Before the Open (Apr 9)

Good morning. Happy Thursday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed. Hong Kong rallied another 2.7%; India and Japan also did well. China dropped 0.9%. Europe is currently mostly up. Switzerland is up 1.3%; France is up 1.1%; London, Italy, Spain and Amsterdam are up more than 0.7%. Russia is down 1.5%. Futures here in the States point towards a flat open for the cash market.

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The dollar is up. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are up.
The broken record continues. Nothing sticks. Nothing holds. Just a lot of up and down movement within a range. The small caps (Russell 2000) and mid caps (S&P 400) would be considered in uptrends. The large caps (S&P 500, Dow) and Nasdaq would be considered in consolidation patterns within an overall uptrend.
Buying dips has worked. Buying breakouts in leading groups has worked too, but in many cases holding for more than a quick 5-10% move has not been wise. We’re just not getting much follow through.
Oil is starting to act like a high-beta tech stock. It rallied nicely off its mid-March low and matched its 3-month high. Then yesterday it dropped 4.26%, and today it’s up 1.7%. From a technical standpoint there has been lots of improvement the last month, but there are still supply concerns.
It feels like the market is lulling everyone to sleep. I’d like to think a big and forceful move is coming, but you never know. Maybe the current state of things continues well into the summer. Why not? The market doesn’t have to do anything. The S&P has tripled off its 2009 low. It can spend many months consolidating the gains in a wide range.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Alcoa (AA +1.79%) is down more than 2% in pre-opening trade after saying late yesterday that it expects an aluminum surplus.
Constellation Brands (STZ +0.76%) reported Q4 EPS of $1.03, better than the consensus of 94 cents.
Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA +0.46%) reported Q2 adjusted EPS of $1.18, which was better than the consensus of 95 cents.
Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY +1.28%) fell more than 3% in after-hours trading after disappointing earnings.
Brookfield Asset Management (BAM +1.98%) announces 3-for-2 stock split and raised its dividend by 6%.
Apogee (APOG +2.31%) rallied 6% in after-hours trading after reporting favorable earnings.
Pier 1 Imports (PIR -0.24%) rallied more than 4% in after-hours trading after reporting favorable earnings.
Inovio Pharmaceuticals (INO +7.05%) rallied nearly 6% in after-hours trading after news it was selected to lead a $45 million Ebola prevention program.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s economic calendar:
Chain Store Sales
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
9:45 Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index
10:00 Wholesale Trade
10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
1:00 PM Results of $13B, 30-Year Note Auction
11:00 Mario Draghi Speech
3:40 PM Fed’s Williams: Economic Outlook
4:30 PM Money Supply
4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet
Notable earnings before today’s open: STZ, SYRG, WBA
Notable earnings after today’s close: ANGO, PSMT, RT
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers