{"id":5899,"date":"2012-08-17T07:36:33","date_gmt":"2012-08-17T12:36:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=5899"},"modified":"2012-08-17T07:36:33","modified_gmt":"2012-08-17T12:36:33","slug":"before-the-open-aug-17-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=5899","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Aug 17)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Friday.<\/span>
\nThe Asian\/Pacific markets closed mixed and with an upward bias. Australia, Hong Kong and Japan did fairly well. Europe is currently mostly up. Belgium is up 1.1%; Austria and Stockholm are also doing well. Futures here in the States point towards a slight down open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\nThe dollar is up. Oil is down; copper is up. Gold and silver are down.<\/span>
\nSpanish bad bank loans have hit a new high. Otherwise there isn’t any noteworthy news from overseas – just the usual rumblings. <\/span>
\nToday is options expiration day here in the US. I don’t expect it to have a big effect. Most of the movement that needed to take place has already taken place, and most positions that needed to be unwound have already been exited. The media will make this out to be a big day, but that’s just because they need something to talk about. It’s just another day during a slow month. <\/span>
\nHere’s an updated of the daily index charts. The Dow broke out from its flag pattern and can now eye its summer high. The Nas followed through on the breakout that took place two days ago. The S&P has invalidated the small rising wedge that was forming. The Russell busted out and closed at its highest level since early July. Solid, across-the-board movement.<\/span>
\n\"\"
\nBut don’t get lazy out there. Don’t get complacent. News from Europe has dried up this month, so you never know. My bias remains to the upside (we had many pretty good set ups to play the last few weeks), but I’m not putting all my chips on the table. I believe this is still a time to play it safe and preserve captital. 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