Before the Open (Jul 16)

Good morning. Happy Thursday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed with a lean to the upside. India, South Korea, Australia and Japan led the way. Europe is currently up across-the-board. Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden, Prague, Poland, Denmark, Finland, Spain, Italy and Portugal are up more than 1%. Futures here in the States point towards a moderate gap up open for the cash market.
VIDEO: Leavitt Brothers Overview
The dollar is up. Oil is up, copper is down. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are down.
Yesterday was a disconnected day. The indexes each digested their recent gains in their own way and generally didn’t move with each other. The large caps closed with a small gain; the small caps closed with a moderate loss.
Right now the indexes are sitting in a place where nothing is imminent. Nobody has their back against the wall. Nobody has to dig in and defend their turf. The indexes are in the upper-halves of their ranges and have wiggle room in both directions.
The pattern of rallies getting sold and dips getting bought remains in place, and until this changes, there’s no sense anticipating the change.
Many indicators moved to extreme levels and have reversed. Hence why I changed by bias to ‘up’ late last week and have kept it in place since. We don’t know what’s going to happen. Maybe we get more upside and then a trip back down. Or maybe the indexes will all break out to new highs. Our job is to get in and play good defense. Right now we’re long, and for now I’m staying long. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Goldman Sachs (GS +0.38%) reported Q2 EPS $4.75 ex-items, well above consensus of $3.89.
eBay (EBAY -0.24%) reported Q2 EPS of 76 cents, higher than consensus of 73 cents.
UnitedHealth Group (UNH +0.69%) reported Q2 EPS of $1.64, better than consensus of $1.59.
PPG Industries (PPG -0.54%) reported Q2 EPS of $1.67, above consensus of $1.64.
Sherwin-Williams (SHW -0.75%) reported Q2 EPS of $3.70, below consensus of $3.81.
Domino’s Pizza (DPZ -0.21%) reported Q2 EPS of 81 cents, better than consensus of 79 cents.
HD Supply (HDS -0.76%) lowered guidance on Q2 adjusted EPS to 50 cents-56 cents, below consensus of 65 cents.
Starbucks (SBUX -0.74%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ at BTIG with a price target of $64.
Chipotle (CMG +0.87%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ at BTIG with a price target of $779.
Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD -1.48%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ at BTIG with a price target of $212.
HCA Holdings (HCA -0.63%) lowered guidance on Q2 EPS to about $1.18, less than consensus $1.32, and said Q2 revenue will be $9.9 billion, below consensus of $9.7 billion.
Universal Forest (UFPI -1.42%) reported Q2 EPS of $1.28, above consensus of $1.18, although Q2 revenue of $838.2 million was below consensus of $851.44 million.
Kinder Morgan (KMI -1.16%) reported Q2 EPS of 15 cents, below consensus of 19 cents.
Netflix (NFLX -86.03%) jumped 10% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 EPS of 6 cents, higher than consensus of 4 cents.
Intel (INTC +0.13%) rose over 4% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 EPS of 55 cents, better than consensus of 50 cents.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s economic calendar:
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
9:45 Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index
10:00 Philly Fed Business Outlook
10:00 NAHB Housing Market Index
10:00 Yellen delivers semi-annual monetary policy
10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
4:00 PM Treasury International Capital
4:30 PM Money Supply
4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet
Notable earnings before today’s open: ANFI, BBT, BX, C, DPZ, EBAY, FCFS, FCS, FRC, GS, HOMB, KEY, MTB, MTG, PM, PPG, PVTB, SHW, SON, TSM, TZOO, UNH, WBS, WNS
Notable earnings after today’s close: AMD, ANGO, ASB, CE, CTAS, CYT, EGP, GOOG, MAT, PBCT, SLB, SWI
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers