Before the Open (Nov 6)

Good morning. Happy Thursday.
The Asian/Pacific markets leaned to the downside. Japan, Taiwan and Indonesia dropped; China and South Korea moved up. Europe currently leans to the downside, but losses are small. Germany, France, Switzerland, Greece, Amsterdam and Stockholm are down 0.25-0.40%; Russia is up 1.4%. Futures here in the States point towards an up open for the cash market.

The dollar is down. Oil and copper are down. Gold is up, silver down.
With the exception of the Dow, which broke out yesterday to a new high, the market has mostly rested this week. It moved up early Monday but then closed off its high. It moved down early Tuesday but then closed off its low. Yesterday it gapped up and mostly traded in a range. The small caps lagged, but over the last couple weeks they’ve done just fine. I continue to like the market overall, but in the near term I’m a little hesitant to put new money to work. I’d like to see a longer resting period or a mini correction to allow the charts to re-set themselves.
Otherwise I like what I see. Many indicators moved to extreme levels – a sign of strength that often lead to higher prices. There are no major warnings being put off by the indexes. The small caps and mid caps have lagged overall but have done a great job the last three weeks catching up. Trading/investing is a game of odds. You never know what is definitely going to happen. So you enter when the odds are favorable and you play good defense. Right now the overall odds heavily favor higher prices, but the risk/rewards in the near term aren’t great. A further rest would set the market up for a great end-of-year run. Patience is needed.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Perrigo PLC (PRGO -0.84%) reported Q1 EPS of $1.40, below consensus of $1.45.
Sunoco Logistics (SXL -0.70%) reported Q3 EPS of 50 cents, well above consensus of 36 cents.
CenturyLink (CTL +0.05%) reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 63 cents, above consensus of 62 cents.
News Corp. (NWSA +0.99%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 9 cents, three times above consensus of 3 cents.
CF Industries (CF +0.46%) slid over 5% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 adjusted EPS of $2.62, well below consensus of $3.47.
Tutor Perini (TPC +0.72%) reported Q3 EPS of 73 cents, stronger than consensus of 69 cents
DryShips (DRYS +5.80%) gained over 6% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 EPS ex-items of 7 cents, better than consensus of 5 cents.
Maiden Holdings (MHLD +1.99%) reported Q3 EPS of 38 cents, above consensus of 37 cents.
EnerSys (ENS +0.69%) reported Q2 adjusted EPS of $1.06, higher than consensus of $1.01.
Willis Group (WSH +1.42%) was upgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Sell’ at Deutsche Bank.
Tesla (TSLA -3.33%) rose over 5% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 2 cents, much better than consensus of a -1 cent loss.
Hologic (HOLX -2.14%) reported Q4 EPS ex-benefit of 38 cents, better than consensus of 37 cents.
Roundy’s (RNDY +3.77%) reported a Q3 EPS loss of -7 cents, right on consensus, although Q3 revenue of $973.8 million was more than consensus of $965.6 million.
Symantec (SYMC +0.76%) reported Q2 EPS of 48 cents, above consensus of 43 cents.
Whole Foods (WFM +0.48%) jumped over 7% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 EPS of 35 cents, higher than consensus of 32 cents.
Qualcomm (QCOM +0.12%) fell over 6% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 EPS of $1.26, less than consensus of $1.31, and then lowered guidance on fiscal 2015 EPS to $5.05-$5.35, weaker than consensus of $5.58.
CBS (CBS +0.98%) was up over 2% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 74 cents, better than consensus of 73 cents.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s economic calendar:
Chain Store Sales
7:30 Challenger Job-Cut Report
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
8:30 Gallup US Payroll to Population
8:30 Productivity and Costs
9:45 Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index
10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
4:30 PM Money Supply
4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet
Notable earnings before today’s open: AAON, AAP, AAWW, AEE, AES, AINV, AKRX, AMCX, AMRC, AMSC, AOL, APA, AZN, BBG, BCE, BCRX, BDBD, BKCC, BR, CDW, CECE, CECO, CNK, CNQ, COTY, CPN, CRZO, CVC, CYNI, DNOW, DTV, ERJ, FSYS, FUN, FUR, GEO, GLP, GNRC, GOLD, HAIN, HII, HNR, HSC, HSIC, HSP, HZNP, IT, KATE, KERX, KLIC, LIN, LMIA, LPI, MITL, MPEL, MWIV, NAVB, NRF, NTWK, NXTM, ONE, OWW, PBH, PDCE, PERI, PHMD, PKD, PMC, PNK, POZN, PRFT, PRGO, PRIM, PTCT, RDNT, RGEN, SATS, SCMP, SFUN, SFY, SGM, SLH, SNI, SNMX, SRPT, TAP, TCPC, TDC, TEDU, THS, TK, TNDM, TPH, TU, VC, VIVO, WAC, WD, WEN, WIN, ZEUS
Notable earnings after today’s close: ABCO, ACET, AEL, AGO, AIRM, AL, ALIM, AMRN, ANAC, ANET, APEI, ARC, AUQ, BBRG, BCEI, BEBE, BNFT, BPZ, BRKR, BRS, CFN, CLVS, CPST, CSC, CVT, DAR, DIOD, DIS, DVA, DXCM, EAC, EBS, ECOM, ECPG, ED, EGOV, ELON, ENOC, ENV, EVC, EZPW, FF, FI, FICO, FIVN, FNGN, FSLR, FTEK, FWM, FXCM, GST, GXP, HCI, HGR, HNSN, HPTX, HTGC, IGT, INFI, JJSF, KING, KOG, KTOS, LGF, LNT, LOCO, MATX, MDRX, MDVN, MITK, MM, MNST, MNTX, MRC, MSCC, MTD, NES, NFG, NKTR, NOG, NU, NVDA, NVDQ, OLED, ONTY, PCTY, PFMT, PRO, PSEC, PSIX, QTWO, RBCN, RENT, RIG, ROVI, RPTP, RRMS, RSYS, RXN, SAPE, SF, SFM, SLXP, SPPI, SSTK, SWKS, TCRD, TKMR, TRMR, TRNX, TUMI, UBNT, UEPS, UNXL, VOLC, VRNS, VVC, WAGE, WIFI, XOMA, XOXO, YUME, ZGNX, ZNGA
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers