{"id":724,"date":"2008-12-09T06:30:29","date_gmt":"2008-12-09T11:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=724"},"modified":"2008-12-09T06:30:29","modified_gmt":"2008-12-09T11:30:29","slug":"before-the-open-157","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=724","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Tuesday.
\n35 min before the open, the Nas 100 futures<\/b> are down 9.50 (0.78%) to trade at 1202.50 while the SPX futures<\/b> are down 5.75 (0.64%) to trade at 899.0.
\nIn Asia\/Pacific<\/b>, the markets closed mixed with an upward bias. China lost 2.5% and Hong Kong lost 1.9% while Indonesia and Singapore gained more than 5% and Taiwan and India gained over 1%.
\nIn Europe<\/b>, the markets have a definite upward bias. Only Belgium is down more than 1% while Austria is up 6.2%, France is up 1.2%, London up 1% and several others up fractionally.
\nJapan\u2019s revised Q3 GDP<\/b> data revealed a deeper recession than first thought as exports weakened, domestic demand fell and companies bracing for a prolonged downturn pared inventories.
\nFinland\u2019s central bank<\/b> expects the Finland economy to shrink 0.5% in 2009.
\nThe Latvian economy<\/b> shrunk 4.6% in Q3.
\nThe Brazilian economy<\/b> expanded 6.8% in Q3 before the global economic slowdown hit hard in Oct, says Brazil\u2019s government.
\nThe solar sector<\/b> may be hurt today by Q-Cells’ reduction in its 2008 net income guidance to 185 million euros from 215 million euros and in its 2008 revenue to 1.225 billion euros from 1.35 billion euros, due to weakening demand and postponed orders.
\nThe Bank of Canada<\/b> today is expected to cut rates 50 basis points.
\nSony<\/b> (SNE) has announced plans to cut 8,000 jobs as part of a cost-cutting move.
\nIllinois Tool Works<\/b> (ITW) has issued downside earnings and revenue guidance for Q4.
\nMetLife<\/b> (MET) issued disappointing guidance for fiscal Q4 and upcoming fiscal year.
\n3M<\/b> (MMM) issued less-than-expected outlook for fiscal 2008 and 2009.
\nFedEx <\/b> (FDX) says it expects Q2 earnings to be $1.58 which is above consensus estimate of $1.54, but they\u2019re fiscal 2009 projections are below estimates.
\nTexas Instruments<\/b> (TXN) lowered earnings and revenue guidance.
\nDanaher<\/b> (DHR) expects Q4 earnings and revenue to be below current analyst estimates.
\nH&R Block\u2019s<\/b> (HRB) revenue was short of expectations while their quarterly loss was in-line. Their estimates for 2009 bracket the current consensus.
\nNational Semi <\/b> (NSM) missed revenue and earnings numbers and issued downside guidance for Q3.
\nMorgan Stanley<\/b> (MS) has predicted the SPX will rally 11% from last Friday\u2019s close into the end of the year.
\nBarclays<\/b> (BCS) predicts M&A activity, which is already down 36% so far this year, will decline 30% next year.
\nAutoZone<\/b> (AZO) has posted a decline in Q1 profits amid higher expenses and weak domestic same-store sales.
\nChrysler<\/b> and China’s Chery<\/b> have called off talks on cooperation, blaming global economic crisis.
\nJarden<\/b> (JAH) predicted Q4 revenue comes in below expectations.
\nMoody\u2019s<\/b> has slashed the ratings on Tribune Co. <\/b> and said it will withdraw earnings altogether after the newspaper publisher filed for bankruptcy. I\u2019m not sure what we\u2019d do with companies like Moody\u2019s.
\nPep Boys<\/b> (PBY) narrowed their Q3 loss.
\nMethode Electronics<\/b> (MEI) Q2 profit plunged on a mix of charges and weaker sales.
\nMolex<\/b> (MOLX) has lowered its Q4 outlook on lower demand and plans to cut jobs.
\nFive states, including Ohio, are in danger of running out of funds they use to pay unemployment benefits,<\/b> meaning they may have no choice but to increase taxes on employers, cut benefits for laid-off workers or borrow the cash.
\nGold<\/b> is down 1.2% and silver<\/b> is down 2.9%.
\nCrude oil<\/b> is up 11 cents to trade at 43.82.
\n—————————————————————————————-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
UPGRADES<\/b><\/td>\n NHP, STLY, OCR, GMXR <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DOWNGRADES<\/b><\/td>\n HOT, CNQR, CTXS, DIS, TXN, STP, BLK, RIO , ITW, MMM, UPS, RFMD, CBEY, ATU, ROP <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

—————————————————————————————-<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
EARNINGS<\/b>
\n<\/tr>\n
before the open<\/td>\n ALOG, AZO, HITK, KR, MEI, TTC, MTN <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
during trading<\/td>\nnone <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
after the close<\/td>\n ADCT, ARST, COO, FNSR, GIII, OXM, PLL, PLAB, SAI <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

—————————————————————————————-
\nECONOMIC RELEASES<\/b>
\n10:00 Pending Home Sales
\n—————————————————————————————-<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Tuesday. 35 min before the open, the Nas 100 futures are down 9.50 (0.78%) to trade at 1202.50 while the SPX futures are down 5.75 (0.64%) to trade at 899.0. In Asia\/Pacific, the markets closed mixed with an upward bias. China lost 2.5% and Hong Kong lost 1.9% while Indonesia and Singapore […]<\/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\/724"}],"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=724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}