{"id":732,"date":"2008-12-04T06:30:53","date_gmt":"2008-12-04T11:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=732"},"modified":"2008-12-04T06:30:53","modified_gmt":"2008-12-04T11:30:53","slug":"before-the-open-161","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=732","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Thursday.
\nGap, gap, gap. Everyday the market gaps \u2013 they certainly provide trading opps for day traders but they frustrated the heck out of swing traders.
\nToday\u2019s gap will be to the downside. The market has done well the last two days. The intraday action has been choppy, but in each case, the market rallied into the close.
\nToday will start on a down note. Nas 100 futures<\/b> are down 20.25 (1.73%) to trade at 1135.75 and SPX futures<\/b> are down 13.25 (1.55%) to trade at 855.25.
\nThe foreign markets are mixed. In Asia\/Pacific<\/b>, Japan, Seoul and Taiwan are down more than 1% while China and Indonesia are up more than 1%. India closed up 5.5%.
\nIn Europe<\/b>, Amsterdam, Oslo and Italy are down at least 1.3% while Austria is up 2.25%. France is down a little\u2026Germany up a little\u2026.London down almost 1%.
\nThe European Central Bank<\/b> today cuts its refinancing rate by 75 bpo to 2.50%, which was a bit less than market hopes for a 100 bp rate cut. The Bank of England <\/b>today cut its benchmark base rate by 100 bp to 2.00%, which was in line with market expectations. Sweden’s central bank<\/b> today cut its benchmark interest rate by 175 bp to 2.00% to address economic weakness as the bank forecasts a decline of -0.5% in Swedens’ GDP rate in 2009 after modest +0.9% growth in 2008. New Zealand<\/b> today cut its benchmark interest rate by 150 bp today and Indonesia cut its benchmark rate for the first time in a year.
\nYesterday\u2026
\nUBS<\/b> (UBS) said global stocks will withstand a full-blown recession and surge in 2009 with the SPX moving up to 1,300 by the end of the year.
\nRetailers did well due to the ComScore news sales over the internet<\/b> on Monday surged 15% – second biggest on record.
\nHome builders<\/b> did well on news there was a 112% surge in weekly mortgage app as the yield on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage tumbled to a 3-1\/2 year low of 5.47%.
\nChallenger job cuts<\/b> for Nov surged to a 7-year high.
\nNov AVP employment<\/b> declined more than expected \u2013 to a 7-year high.
\nNovember ISM non-manufacturing index<\/b> experienced a larger-than-expected contraction \u2013 lowest level since the index was created in July 1997.
\nThe Fed\u2019s Beige Book<\/b> stated the US economy weakened across all regions since mid-Oct as it became tougher to get loans and demand for credit continued to shrink.
\nToday\u2026
\nNew jobless claims<\/b> drop unexpectedly while the number of people collecting unemployment insurance<\/b> reached a 26-year high.
\nLuxury home builder Toll Brothers <\/b> (TOL) said its fiscal Q4 loss narrowed slightly as they took fewer write-downs on land values. They then warned fiscal 2009 revenue will fall significantly below 2008 levels but declined to give an exact forecast for 2009 due to an uncertain economic environment.
\nSwitzerland\u2019s second-largest bank Credit Suisse<\/b> (CS) cut 5,300 jobs worldwide (11% of their work force) as another billion-dollar loss quarter looms.
\nPork producer Smithfield Foods <\/b> (SFD) reported a 76% drop in fiscal Q2 earnings due to high feed costs linked to skyrocketing grain prices.
\nMobile phone maker Nokia<\/b> (NOK) downgraded its Q4 market outlook for the second time saying the slowdown in the industry was bigger than expected.
\nTJX<\/b> (TJX) which operates TJ Maxx and Marshalls stores, said November same-store sales dropped 12%, mostly hurt by declining foreign currency exchange rates. The drop would have only been 6% without exchange rate issue.
\nAT&T<\/b> (T), the nation\u2019s largest telecom company, is cutting 12,000 jobs or 4% of its work force due to the economic downturn.
\nNissan<\/b> (NSANY) is recalling 430,000 vehicles worldwide \u2013 some with faulty braking lamps and others with ill-connected cables that could stall the engine.
\nSaks\u2019<\/b> (SKS) rating was cut by Standard & Poor\u2019s.
\nDillards<\/b> (DDS) same-store November sales dropped 9%.
\nFred\u2019s<\/b> (FRED) same-store sales fell 1.8%.
\nWal-Mart <\/b> (WMT) same-store sales rose 3.4%.
\nChildren\u2019s clothing retailers The Children\u2019s Place <\/b> (PLCE) reported same-store sales decreased 7%.
\nMothers Work<\/b> (MWRK) same-store rose 0.6%.
\nPacific Sunwear<\/b> (PSUN) same-store fell 10%.
\nLimited Brands <\/b> (LTD) same-store fell 12%
\nHonda <\/b> (HMC) is cutting jobs in UK and Japan because demand for new cars is plunging.
\nWilliams Sonoma<\/b> (WSM) reported a fiscal Q3 loss, boosted its fiscal 2008 earnings forecast slightly and maintained its Q4 outlook.
\nChemicals maker, DuPont<\/b> (DD) is cutting 2,500 jobs and trimming 4,000 contractors.
\nMerck<\/b> (MRK) issued 2009 guidance below analyst consensus.
\nEnergy equipment supplier American Superconductor<\/b> (AMSC) reaffirmed its fiscal 2008 outlook but gave a 2009 revenue outlook below expectations.
\nCapital One <\/b> (COF) is buying Chevy Chase Bank for $520 million in cash and stock.
\nGold<\/b> is down 1.26% and silver<\/b> down 3.32%.
\nCrude oil<\/b> down 1.14 to trade at 46.65. This is a 4-year low.
\n—————————————————————————————-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
UPGRADES<\/b><\/td>\n IIVI, ALTH, RRI, NILE, AMZN, YRCW, MUR, RHT, SNPS, AMAT <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DOWNGRADES<\/b><\/td>\n RCRC, JAS, FMCN, CREL, SSCC, POL, ARJ, HOTT, IACI, ADBE, KLAC <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

—————————————————————————————-<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
EARNINGS<\/b>
\n<\/tr>\n
before the open<\/td>\n STST, BRLI, CMN, CUB, FLOW, GRB, JTX, KFY, LAYN, MOV, PPC, SAFM, SIRO, SFD, TOL, UTIW, WSM <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
during trading<\/td>\nnone <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
after the close<\/td>\n CHP, CAE, CMTL, GMTN, GIII, GES, HRLY, IPSU, LQDT, LAVA, NOVL, NX, SWHC, TK, ULTA, WIND <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

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

Good morning. Happy Thursday. Gap, gap, gap. Everyday the market gaps \u2013 they certainly provide trading opps for day traders but they frustrated the heck out of swing traders. Today\u2019s gap will be to the downside. The market has done well the last two days. The intraday action has been choppy, but in each case, […]<\/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\/732"}],"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=732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}