled over 10% in after-hours trading after it said that its Q3 gross profit margin may weaken due to lower than expected sales.
Xilinx (XLNX +2.42%) gained 4% in European trading after it reported Q2 EPS of 62 cents, better than consensus of 55 cents.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD +1.15%) fell over 6% in after-hours tradig after it reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 3 cents, less than consensus of 4 cents.
Point72 Asset reported a 5.2% passive stake in Lumber Liquidators (LL +0.93%) .
Capital One (COF -0.86%) reported Q3 EPS of $1.86, weaker than consensus of $1.94.
SanDisk (SNDK +1.14%) declined nearly 5% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 EPS of $1.45, higher than consensus of $1.33, but reported Q3 revenue of $1.75 billion, below consensus of $1.77 billion.
Google (GOOG -1.04%) fell almost 2% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 EPS of $6.35, below consensus of $6.53.
Stryker (SYK -0.35%) reported Q3 adjusted EPS of $1.15, better than consensus of $1.14.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s economic calendar:
8:30 Housing Starts
9:55 Reuters/UofM Consumer Sentiment
8:35 Janet Yellen speech
Notable earnings before today’s open: BK, CMA, FHN, GE, HON, HBAN, KSU, MTB, MS, STI, TXT
Notable earnings after today’s close: none
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers