Before the Open (May 12)

Good morning. Happy Tuesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed. China (up 1.6%), Australia (up 0.8%) and Indonesia (up 0.6%) did well. India (down 2.3%) and Kong Kong (down 1.1%) did not. Europe is currently posting pretty big across-the-board losses. Germany is down 2%; London, Spain, France, Austria and Stockholm are down more than 1%. Futures here in the States point towards a relatively big gap down for the cash market.
List of ETFs –> here
The dollar is down. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are down.
Going back two weeks, we’ve gotten relatively big back-to-back down days (Apr 29,30), back-to-back up days (May 1,4), big back-to-back down days (May 5,6), big back-to-back up days (May 7,8) and absent a big rally after today’s big gap down, we’ll get back-to-back down days (May 11,12).
The market can’t make up its mind and is chopping many traders to pieces.
I’ve been saying it for a while…be content with small gains…exits are relatively close to entries (time wise)…this isn’t a time to swing for the fences…don’t chop your account or over trade.
Day traders are in heaven. Trend traders, those of us who play the best stocks from the best groups within an overall trend and typically hold positions for several weeks have had to make adjustments or be chopped to pieces.
Make adjustments or lose money – it’s always the case. Making sure your trading style is in sync with the market is something that always needs to be done.
I don’t know when the character of the market will change, but until it does, you’d be wise to keep trades short term and focus on lots of little wins instead of big moves. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Verizon (VZ -0.68%) said it will to acquire AOL (AOL -1.91%) for $50 per share, or $4.4 billion.
Juniper (JNPR +0.41%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
Rackspace (RAX -1.61%) WAS downgraded to ‘Equal Weight’ from ‘Overweight’ at Morgan Stanley.
Public Storage (PSA -1.21%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Goldman Sachs.
International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF -0.12%) reported Q1 EPS of $1.45, better than consensus of $1.42.
Elliott Associates reported a 7.6% stake in CDK Global (CDK +2.00%) .
Providence Service (PRSC -0.83%) reported Q1 adj EPS of 77 cents, over double consensus of 38 cents.
MasTec (MTZ -0.38%) reported Q1 EPS of 7 cents, well below consensus of 18 cents, and then lowered guidance on fiscal 2015 EPS to $1.45, below consensus of $1.76.
Stifel Financial (SF +1.46%) reported Q1 core EPS of 65 cents, below consensus of 73 cents.
Ocean Rig UDW (ORIG -0.13%) reported Q1 EPS of 31 cents, nearly four times consensus of 8 cents.
DryShips (DRYS +2.86%) reported an unexpected Q1 EPS loss with charge of -9 cents, weaker than consensus of a 3 cent profit.
The Gap (GPS +0.66%) fell over 2% in after-hours trading after it reported that its April Same-Store-Sales were down -12% y/y and its Q1 Same-Store-Sales were down -4% y/y.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s economic calendar:
8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
9:00 NFIB Small Business Optimism Index
10:00 Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey
12:45 PM Fed’s Williams: Economic Outlook
1:00 PM Results of $24B, 3-Year Note Auction
2:00 PM Treasury Budget
Notable earnings before today’s open: ACM, ARCO, ATRO, CRCM, DCIX, ECA, EGRX, FMSA, IFF, LDOS, NAVB, OTIV
Notable earnings after today’s close: CARA, DCO, ESIO, EXAR, FIVN, GDDY, HDP, HMIN, LMNS, MCK, NVMI, OTC:OPWR, PE, PRSS, RENN, RSPP, SSRI, STKL, TUBE, VSLR, Z
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers