Before the Open (Nov 11)

Good morning. Happy Tuesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed, but with the exception of a couple markets (Japan up 2.05%, Indonesia up 1.35%, New Zealand up 0.37%), gains and losses were small. Europe is currently mostly up. Spain is up 1.4%, followed by Italy (up 1.3%), Russia and France (up 0.7%) and Austria (up 0.5%). Greece is down 0.8%. Futures here in the States point towards a positive open for the cash market.

The dollar is up. Oil is flat, copper is down. Gold is up, silver down.
The market didn’t do much yesterday. It pushed higher, but the range was small, volume was on the lighter side and the energy level was low. After lagging much of the day, the Russell 2000 finished the day with the biggest gain among the indexes. It took out last week’s high and can now set its sights on its early-September high just above 1180. The Nas and Nas 100 are near the tops of their little flag patterns which are now seven days old. The Dow, S&P 500 and S&P 100 pushed to new all-time highs.
The market continues to do well. The trend is clearly up, and the indicators reached levels indicative of a strong market. You can never be 100% sure of what lies ahead, but I’m pretty confident new highs will be made and the trend will continue. Unless something major happens, the market should continue on the path it’s on.
Given my obvious bullish bias, I still wonder if there’s a smack down coming. The extent and staying power of the current move is unsustainable. Don’t get lazy. Play good defense. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Darden (DRI +1.51%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at KeyBanc.
DR Horton (DHI +1.30%) reported Q4 EPS of 45 cents, less than consensus of 48 cents.
Capital One (COF +0.77%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Nomura.
Juniper (JNPR -1.87%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Nomura.
Prudential Financial reported a 14.9% passive stake in Wayfair (W +8.04%).
Select Equity Group reported a 10.8% passive stake in MRC Global (MRC -2.09%).
Enstar Group (ESGR +1.27%) reported Q3 EPS of $1.37, weaker than consensus of $1.71.
Raging Capital reported a 10.2% passive stake in Townsquare Media (TSQ -0.64%).
Morgan Stanley reported a 8.6% passive stake in 500.com (WBAI +5.44%).
Glenview Capital reported a 6.03% passive stake in Cadence Design (CDNS +0.86%).
Woodward (WWD +0.45%) reported Q4 EPS of 77 cents, below consensus of 78 cents.
Cumulus Media (CMLS -3.24%) reported Q3 EPS of 1 cent, well below consensus of 7 cents.
Halcon Resources (HK +0.31%) fell over 7% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 EPS of 3 cents, only half as much as consensus of 6 cents.
Caesar’s (CZR -4.63%) slumped over 7% in after-hours trading after it reported a Q3 EPS loss of -$6.29, a much bigger loss than consensus of -$1.47.
Rackspace (RAX -0.29%) rose over 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 EPS of 18 cents, better than consensus of 16 cents.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s economic calendar:
No events scheduled.
Notable earnings before today’s open: ACM, CST, DHI, INSY, OTIV, PETX, QIWI, SABR
Notable earnings after today’s close: FOSL, HMIN, LMNS, NOAH, OTC:OPWR, PE, STKL, SUPN, TAHO, YY
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers