{"id":6107,"date":"2012-10-31T07:54:43","date_gmt":"2012-10-31T12:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=6107"},"modified":"2012-10-31T07:54:43","modified_gmt":"2012-10-31T12:54:43","slug":"before-the-open-oct-31-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=6107","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Oct 31)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Wednesday. We finally get to go back to work.<\/span>
\nMonday, the Asian\/Pacific markets closed mixed. Singapore dropped 0.9%, Taiwan 0.6%. No other index moved much. Tuesday, they closed mostly up. Japan dropped 1%, and Taiwan rallied 1.3% and Indonesia rallied 0.8%. Today, they closed mixed. Hong Kong and Japan gained 1%; South Korea rallied 0.7%.
\n<\/span>
\nMonday, Europe closed mixed and with a downward bias. Greece dropped more than 6%, France about 0.8% and Germany about 0.4%. Tuesday, it closed up across the board. Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Amsterdam and the Czech Republic led the way. Today, it’s currently mostly up. Greece is up 2.3%, Austria 0.9% and Germany 0.5%.<\/span>
\nFutures here in the States point towards a moderate gap up open relative to last Friday’s close.<\/span>
\nThe dollar is down. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are up.<\/span>
\nHere are headlines from Monday…<\/strong><\/span>
\nUBS announced they’re cutting 10,000 jobs. The stock jumped 5% on Monday, and is up 13.7% today.<\/span>
\nHonda posted a 36% jump in profits in the most recent quarter, but they lowered their annual forecast.<\/span>
\nClean Harbor (CLH) is buying Satety-Kleen for $1.25B.<\/span>
\nHarris (HRS) swung to a Q1 loss.<\/span>
\nBurger King (BKW) reported a big drop in net income, but they announced a 4 cent dividend.<\/span>
\nHere are headlines from Tuesday…<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe Bank of Japan boosted its asset-purchase program by $138B. The Bank will also offer unlimited loans to banks.<\/span>
\nThe People’s Bank of China pumped a record 206 billion RMB into its financial system.<\/span>
\nFord (F) lost money in Europe but did great in the US, and overall beat expectations.<\/span>
\nBP did well with earnings. They’re raising their dividend 12.5%.<\/span>
\nAveo Pharma (AVEO) posted a wider Q3 loss. They’re cutting 17% of their workforce.<\/span>
\nCardinal Health (CAH) did well with earnings…they’re raising their dividend from 23.75 cents to 27.50 cents.<\/span>
\nBaidu (BIDU) reported quarterly profits grew but revenue was down.<\/span>
\nAnd here are today’s stories…<\/strong><\/span>
\nGeneral Motors (GM) Q3 profit fell 12%…the stock is up almost 5%.<\/span>
\nPVH (PVH) is buying Warnaco (WRC) for $2.9B. PVH is up better than 9% and WRC is up 37%. This type of consolidation will give PVH a lot of pricing power.<\/span>
\nDisney (DIS) is buying privately held Lucasfilm for $4B…DIS is up 2.6%.<\/span>
\nAnheuser-Busch InBev’s (BUD) Q3 revenue rose 9.1% while sales dropped slightly.<\/span>
\nBarclays (BCS) reported a loss event though total income only dropped 2%.<\/span>
\nArcelorMittal (MT) posted a Q3 loss, cut their dividend. The stock is down 2%.<\/span>
\nMasterCard (MA) did well with earnings.<\/span>
\nAmerican Tower (AMT) swung to a Q3 profit.<\/span>
\nOPNET Tech (OPNT) is up 29%.<\/span>
\nEaton (ETN) posted lower profit and sales for Q3.<\/span>
\nQuanta Services (PWR) raised its 2012 profit forecast.<\/span>
\nGarmin (GRMN) did well with Q3 earnings…they raised their full-year outlook.<\/span>
\nAlso out with earnings (Leavitt Brothers is not a new source, I can’t cover all of these): Visa (V), Phillips 66 (PSX), Met Life (MET), Allstate (ALL), General Growth Properties (GGP), Tesoro (TSO), MGM Resorts (MGM), Caesars (CZR).<\/span>
\nI’m not sure what to expect today. Besides the normal pent up supply due to the market being closed the last two days, this is also the last day of October. Funds need today’s closing prices to send statements to clients. And of course earnings season is in full force, and for companies that were supposed to report Monday or Tuesday, you gotta do some research and find their new reporting days. And of course there’ll be all kinds of guesses as to what effect the hurricane will have earnings. Insurance companies will take big hits. Airlines and restaurants lost business that cannot be replaced. Retail stores on the other hand should be ok. If I was going to buy a pair of pants on Monday, I’ll just buy it at a later date.<\/span>
\nIt’s nice to be back at work. It felt weird to be off. 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