{"id":4673,"date":"2011-07-27T07:28:55","date_gmt":"2011-07-27T12:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=4673"},"modified":"2011-07-27T07:28:55","modified_gmt":"2011-07-27T12:28:55","slug":"before-the-open-jul-27-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=4673","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Jul 27)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.<\/span>
\nThe Asian\/Pacific markets closed mixed. Europe is currently mostly down, but there are no standout losers. Futures here in the States point towards a negative open for the cash market.<\/span>
\nThe dollar is up slightly. Gold and silver are up slightly. Oil is down 80 cents. <\/span>
\nAnother day has passed and still no agreement in Washington regarding the debt ceiling and such, so for now the market will remain hostage. Prices have drifted down this week on light volume. Wall St. doesn’t like uncertainty, it doesn’t like being left in limbo. Wall St. is pretty good at dealing with “stuff,” but when it doesn’t know what that stuff is or will be or when it will happen, prices generally move down as traders take conservative, wait-and-see stances. That’s what’s been going on, and that’s what I suspect will continue to be the case until there’s some sort of resolution. Of course once some sort of resolution is a agreed on, August will be here – the slowest month of the year, the month traders typical take breaks before fall.<\/span>
\nThere have been so many reasons the market should have come down hard this summer, and here we are, in the top half of the y-t-d range. Why haven’t the bears been able to take control?<\/span>
\nOne reason is the dollar. It’s down about 10% since the beginning of the year, and as long as it stays weak, the market will a little bid under it. Of course the gains aren’t because companies are growing organically, it’s because they benefit from a favorable exchange rate. Here’s the dollar chart. I remain in conservative mode until things clear up.<\/span>
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\nheadlines at Yahoo Finance<\/a><\/span>
\ntoday’s upgrades\/downgrades<\/a><\/span>
\nyesterday’s sector performance<\/a><\/span>
\nthis week’s Earnings<\/a><\/span>
\nthis week’s Economic Numbers<\/a><\/span>
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