Before the Open (Apr 25)

Good morning. Happy Monday. Hope you had a good weekend.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly down. Singapore dropped 1.4%; Japan, Hong Kong, India and Indonesia were also weak. Europe is currently mostly down. Greece, the Czech Republic, Austria, the Netherlands, Finland and Italy are down more than 1%; London, Germany, France, Russia, Poland, Turkey and Denmark are also weak. Futures here in the States point towards a down open for the cash market.
—————
LB Weekly – the indexes, the breadth indicators, a look at the big picture
—————
The dollar is down. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are up.
As is typically the case, I don’t have anything to add to the report posted over the weekend. The conclusion of the report was…
The market continues to act well overall, but there are still warnings in the
near term. Specifically the lower number of new highs printed during this most
recent move to a higher high, the declining percentage of stocks above their
20- and 50-day moving averages and the lower number of stocks at a 10-day
high tell us this last push up came with less participation.

Overall I like what I see and believe dips will continue to get bought and new
highs made, but in the near term I’m much less excited and think a defensive
posture is warranted. The risk/rewards up here are not great, and internally
support for this rally is declining.
Earnings season continues in full-force this week. Several notable companies have gotten hit hard after releasing earnings, so it would not be wise to hold into a report. Sometimes the market shrugs off poor reports; this doesn’t seem to be the case this season.
The Fed meets Wednesday. With the market near its high, if the FOMC kind of/sort of wanted to raise rates, now’s their chance. The stock market has given them a cushion to work with.
That’s it for now. I’m long but playing it safe. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Marathon OIL (MRO +3.46%) slid over 2% in pre-market trading as the price of crude oil fell.
Public Storage (PSA +0.73%) dropped over 1% in pre-market trading after it was downgraded to ‘Sell’ form ‘Neutral’ at Goldman Sachs.
Freeport McMoRan (FCX +1.30%) and Alcoa (AA -0.19%) are both down over 1% in pre-market trading as the price of copper declined.
PulteGroup (PHM -0.42%) was downgraded to ‘Market Perform’ from ‘Outperform’ at Raymond James.
L Brands (LB -0.58%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Stifel with a price target of $90.
Hub Group (HUBG +2.26%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at BB&T Capital Markets.
Jazz Pharmaceuticals Plc (JAZZ +0.67%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at SunTrust with a price target of $200.
Discovery Communications (DISCK +0.98%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Topeka Capital Markets.
Joy Global (JOY -0.82%) was upgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Sell’ at Goldman Sachs.
International Paper (IP +1.86%) was downgraded to ‘Sector Perform’ from ‘Outperform’ at RBC Capital Markets.
Halliburton (HAL +1.26%) reported Q1 revenue of $4.2 billion, higher than consensus of $4.15 billion, said it cut over 6,000 jobs in Q1, and took a $2.1 billion after-tax restructuring charge in Q1.
Inflobox (BLOX +1.52%) jumped almost 6% in after-hours trading after Starboard Value reported a 7.5% stake in the company.
Cabot Oil & Gas (COG +1.88%) fell nearly 3% in after-hours trading after the New York Department of Environmental Conservation denied a key water permit for the Constitution gas pipeline.
Today’s Economic Calendar
10:00 New Home Sales
10:30 Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey
1:00 PM Results of $26B, 2-Year Note Auction
Today’s Earnings here
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers