{"id":5797,"date":"2012-07-11T07:45:10","date_gmt":"2012-07-11T12:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=5797"},"modified":"2012-07-11T07:45:10","modified_gmt":"2012-07-11T12:45:10","slug":"before-the-open-jul-11-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=5797","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Jul 11)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.<\/span>
\nThe Asian\/Pacific markets closed mixed; there were no 1% movers. Europe is currently mostly down; there are no 1% movers there either. Futures here in the States point towards an up open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\nThe dollar is down. Oil is up; copper is flat. Gold and silver are up.<\/span>
\nSpain is hiking their VAT (value added tax) from 18% to 21% on Aug 1 and is cutting spending to slash 65 billion euros from their budget deficit by 2014. Hmmmm, I’m not so sure austerity is the answer. <\/span>
\nGermany sold 10-year bonds at 1.31% – the country’s lowest yield ever.<\/span>
\nFOMC minutes comes out at 2 pm EST – Wall St. will be looking for hints the committee is leaning towards more monetary stimulus.<\/span>
\nAlcoa beat earnings expectations on Monday and then fell 4.1% yesterday – not a great sign.<\/span>
\nPFGBest has been accused of misappropriating customer funds for more than two years. If regulators want this to stop, they gotta throw a bunch of people in jail.<\/span>
\nHere’s the 60-min S&P chart. A symmetrical triangle resolved down in May, and now we have a rising wedge and a four-day losing streak – the longest since mid May. Last week I said the bulls had a cushion to work with. That cushion is gone. What would be considered a normal counter move within an uptrend has taken place, so if the bulls wish to continue the uptrend which has been in place for almost six weeks, it’s time to step up and defend their turf. <\/span>
\n\"\"
\nMAR has earnings today after the close. GOOG tomorrow. JPM and WFC Friday. More after the open.<\/span>
\nheadlines at Yahoo Finance<\/a><\/span>
\nheadlines at MarketWatch<\/a><\/span>
\ntoday’s upgrades\/downgrades<\/a><\/span>
\nthis week’s Earnings<\/a><\/span>
\nthis week’s Economic Numbers<\/a><\/span>
\n