Before the Open (Dec 23)

Good morning. Happy Tuesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed, but only China (down 3%) and Australia (down 1.1%) moved much from their unchanged levels. Europe is currently mostly up. Russia (down 2.15%) and Greece (down 1.8%) are down. Italy, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Amsterdam and France are doing well. Futures here in the States point towards an up open for the cash market.

The dollar is up 0.08%. Oil is up, copper down. Gold and silver are up.
The market moved up yesterday. The S&P got within a point of its all-time high and then closed at its highest level ever (on a closing basis). The Dow and small caps led, but volume was light. ‘Tis the season for light-volume rallies. Being active can lead to a little frustration because robust follow through isn’t common, but simply sitting on positions often works well because while the day-to-day movement is small, the net movement over the entire holiday season tends to be favorable.
This is what I’m looking for. With the indexes surging back to their highs, I’ll be closing watching the indicators. If they too move to overbought levels, it’ll be a sign of strength, and the newly formed short-term uptrend shall continue. But if the indicators cannot surge back to high levels, it’ll be a sign of internal weakness, and I’ll question the market’s ability to rally much or rally long. Pretty simple. A big surge is the easy part – after all it only took a couple days. Now I look for the indicators to support the move. We may have to be patient (because of the time of the year), but they will be our most useful tell.
Bias remains up…but the bulls have a little work to do. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Walgreen (WAG +1.42%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 81 cents, better than consensus of 75 cents.
Kimberly Clark (KMB +0.53%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at BMO Capital.
Starbucks (SBUX +1.38%) was called a top pick for 2015 at Piper Jaffray.
DCT Industrial (DCT +0.71%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Stifel.
Halliburton (HAL -2.00%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Global Hunter.
Transocean (RIG -1.78%) was downgraded to ‘Reduce’ from ‘Neutral’ at Global Hunter.
Achillion (ACHN +9.01%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Outperform’ at RW Baird.
The U.S. Department of Justice said the U.S. filed a civil False Claims Act complaint against Omnicare (OCR +0.18%) alleging that it solicited and received millions of dollars in kickbacks from pharmaceutical manufacturer Abbott Laboratories (ABT +0.69%).
EJF Capital reported a 6.6% passive stake in Encore Capital (ECPG +2.00%).
Glen Capital Partners reported a 6.8% passive stake in Regional Management (RM +0.38%).
Glenview Capital Management reported a 5.12% passive stake in Avis Budget (CAR +0.81%).
Steelcase (SCS +0.67%) reported Q3 EPS of 29 cents, higher than consensus of 26 cents.
Chesapeake (CHK -7.25%) announced a $1 billion stock repurchase authorization.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s economic calendar:
7:45 ICSC Retail Store Sales
8:30 Durable Goods
8:30 GDP Q3
8:30 Personal Income and Outlays
8:30 Corporate Profits
8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
9:00 FHFA House Price Index
9:55 Reuters/UofM Consumer Sentiment
10:00 Consumer Confidence
10:00 New Home Sales
10:00 Richmond Fed Mfg.
11:30 Results of $13B, 2-Year FRN Auction
1:00 PM Results of $35B, 5-Year Note Auction
Notable earnings before today’s open: WAG
Notable earnings after today’s close: CAMP, CALM
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers