Before the Open (Nov 7)

Good morning. Happy Friday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed. Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan moved up; Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong and China moved down. Europe currently leans to the downside. Greece is down almost 4%; Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Russia and Switzerland are also down. Belgium, London, Norway and Prague are doing well. Futures here in the States point towards a flat open for the cash market.

The dollar is up a small amount. Oil is up, copper down. Gold is up, silver down.
It’s been a good week. Half the indexes (Dow, Russell 1000, Russell 3000, S&P 100 and S&P 500) broke out a to new highs; the others (Nas, Nas 100, S&P 600) are trading in little flag patterns. Many breadth indicators have started to cycle off their extreme levels – perfectly normal activity for a strong market trending up. The quality and quantity of very good set ups is severely lacking.
Here are the employment numbers…
unemployment rate: 5.8% (was 5.9% last month)
nonfarm payrolls: +214K
private payrolls:
average workweek: up 0.1 hours to 34.6 hours
hourly wages: up 1% to $24.57
labor participation rate: 62.8%
August job gain raised from 180K to 203K.
September job gain raised from 248K to 256K.
S&P futures spiked down, then up and are now up 2.50 (about 1.25 above their pre-employment numbers level).
I have today ear-marked as somewhat of an important day. With some indexes breaking out to new highs while others sit in little patterns, something has to give soon. Either everything moves up, or those premature movers will get pulled back down. In either case, the long term trend is up, and I continue to expect higher prices going forward – regardless of what happens today or early next week. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Humana (HUM +0.67%) reported Q3 EPS of $1.85, weaker than consensus of $2.01.
Consolidated Edison (ED -2.15%) reported Q3 EPS of $1.49, higher than consensus of $1.43.
Darling (DAR -0.28%) reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 10 cents, well below consensus of 19 cents.
MRC Global (MRC -0.59%) reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 54 cents, stronger than consensus of 45 cents.
CareFusion (CFN +0.05%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 50 cents, better than consensus of 49 cents, and then raised guidance on fiscal 2015 EPS view to $2.80-$2.95 from $2.60 to $2.75, higher than consensus of $2.68.
NVIDIA (NVDA +0.45%) reported Q3 EPS of 39 cents, well above consensus of 29 cents.
DaVita (DVA +0.67%) reported Q3 EPS of 90 cents, right on consensus, although Q3 revenue of $3.25 billion was better than consensus of $3.19 billion.
Matson (MATX -0.14%) reported Q3 EPS of 50 cents, stronger than consensus of 44 cents.
Disney (DIS +1.10%) reported Q4 EPS of 89 cents, better than consensus of 88 cents.
Mettler-Toledo (MTD +1.47%) reported Q3 EPS of $2.89, higher than consensus of $2.86, and then raised guidance on fiscal 2014 EPS to $11.60-$11.65, better than consensus of $11.57.
Bruker (BRKR +2.00%) reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 14 cents, below consensus of 15 cents, and then lowered guidance on fiscal 2014 adjusted EPS to 72 cents-78 cents, weaker than consensus of 80 cents.
Monster Beverage (MNST +1.32%) reported Q3 EPS of 70 cents, higher than consensus of 67 cents.
King Digital (KING -3.01%) reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 56 cents, better than consensus of 47 cents.
The Gap (GPS +1.74%) rose over 3% in after-hours trading after it raised guidance on Q3 EPS to 78 cents-79 cents, above consensus of 71 cents, although reported Q3 net sales of $3.97 billion were below consensus of $4.05 billion.
Lionsgate (LGF +0.12%) climbed over 5% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 adjusted EPS of 24 cents, more than double consensus of 11 cents
American Equity (AEL -0.27%) reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 81 cents, well above consensus of 50 cents.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s economic calendar:
8:30 Non-farm payrolls
10:15 Janet Yellen speech
3:00 PM Consumer Credit
Notable earnings before today’s open: AGIO, BAM, BPL, CCOI, CTB, EBIX, ERF, HUM, IDRA, ISIS, LXP, LXU, MHR, MT, NXST, PGEM, PGNX, SJI, SSP, TTI, VSAT
Notable earnings after today’s close: BRK.B, DRC, GAS
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers