Before the Open (May 27)

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly down. Singapore, South Korea and Indonesia dropped more than 1%; Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Hong Kong were also weak. China closed up. Europe is currently mostly up. Italy, Stockholm, Switzerland, Prague and Greece are up more than 0.75%. Futures here in the States point towards a slight up open for the cash market.
Leavitt Brothers Special Offer

The dollar is up. Oil is flat, copper is down. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are down.
The market suffered a painful drop yesterday but closed off its low. Warnings had been flashed all last week that the market’s upside was likely limited due to weak breadth and the inability of the small caps to match the movement of the large caps.
It’s certainly possible a top is in place and a character shift underway, but let’s remember the bulls have mostly been in control for six years. There have been a couple noticeable dips along the way, but they’ve always been bought. The bulls get the benefit of the doubt. They’ve made a killing the last six years, while the bears have repeatedly gotten crushed.
Nobody knows what’s going to happen…it’s one of the job hazards of being a trader. You have to be comfortable operating in an environment where the future is uncertain. Take good positions under favorable conditions and then manage trades wisely.
Right now, in the near term, the path of least resistance is down. But to assume the market is going to completely fall apart…well, good luck with that. Every other dip has gotten bought the last six months. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Tiffany & Co. (TIF -1.59%) reported Q1 EPS of 81 cents, higher than consensus of 69 cents.
Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. (KORS -1.69%) reported Q4 EPS of 90 cents, below consensus of 91 cents.
Brown Shoe (BWS -2.77%) reported Q1 EPS of 44 cents, above consensus of 36 cents.
eBay (EBAY -1.67%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ at Topeka with a price target of $68.
T-Mobile (TMUS +5.10%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Outperform’ at Macquarie.
Reynolds American (RAI +0.48%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at Cowen.
AutoZone (AZO -0.11%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Gabelli.
Marathon Petroleum (MPC -2.56%) and Phillips 66 (PSX -1.99%) were both upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Perform’ at Oppenheimer.
Ulta Salon (ULTA -0.71%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ at Buckingham with a price target of $182.
Coach (COH -2.58%) was initiated with an ‘Underweight’ at BB&T.
Vipshop (VIPS +4.48%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ at Stifel with a price target of $32.
Barron’s says that General Motors (GM -0.50%) still looks like a buy, despite pending criminal charges against the company.
United Rentals (URI -0.51%) said it has added ten locations in Canada and the U.S.
Hormel Foods (HRL -0.54%) said it will acquire Applegate Farms for $775 million.
Eminence Capital reported a 5.1% passive stake in Yelp (YELP -2.00%).
Hirzel Capital reported a 9.0% passive stake in Rex Energy (REXX -1.66%).
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s economic calendar:
7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
1:00 PM Results of $13B, 2-Year FRN Auction
1:00 PM Results of $35B, 5-Year Note Auction
Notable earnings before today’s open: BMO, BWS, CHS, DSW, KORS, MOV, TIF, TOL, VAL
Notable earnings after today’s close: ANW, COST, CPRT, PANW, PLKI, RENT, SMTC, TLYS, UHAL
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers