{"id":3945,"date":"2011-01-26T08:21:35","date_gmt":"2011-01-26T13:21:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=3945"},"modified":"2011-01-26T08:21:35","modified_gmt":"2011-01-26T13:21:35","slug":"before-the-open-jan-26-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=3945","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Jan 26)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Wednesday. Happy Fed Day.<\/span>
\nThe Asian\/Pacific markets closed mostly up – there were several 1% winners. Europe is currently up across the board – several 1% gainers there too. Futures here in the States point towards a moderate gap up open for the cash market.<\/span>
\nThe President gave his annual State of the Union speech last night. It seemed a little more serious than in years past, and with members of both parties sitting together as opposed to on opposite sides of the room, there was much less polarity. As usual the President says American is strong (blah blah blah), and he proposes lots of investment (spending). The problem with spending is it won’t be long before our debt gets so big, all money collected via income tax will not be enough to pay the interest on the debt. Then what happens? Maybe it’s because our elected officials have to rerun for office every 2, 4 and 6 years that everything they do is short term. <\/span>
\nToday Bernanke and company will announce their desired level for overnight rates and the discount rate. No rate change is expected (it would be shocking if they changed rates), so market participants will again be focused on the statement. But let’s remember what the Fed says often causes some movement in the near term but almost never changes the market’s overall sentiment.<\/span>
\nHere’s the daily SPX. January has been a pretty good up month, but the last two weeks have been sideways. Should the market decide to pullback, my first near term target is 1250. Upside target is a new high.<\/span>
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\nI remain net long, but I’m in conservative mode.<\/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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