Before the Open (Dec 29)

Good morning. Happy Tuesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly up. Australia and New Zealand rallied better than 1%; China, Japan and Malaysia also did well. Europe is mostly up. Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Poland, Finland and Italy are up more than 1%. Futures here in the States point towards a moderate gap up open for the cash market.
The dollar is up. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are down.
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VIDEO: Leavitt Brothers Overview
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The indexes posted across-the-board losses yesterday, but the closes were near the intraday highs. Volume was light, and the activity level was low. Unlike last week, where we got some nice intraday trends, there was much less to work with yesterday. No biggie. This time of year is tough to trade individual stocks because we don’t often get much follow through, but if you’re short term oriented, trading the indexes does tend to provide at least one decent set up each day.
Keeping an eye on historical tendencies…
This is day 3 of the “Santa Clause Rally,” which comprises the last 5 days of December and first 2 of January. The market typically rallies during this stretch. So far it’s down, but not down much.
The S&P is down 0.12% year-to-date heading into today. It’ll need to move up a tiny amount the next three days to avoid posting its first loss in years ending in a 5 (2005, 1995, etc).
The S&P is down 1.15% during December heading into today. That’s the gain needed to avoid the first back-to-back down Decembers in about 30 years.
Otherwise no big bets right now. Overall I’d consider the market neutral, and there are some issue brewing/persisting beneath the surface. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Rambus (RMBS +0.34%) gained nearly 2% in after-hours trading after it said it renewed a patent license pact with Toshiba.
Pep Boys Manny, Moe & Jack (PBY -0.57%) climbed over 5% in after-hours trading after Carl Icahn raised his offer for Pep Boys to $18.50 a share, above the $17 a share offer Bridgestone had made for the company.
Manitowoc (MTW -3.76%) jumped 6% in after-hours trading after the company named Barry Pennypacker the CEO of Manitowoc Cranes.
IRobot (IRBT -0.28%) authorized a new share repurchase program that may buy up to 1 million shares beginning Jan 4 through Dec 31, 2016.
Chimerix (CMRX -81.39%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Overweight’ at JPMorgan Chase.
Whole Foods Markets (WFM -0.72%) agreed to pay $500,000 to settle an investigation that it overcharged customers for prepackaged food in New York City.
Willis Group Holdings (WSH +0.28%) rose over 3% in after-hours trading after it was announced that Willis will replace Fossil Group (FOSL -2.26%) in the S&P 500 after the close of trading Monday, Jan 4.
Exact Sciences (EXAS +0.42%) gained over 1% in after-hours trading after it filed a Form 4 with the SEC, a sign of insider buying of the stock.
Lifelock (LOCK) rose almost 1% in after-hours trading after it said in an 8-K that it purchased identity theft services from Equifax Consumer Services.
TerraForm Power (TERP -2.30%) climbed nearly 5% in after-hours trading after it filed a Form 4 with the SEC, a sign of insider buying of the stock.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s Economic Calendar
8:30 International trade in goods
8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
9:00 S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index
10:00 Consumer Confidence
10:00 State Street Investor Confidence Index
1:00 PM Results of $35B, 5-Year Note Auction
Today’s Earnings here
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers