{"id":5935,"date":"2012-09-04T07:40:40","date_gmt":"2012-09-04T12:40:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=5935"},"modified":"2012-09-04T07:40:40","modified_gmt":"2012-09-04T12:40:40","slug":"before-the-open-sep-4-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=5935","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Sep 4)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Tuesday. Hope you enjoyed your extra day off.<\/span>
\nThe Asian\/Pacific markets closed mostly down, but no index moved more than 1%. Europe is currently mostly down. Greece is up 1.1%, and Switzerland and London are down 1%. Futures here in the States are flat.
\n<\/span>
\nThe dollar is flat. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are up slightly.<\/span>
\nWe now enter September – by far the weakest month of the year. August was pretty slow. Volume was light; the intraday ranges were small; there was a definite lack of volatility and energy. As traders, we don’t care which way the market moves, as long as it moves. Hopefully a new month will bring a new personality…perhaps not today or tomorrow (often the slow August trading extends beyond Labor Day for a few days), but certainly by the end of the week or next week. <\/span>
\nThe good news is: the trend is up…most of the indexes are consolidating in continuation patterns…there are quite a few bullish patterns forming among individual stocks…the market has done a good job absorbing the news<\/span>
\nThe bad news is: the indexes have rallied for three straight months and most are near a previous high (it’s hard to build gains on top of gains)…China is still sucking wind…nothing in Europe has been solved…the US is arguably the strongest major market in the world (other markets need to catch up or the US may be pulled down)…September is the weaknest month of the year…the market has higher expectations of QE3, so if it doesn’t get it???…<\/span>
\nOverall, the trend is up, but headwinds loom. Be on your toes. The indexes could bust through the highs and squeeze the heck out of the shorts who’ve grown in numbers or get rejected and trap the bulls. <\/span>
\nECB president Draghi said he’s comfortable buying 3-year government bonds. <\/span>
\nMoody’s cut the outlook of the EU to negative<\/span>
\nThe Reserve Bank of Australia kept its benchmark interest rate at 3.5%.<\/span>
\nVRX is buying MRX.<\/span>
\nThe Domocratic National Convention starts tonight.<\/span>
\nHopefully a new personality emerges soon. 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>
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