{"id":5929,"date":"2012-08-31T07:41:45","date_gmt":"2012-08-31T12:41:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=5929"},"modified":"2012-08-31T07:41:45","modified_gmt":"2012-08-31T12:41:45","slug":"before-the-open-aug-31-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=5929","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Aug 31)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Friday.<\/span>
\nThe Asian\/Pacific markets closed mixed. India and Japan dropped at least 0.9%; Indonesia and New Zealand rallied more than 0.9%. Europe is currently up across the board. Austria, France, Germany, Amsterdam, Czech Republic and Greece are each up more than 1%. Futures here in the States point towards a moderate gap up open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\nThe dollar is down. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are up.<\/span>
\nThe S&P is down 11.7 on the week, so that’s the needed rally to avoid a second consecutive down week. With S&P futures being up about 12 points, it looks much more doable to recapture the loss than it did at yesterday’s close.<\/span>
\nThe big story today is the speech Ben Bernanke will be giving at the Jaskon Hole gathering. Wall St. will be listening to hints of QE3. The talk will be given 30 min after the open, and after some movement, I’d expect the market to drastically slow down because the market has been slow anyways and because we have a 3-day weekend ahead of us (the market is closed Monday).<\/span>
\nThere’s a media report in Germany that Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann has considered resigning amid disagreements over the ECB’s bond buying plans. <\/span>
\nThere isn’t a whole lotta company specific news out. SPLK is up 15% before the open. OVTI is up 11%. ZUMZ is down 11.5%.<\/span>
\nIf you’ve been laying low like me, there’s no reason to be super active today. I’ve been keeping position sizes smaller than usual and have been quick to take profits. Singles are good enough for me. This isn’t a time to hold with a trailing stop while attempting to milk a good trade for all it’s worth. Instead, we gotta be ahead of the curve taking profits when they’re available, not taking profits when we are forced to. <\/span>
\nThe fireworks happen 30 min after the open. Then enjoy your long weekend. 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