{"id":712,"date":"2008-12-18T06:30:59","date_gmt":"2008-12-18T11:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=712"},"modified":"2008-12-18T06:30:59","modified_gmt":"2008-12-18T11:30:59","slug":"before-the-open-151","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=712","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Thursday.
\nThe Asian\/Pacific<\/b> markets had a good day. India rallied 3.7%, China 2% and Singapore and Taiwan more than 1%. Only Indonesia lost ground (down 0.90%).
\nEurope<\/b> is mixed with a bullish slant, but there are no big movers. France is down, Germany up and London is flat.
\nFutures<\/b> here in the States indicate a small gap up open. 30 min before the open, Nas 100 futures<\/b> are flat and trading at 1229.25 while SPX futures<\/b> are up 6.25 (0.69%) to trade at 909.25.
\nThe German business confidence<\/b> index dropped more than expected to its lowest level since 1982.
\nFinland<\/b> has lowered their 2008 growth forecast to 1.5%, says 2009 is too uncertain to predict.
\nThe Obama team<\/b> is weighing an $850 billion stimulus package.
\nMEMC Electronics<\/b> (WFR) reduced its Q4 sales guidance below analyst consensus.
\nLennar\u2019s <\/b> (LEN) Q4 loss narrowed on smaller charges to write down land values; revenue declined.
\nChrysler<\/b> is closing all its North American manufacturing plants for at least a month as they wait word about government loans.
\nFedEx <\/b> (FDX) reported a higher quarterly net profit that was lifted by falling fuel costs, but they warned 2009 would be a tough year. The company said this is the worst economic condition in their 35-year history.
\nRite Aid\u2019s <\/b> (RAD) Q3 loss nearly tripled due to costs of closing 229 stores and continuing struggles for its Brooks Eckerd pharmacies.
\nCoca-Cola Enterprises<\/b> (CCE) boosted its full-year outlook Thursday, saying stronger-than-expected volume in North America and moderating costs for commodities would boost results.
\nAvery Dennison<\/b> (AVY) says sales have fallen more than expected so they may not hit their guidance they lowered just two months ago.
\nFormFactor <\/b> (FORM) has lowered its Q4 profit and sales outlook, saying demand from its memory chip customers is weakening.
\nWinnebago<\/b> (WGO) posted a Q1 loss due to some potential customers staying away from dealerships altogether and others not being able to get financing.
\nStandard & Poors <\/b>is adding SL Green Realty<\/b> (SLG) to the S&P 400 index.
\nIngersoll-Rand<\/b> (IR) is cutting its Q4 earnings forecast by more than half due to a sharp drop-off in revenue.
\nAdvertising Age<\/b> says Omnicom<\/b> (OMC) may cut as much as 3,500 jobs.
\nAlliance Imaging<\/b> (AIQ) has maintained its 2008 outlook and adjusted pretax profit and revenue generally beyond Wall Street estimates.
\nCIT Group<\/b> (CIT) is taking further steps to become a bank holding company.
\nAutozone <\/b> (AZO) has approved a wider stock repurchase program.
\nCovance <\/b> (COV) lowers full-year profit outlook due to lower demand for early drug development services.
\nDiscover Financial<\/b> (DFS) posted a Q4 profit as it receives $863 million from a lawsuit.
\nGold<\/b> is down 0.46% and silver<\/b> is down 2.29%
\nCrude oil<\/b> is 42 cents to trade at 40.48.
\n—————————————————————————————-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
UPGRADES<\/b><\/td>\n WTNY, AACC, CAKE, NTRS, SBAC, CYN, STLD, XLNX, ALTR <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DOWNGRADES<\/b><\/td>\n MDZ, LVS, CCRT, CTXS, ELY, FSRV, FLR, TTWO, HOT, BK, CCI, AMT, BUCY, JOYG, HCP, MT, TXN, SIMG, NYX, NSR, NSM, MLNX, ITLN, ISIL, INTC, CY, CNXT, ATHR, AMD, ROCK, ALGT <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

—————————————————————————————-<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
EARNINGS<\/b>
\n<\/tr>\n
before the open<\/td>\n ATU, CCL, DFS, FDX, LEN, MCS, PIR, PRGS, RAD, SCHL, VOL, WGO, WOR <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
during trading<\/td>\nnone <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
after the close<\/td>\n COMS, ACN, DRI, FSII, ORCL, PALM, PLAB, ZQK, RIMM, RICK, SHFL, SMOD, TK <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

—————————————————————————————-
\nECONOMIC RELEASES<\/b>
\n8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
\n10:00 Leading Indicators
\n10:00 Philadelphia Fed
\n—————————————————————————————-<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Thursday. The Asian\/Pacific markets had a good day. India rallied 3.7%, China 2% and Singapore and Taiwan more than 1%. Only Indonesia lost ground (down 0.90%). Europe is mixed with a bullish slant, but there are no big movers. France is down, Germany up and London is flat. Futures here in the […]<\/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\/712"}],"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=712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}