{"id":710,"date":"2008-12-19T06:30:08","date_gmt":"2008-12-19T11:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=710"},"modified":"2008-12-19T06:30:08","modified_gmt":"2008-12-19T11:30:08","slug":"before-the-open-150","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=710","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Friday. Happy Options Expiration Day.
\nThe Asian\/Pacific<\/b> markets closed mixed and with a downward bias. Hong Kong lost 2.4% and New Zealand lost 1.9%. There were no other 1% movers. China moved up slightly and Japan fell 0.9%.
\nEurope<\/b> is down across the board. Austria is down 3.7%…Norway and London down more than 2%…France, Germany, Amsterdam, Italy, Spain, Stockholm and Switzerland are down more than1%.
\nFutures<\/b> here in the States indicate a small gap down open. 40 min before the open, Nas 100 futures<\/b> are down 6.25 (0.51%) to trade at 1219.25 while SPX futures<\/b> are down 0.75 (0.08%) to trade at 891.75.
\nStandard & Poor\u2019s<\/b> cut the ratings on 12 US and European banks including: Bank of America, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Barclays, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, RBS, and UBS.
\nJapan’s central bank<\/b> cuts key interest rate to 0.1 percent to support contracting economy
\nOil and mining companies<\/b> are trading lower on this morning\u2019s drop in oil and gold prices. BP and Total are down at least 3% and BHP Biliton and Rio Tinto are each down 4%.
\nPalm<\/b> (PALM) is down 9% after reporting a loss for the sixth consecutive quarter on strong competition from Blackberry and iPhone units.
\nOracle<\/b> (ORCL) is little changed today after its fiscal Q2 earnings report and Q3 guidance was in line with market expectations
\nPanasonic<\/b> began a $9 billion takeover of Sanyo.
\nHank Paulson<\/b> is echoing Bush\u2019s words\u2026an \u201corderly\u201d bankruptcy for the automakers may be best.
\nToyota<\/b> (TM) is likely to post their first ever loss for the fiscal year through March 2009, Japanese media reports said Friday, highlighting the dire conditions faced by global automakers.
\nJabil<\/b> (JBL) Q1 profits falls 26%, revenue flat.
\nCarMax<\/b> (KMX) swung to a Q3 loss as sales fall due to the poor economy.
\nDomtar<\/b> (UFS) which owns timberlands and makes paper, said Friday that a Quebec sawmill it temporarily idled in 2006 will be closed permanently because of the deteriorating U.S. housing market.
\nTexas Instruments<\/b> (TXN) is cutting 400 jobs in the Philippines due to falling demand for semiconductors.
\nFrench bank Natixis<\/b> is cutting its investment banking staff by 15 percent, or 840 jobs.
\nCintas<\/b> (CTAS) Q2 profit fell 13%…the company is withdrawing 2009 guidance.
\nCummins Emissions<\/b>, the emissions subsidiary of diesel engine maker Cummins<\/b> (CMI) is laying of 100 workers at a Wisconsin factory.
\nArmstrong World Industries<\/b> (AWI) did not declare a special cash dividend in its regular Dec meeting.
\nRestaurant chain Ruby Tuesday<\/b> (RT) said it will record restructuring and impairment charges in its second and third fiscal quarters due to restaurant closures.
\nHeidrick & Struggles<\/b> International Inc., an executive search and consulting firm, said late Thursday it will cut its work force by 15 percent as part of cost-reduction efforts amid the slowing economy.
\nRhode Island\u2019s<\/b> unemployment rate held steady at 9.3%. Connecticut\u2019s rate climbed to 6.6%.
\nMGM Mirage<\/b> (MGM) is set to hire 12,000 workers for $9.2B CityCenter on Las Vegas Strip.
\nCentene<\/b> (CNC) sets 2009 profit and revenue guidance below estimates, backs adjusted 2008 outlook.
\n3Com<\/b> (COMS) swung to a fiscal Q2 profit after losing move in the year-ago period.
\nAccenture\u2019s <\/b> (ACN) Q1 net income rose 26% from the year-ago period.
\nChoice Hotels<\/b> (CHH) upped its share buyback plans for 5 million shares.
\nDarden Restaurants <\/b> (DRI) beat profit and revenue expectations.
\nLSI<\/b> (LSI) lowered its Q4 outlook because of what it called a weakening economic environment.
\nPotash<\/b> (POT) has lowered its full-year earnings guidance because of softness in global fertilizer demand.
\nResearch in Motion <\/b> (RIMM) saw its earnings rise in its fiscal third quarter as the smartphone maker issued a forecast for the current period that was above Wall Street’s estimates.
\nWeyerhaeuser<\/b> (WY) is reducing its quarterly dividend 25%.
\nGold<\/b> is down 1.76% and silver<\/b> is down 1.73%.
\nCrude oil<\/b> is down 1.81 to trade at 34.41 \u2013 it\u2019s lowest level in 5 years.
\n—————————————————————————————-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
UPGRADES<\/b><\/td>\n\n

ASML, ALKS, AIZ, UNM<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

DOWNGRADES<\/b><\/td>\n ASCA, WOR, FULT, PNK, HPGP, HLND, AMZN, EBAY, RBA, RIMM, OXY, FLR, PT, AAUK, MWE, GNW, PRU, CENX <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

—————————————————————————————-<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
EARNINGS<\/b>
\n<\/tr>\n
before the open<\/td>\n KMX, CTAS, JBL, STEI <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
during trading<\/td>\nnone <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
after the close<\/td>\nnone<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

—————————————————————————————-
\nECONOMIC RELEASES<\/b>
\nnone
\n—————————————————————————————-<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Friday. Happy Options Expiration Day. The Asian\/Pacific markets closed mixed and with a downward bias. Hong Kong lost 2.4% and New Zealand lost 1.9%. There were no other 1% movers. China moved up slightly and Japan fell 0.9%. Europe is down across the board. Austria is down 3.7%…Norway and London down more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}