Before the Open (Mar 29)

Good morning. Happy Tuesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed. China and Australia dropped more than 1%; Taiwan was also weak. Malaysia did well. Europe currently leans to the downside. Belgium, Norway, Russia, Denmark and Portugal are down more than 1%. Greece, the Netherlands, France, Turkey and Hungary are doing okay. Futures here in the States point towards a gap down open for the cash market.
The dollar is flat. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are up.
Coming into this week I said the two biggest risks were: 1) Additional terrorist attacks in Europe and 2) tough Fed chatter about rates.
There hasn’t been a terrorist attack in Europe, but an EgyptAir flight heading to Cairo has been hijacked. So far no injuries or casualties have been reported, and most of the passengers have been freed.
Janet Yellen speaks to the Economic Club of New York today. The Fed was dovish at their last FOMC meeting, but some Fed officials have been much less dovish in speeches since. We’ll see what she says. From Barchart.com, San Francisco Fed President John Williams, speaking today in Singapore, said that the Fed’s future pace of interest rate hikes “will be, as we’ve said repeatedly, gradual and thoughtful.” He said the Fed will not go to negative rates in the “foreseeable future.” He said that “on the inflation side, we’re not quite where I’d like us to be, but recent developments have been very encouraging and add to my confidence that we’re on course to reach our goal.” He also said that Brexit is clearly a risk scenario that the Fed is worried about.
I continue to think we need to be defensive right now. The market came a long way in a short period of time…a handful of breadth indicators have been falling…and the quality and quantity of trading set-ups has declined. Swing trading is streaky. Sometimes the conditions are great, and we have many solid set-ups to choose from. Other times the conditions just aren’t right, and without the support from the overall market, it’s hard for individual stocks to run on their own. The latter is the current situation. Overall I’m giving the benefit of the doubt to the upside, but in the near term I don’t see a reason to be aggressive. The market has to move around, digest its gains and absorb the terrorist news along with the recent Fed talk. Don’t be a hero out there. No big bets right now. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Cleco Corp (CNL +0.51%) is up 13% this morning on news that the Macquarie-led group’s takeover of Cleco was approved by Louisiana.
SunEdison (SUNE +4.13%) is down 30% in pre-market trading on a WSJ report that the SEC is probing its cash liquidity disclosures.
TerraForm Global (GLBL -2.72%) is down -20% this morning on news that it will delay its 10-K filing.
Monro Muffler Brake (MNRO +1.59%) was rated a new ‘Outperform’ at Oppenheimer with a price target of $80.
HealthStream (HSTM -0.96%) was rated a new ‘Outperform’ at FBR Capital Markets with a 12-month price target of $27.
Synnex (SNX +0.60%) dropped nearly 7% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 adjusted EPS of $1.37, right on consensus, but said Q2 adjusted EPS will be $1.27-$1.33, well below consensus of $1.57.
Iconix Brand Group (ICON +2.39%) slipped almost 3% in after-hours trading after it lowered guidance on fiscal 2016 adjusted EPS to $1.15-$1.30 from a February forecast of $1.35-$1.50, below consensus of $1.41.
Foot Locker (FL +2.73%) climbed nearly 2% in after-hours trading after it was announced that it will replace Cameron International in the S&P 500 after the close of trading on Friday, April 1.
Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF +1.60%) was rated a new ‘Overweight’ at Pacific Crest with a 12-month price target of $27.
The U.S. Justice Department will withdraw legal action against Apple (AAPL -0.45%) after it said it successfully gained access to the data on the iPhone used by a man in the San Bernadino, CA, terrorism attack.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s Economic Calendar
5:15 Fed’s Williams: Monetary Policy and Global outlook
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
11:30 Janet Yellen speech
1:00 PM Results of $34B, 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