Before the Open (May 4)

Good morning. Happy Monday. Hope you had a great weekend.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly up. India rallied 1.8%, followed by Indonesia (up 1.1%) and China (up 0.9%). New Zealand fell 0.5%. Europe is currently posting mostly solid gains. Germany, France, Austria, Amsterdam, Norway and Italy are up more than 1%. Spain, Stockholm and Prague are also doing very well. Futures here in the States point towards a moderate gap up open for the cash market.
List of ETFs –> here
The dollar is up. Oil is up, copper down. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are up.
Last week started strong and ended strong but was weak-ish in the middle. The S&P 500 and Nas hit new highs while the Dow and Russell small caps put in lower highs.
Many indicators dropped and then rallied and closed without much strong conviction in either direction. Other indicators tells us participation is declining…the overall market strength has not been broad based.
Oil continues to be a group I focus on. Crude broke out last week, got a little follow through and then settled into a consolidation range. The potential for big gains from the group is still there, but there are no guarantees. There are many highly-liquid oil stocks, so we’re either in the process of getting a round of trades, or we’ll be taking some losses and staying away.
Earnings season is still front and center. Unless a trade is longer term, you’d be wise not to hold into a report. There have been a lot of huge gaps following announcements. It’s just not worth the risk. Sometimes earnings season is calm and peaceful and virtually irrelevant. Not this season. Wall St. is nervous.
That’s it for now. Be careful out there. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Comcast (CMCSA +1.13%) is up over 2% in pre-market trading after it reported Q1 EPS of 79 cents, above consensus of 74 cents.
Loews (L +0.22%) reported Q1 EPS of 27 cents, well below consensus of 71 cents.
Diamond Offshore Drilling (DO unch) reported Q1 EPS of 50 cents, above consensus of 42 cents.
Tyson Foods (TSN +2.51%) reported Q2 EPS of 77 cents, higher than consensus of 72 cents.
Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH +1.02%) reported Q1 EPS of 71 cents, better tgan consensus of 70 cents.
UBS reiterated its ‘Buy’ rating on Disney (DIS +1.66%) as it raised its pric target on the stock to $125 from $116.
Genuine Parts (GPC +1.80%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Sterne Agee CRT.
Henry Schein (HSIC +1.27%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of $1.28, better than consensus of $1.27, although Q1 revenue of $2.46 billion was below consensus of $2.54 billion.
Warren Buffett said he bought more shares of Internaatinal Business Machines (IBM +1.39%) in Q1.
Twitter (TWTR -2.87%) was upgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Sell’ at Stifel.
Buckeye Partners (BPL +0.56%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Stifel.
The Athyrium Opportunities Fund reported a 9.9% stake in Pernix Therapeutics (PTX +4.55%) .
Donaldson (DCI +0.88%) lowered guidance on fiscal 2015 EPS to $1.51-$1.61 from $1.65-$1.85, below consensus of $1.74.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s economic calendar:
8:30 Gallup US Consumer Spending Measure
10:00 Factory Orders
12:25 PM Fed’s Evans: U.S. Economy and Monetary policy
12:30 PM TD Ameritrade IMX
Notable earnings before today’s open: AMCX, ARCB, ARCC, ARRY, BSFT, BWP, CEVA, CMCSA, CNA, CTSH, CVC, D, DO, EMES, EXAS, GLPI, HNT, HSIC, HYH, KERX, KOS, L, LMIA, MDWD, MGM, NMM, ON, PETS, RLGY, SYY, TSN, WLK
Notable earnings after today’s close: ADEP, AEGR, AEIS, APC, APU, ATEN, BALT, BBRG, BKH, CAR, CDE, CGNX, CHUY, CKEC, CXO, DENN, DNB, DVA, ECOM, EGOV, ELNK, ENH, EOG, EOX, FBP, FN, FNF, HIL, IDTI, IM, ININ, INN, INVN, IRG, ITRI, KS, LMNX, LSCC, MATX, MCEP, MDU, MERU, MIC, MUSA, NLS, NUVA, ONDK, OTTR, PACD, PLOW, PPS, PQ, PTCT, QLYS, RAIL, RGR, ROSE, RWT, SGY, SHO, SNHY, STAG, THC, TXRH, UGI, VNO, XEC, XPO
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers