Before the Open (Aug 13)

Good morning. Happy Thursday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly up. Indonesia rallied 2.3%, China 1.8%, and Japan and Singapore moved up 1%. Europe is currently mostly up. Switzerland, Finland, Italy, Portugal and Denmark are up more than 2%; Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Prague and Spain are up more than 1%. Turkey is down. Futures here in the States point towards an up open for the cash market.
VIDEO overview of the Leavitt Brothers service…here
The dollar is up. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are down.
Are we having fun? The market gapped up big on Monday and closed with a huge gains. Then it gapped down Tuesday and closed with a big loss. Then yesterday it gapped down and posted a big morning loss but then rallied all the way back and closed flat (plus or minus a little depending on which indexes you key on). Huge movement. The S&P’s range is greater than 50 points.
The net of all this is the S&P is up 8.5 points on the week. The other indexes are also up.
If the market is trying to confuse as many people as possible, it’s succeeding.
If the market’s MO is to frustrate as many people as possible, mission accomplished.
If the market wants to make sure as few people as possible participate in the next trending move, it’s likely going to succeed at that too.
Swings used to last 1-2 weeks…then they reduced to lasting only 1-2 days…now we got a big move in both directions in the same day.
Some of the internals have improved a little. Others are simply holding steady.
My bias remains the same. Rallies are shortable until it stops working. There will be bounces along the way to get the bulls excited, but until the internals improve, until we see broad-based participation, rallies will continue to get sold. I’m not looking for a complete market meltdown or bear market (although that’s possible), I just favor the downside until market breadth improves.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Microsoft (MSFT +0.71%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Stifel.
Monster Beverage (MNST -0.46%) was upgraded to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Equal Weight’ at Morgan Stanley.
Kohl’s (KSS +0.15%) reported Q2 EPS of $1.07, weaker than consensus of $1.16.
Green Plains (GPRE +6.59%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Goldman Sachs.
Briggs & Stratton (BGG +1.20%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 51 cents, well above consensus of 38 cents, but then lowered guidance on fiscal 2016 EPS to $1.20-$1.36, below consensus of $1.38.
The Globe and Mail reported that people familiar with the situation said that Barrick Gold (ABX +5.86%) has hired Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce to pursue a sale of its smaller U.S. gold mines.
Whitebox Advisors reports 6.0% passive stake in Layne Christensen (LAYN -2.92%).
Flowers Foods (FLO +0.05%) reported Q2 adjusted EPS of 25 cents, higher than consensus of 22 cents, and then raised guidance on fiscal 2015 revenue to $3.786 billion-$3.861 billion, above consensus of $3.77 billion.
Copa Holdings (CPA -1.00%) slid 8% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 EPS ex-items of 93 cents, below consensus of $1.06.
Becker Drapkin reported a 9% stake in EMCORE (EMKR +0.14%).
Middleby (MIDD -1.03%) reported Q2 EPS of 95 cents, weaker than consensus of $1.00.
News Corp. (NWSA +1.15%) rose over 4% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 7 cents, higher than consensus of 5 cents.
CACI (CACI +0.32%) reported Q4 EPS of $1.68, below consensus of $1.71.
Cisco (CSCO -0.43%) climbed over 4% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 EPS of 59 cents, above consensus of 56 cents.
Roundy’s (RNDY +6.91%) reported a Q2 EPS loss of -2 cents, better than consensus for a -4 cent loss.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s Economic Calendar
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
8:30 Retail Sales
8:30 Import/Export Prices
9:45 Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index
10:00 Business Inventories
10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
1:00 PM Results of $16B, 30-Year Note Auction
4:30 PM Money Supply
4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet
Today’s Earnings here
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers