{"id":4015,"date":"2011-02-18T08:12:10","date_gmt":"2011-02-18T13:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=4015"},"modified":"2011-02-18T08:12:10","modified_gmt":"2011-02-18T13:12:10","slug":"before-the-open-feb-18-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=4015","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Feb 18)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Friday.<\/span>
\nThe Asian\/Pacific markets closed mostly up – China dropped almost 1%, but Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Korea and Taiwan each moved up almost 2%. Europe is currently mostly down – there are no standout winners or losers. Futrues here in the States point toward a flat open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\nOptions expire today. At the beginning of the week, the open-interest data suggested a flat or slightly down week was needed to cause the most pain. So far we’ve gotten an up week, so a few call buyers will make money. <\/span>
\nThe market is closed Monday for Washington’s b-day. Given the light volume the last five days, it’s likely we get more of the same ahead of the 3-day weekend.<\/span>
\nThe song remains the same, so I don’t have anything to add to what I’ve already stated this week. The market wants to go up, and nothing thrown in its way has been able to cause even a little hiccup. Whether it be poor earnings, poor economic numbers, unrest overseas, technical indicators being overbought or breadth indicators hitting extreme levels, the market has continued on with a 1-track mind. Heck even good news which under normal circumstances may cause a “buy the rumor, sell the news” scenario has been taken in stride.<\/span>
\nLong is the only way to be. More after the open.<\/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>
\n