Before the Open (May 11)

Good morning. Happy Monday. Hope you had a great weekend.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed with a lean to the upside. China rallied 3%, followed by India (up 1.5%) and Japan (up 1.25%). Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea also did well. Europe is currently mixed. Belgium is up 3.1%, London is up 2.5% and Prague is seeing a 1.6% gain. Greece is down 2.8%. Futures here in the States point towards a flat open for the cash market.
S&P Select – Week in Review
The dollar is up. Oil is up, copper is down. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are down.
The market ended last week with a huge up day. In fact the Thursday/Friday combo was one of the biggest 2-day periods all year. The S&P went from its lowest level in a month to within 10 points of its all-time high.
The Russell small caps also did well, but they have a lot of catching up to do. Herein lies the crux of the current situation. If the Dow and S&P attempt to breakout, the small caps must participate. And while I’m at it, the breadth indicators, which have been lagging, must improve. Absent across-the-board improvement, which signals broad-based participation, the market’s upside will be limited. Perhaps the S&P can jump 20 or 40 or 60 points, but after that, without significant improvement elsewhere, it’ll be nothing more than a trap.
China’s central bank cut its benchmark lending rates by 25 basis points to 5.1%, it’s third reduction in six months.
Greece is in the news. There’s a meeting today of eurozone finance ministers to discuss the country’s financial situation.
Earnings season is winding down, and the next FOMC meeting isn’t until the middle of June.
This is setting up to be a key week. Does the market follow through on last week’s end-of-week strength, or does it remain range bound?
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
FMC Corp. (FMC +2.52%) reported Q1 EPS of 62 cents, below consensus of 72 cents.
Activis Plc (ACT +1.92%) reported Q1 EPS of $4.30, better than consensus of $3.92.
Endo International Plc (ENDO +0.76%) reported Q1 EPS of $1.17, higher than consensus of $1.05.
Noble Energy (NBL +2.08%) acquires Rosetta Resources (ROSE +1.20%) in an all-stock deal valued at $2.1 billion.
Joy Global (JOY +0.84%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at Baird.
Monster Beverage (MNST -10.47%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Citigroup.
DISH (DISH -0.21%) reported Q1 EPS of 76 cents, stronger than consensus of 40 cents, although Q1 revenue of $3.72 billion was below consensus of $3.74 billion.
National Oilwell Varco (NOV +2.42%) was downgraded to ‘Sell’ from ‘Neutral’ at Citigroup.
Syngenta (SYT +11.36%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at UBS, saying Monsanto is likely to raise its takeover bid for the company.
Nokia (NOK +3.12%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at Exane BNP Paribas.
General Electric (GE +1.18%) was awarded a $2 billion government contract for the T700 701D/401C engine in support of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, foreign military sales, and other government agency program requirements.
Reuters reports that Mylan (MYL +1.31%) executive chairman Robert Coury said it is not willing to sell itself to Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries (TEVA +0.90%) but would consider buying Teva “down the road.”
ESW Capital reported a 6.6% passive stake in Broadvision (BVSN +1.36%) .
Cyrus Capital Partners reported an 18.1% stake in Overseas Shipholding Group (OSGB +0.25%) .
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s economic calendar:
10:00 Labor market condition index
Notable earnings before today’s open: ACT, AER, AES, BID, CNP, CRK, CVT, DF, DISH, ENDP, EVEP, FISH, FRM, GWPH, ICPT, LGND, MBLY, MGIC, MHR, NTWK, PLUG, RBC, RDNT, SSYS, TICC, VRTS, W
Notable earnings after today’s close: AMBC, APEI, ARCW, ARNA, ASEI, ATHX, BDE, CALL, CHMI, CLNE, CYTX, DEPO, DRYS, DTSI, EAC, ELON, FF, FMC, FMI, FTEK, FXEN, GBDC, GTY, HALO, HI, IPAR, IPXL, JUNO, LPSN, MBI, MCC, MDR, MNTX, MODN, MR, MTZ, MVNR, OME, OMER, ONTY, OPK, ORIG, PAAS, PEIX, PINC, PVA, RAX, REN, SCLN, SF, SFXE, TCRD, TEP, TRQ, TTEC, UNXL, VRTU, XON, YY, ZGNX
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers