Before the Open (Mar 6)

Good morning. Happy Friday. Happy Employment Numbers Day.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed with a lean to the upside. Japan and Indonesia rallied more than 1%; Singapore, New Zealand, South Korea and Taiwan also did well. Europe currently leans to the upside. Italy, Austria, Norway and Switzerland are posting moderate gains. Russia and Greece are down. Futures here in the States point towards a flat-to-up open for the cash market (before the employment numbers were released).

The dollar is up. Oil is up, copper is down. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are mixed.
The market has been slow and boring lately. Volume has been light, volatility nonexistent and the general forcefulness of moves has been very low. Even though the trend has been up, and the indexes aren’t far from their highs, the market has spent much more time in chop mode than trend mode. It is what it is. Slight adjustment are needed to successfully play this game. When volatility was high, you could risk a couple points to make 10. Now we risk a point or less to make just a couple. Instead of shooting for moderate gains, we need to be content with quicker and smaller gains.
Here are the employment numbers…
unemployment rate: 5.5% (was 5.7% last month)
nonfarm payrolls: +295KK (was +257K last month)
private payrolls:
average workweek: unchanged at 34.6 hours (unchanged)
hourly wages: up 0.1% or 3 cents to $24.78
labor participation rate: rose to 62.8%
January’s gain was 239K, not the 257K originally released.
December’s gain unchanged at 329K.
Futures were semi volatile immediately after the release. The headline numbers (5.5% unemployment and 295K new jobs) were attractive, but more people dropped out of the labor force. First S&P futures moved up…then down. Now they’re about 9 points off their high and falling. Gold plunged about 10 bucks on the news. Silver dropped similarly. Crude oil also fell and is now down 27 cents.
I’ve been saying for the last week -> I like the market overall, but in the near term a rest is needed due to the diverging and declining breadth indicators. No big bets right now. Play it safe, preserve capital. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Foot Locker (FL -0.80%) reported Q4 non-GAAP EPS of $1.00, higher than consensus of 91 cents.
Textron (TXT +0.85%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Nomura.
Esterline (ESL +0.63%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Outperform’ at Credit Suisse.
Host Hotels (HST -1.15%) was downgraded to ‘Sell’ from ‘Neutral’ at Goldman Sachs.
Staples (SPLS -0.54%) reported Q4 EPS of 31 cents, better than consensus of 30 cents.
Airbus (EADSY +3.80%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Goldman Sachs.
The Fed announced that all 31 banks passed their stress tests with Tier 1 capital above the required levels.
Alon USA Energy (ALJ +0.50%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 0 cents, better than consensus of a -9 cent loss.
Devon Park Bioventures reported a 20.42% stake in Inotek Pharmaceuticals (ITEK unch) .
Thor Industries (THO -1.52%) reported Q2 EPS of 57 cents, well above consensus of 42 cents.
The Fresh Market (TFM +2.27%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 55 cents, better than consensus of 51 cents.
Cooper Companies (COO +0.61%) reported Q1 EPS of $1.75, higher than consensus of $1.54.
The Gap (GPS -1.43%) fell 2% in after-hours trading after it reported February same-store-sales fell 4% y/y.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s economic calendar:
8:30 Non-farm payrolls
8:30 International Trade
3:00 PM Consumer Credit
Notable earnings before today’s open: BIG, FL, SPLS, VTG
Notable earnings after Thursday’s close: none
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers