{"id":2896,"date":"2010-04-09T07:32:22","date_gmt":"2010-04-09T12:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=2896"},"modified":"2010-04-09T07:32:22","modified_gmt":"2010-04-09T12:32:22","slug":"before-the-open-apr-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=2896","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Apr 9)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Friday.<\/span>
\nThe Asian\/Pacific markets closed mostly up – China and India gained more than 1%. Europe is up across the board – half the markets are gaining at least 1%. Futures here in the States point towards a positive open for the cash market. This comes off a day the indexes gapped down and then grinded higher all day and got relatively close to their highs.<\/span>
\nSo far it’s been a pretty good week. The Dow is flat, the Nas is up 34 or 1.4%, the S&P is up 8 or 0.7% and the Russell is up 16 or 2.3%. All the indexes have made new highs this week.<\/span>
\nI take a bottom-up approach to my research. That means instead of only looking at the S&P 500, I look at the 500 stocks within the index because the index is a derivative – it derives its value from its components. Looking at many charts last night leads me to the following conclusion: the market is in good shape, and although you never know what will happen in the near term, I feel confident the overall trend will remain in place. <\/span>
\nHere’s the 60-min S&P chart. The rate of ascent has lessened the last three weeks, but the ascent remains firmly in place.<\/span>
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\nNews trumps the charts, and with earnings season starting next week (although it’s not a big week) be mindful of potential hiccups in the charts. Absent bad news, I expect the longer term trend is remain in place.<\/span>
\nheadlines at Yahoo Finance<\/a><\/span>
\ntoday’s upgrades\/downgrades<\/a><\/span>
\nthis week’s Earnings Reports<\/a><\/span>
\nthis week’s Economic Numbers<\/a><\/span>
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