{"id":6689,"date":"2013-05-22T07:39:58","date_gmt":"2013-05-22T12:39:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=6689"},"modified":"2013-05-22T07:39:58","modified_gmt":"2013-05-22T12:39:58","slug":"before-the-open-may-22-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=6689","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (May 22)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Wednesday. <\/span>
\nThe Asian\/Pacific markets closed with a bullish slant. Japan and South Korea did the best. Hong Kong pulled up the rear. Europe currently leans to the downside. Austria and Greece are down more than 1%; there are no notable winners. Futures here in the States point towards a positive open for the cash market.
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\nThe dollar is flat. Oil is down, copper up. Gold and silver are up.<\/span>
\nBernanke speaks today starting at 10:00 EST to the Joint Economic Committee of Congress. He’ll of course be questioned about QE unlimited and if Congress has any balls, he’ll be questioned about the effects QE is having on the stock market, namely if another bubble is forming.<\/span>
\nMinutes of the last FOMC meeting will be released at 2:00 EST. Traders will be looking for any discussion regarding tapering off bond purchases sooner rather than later.<\/span>
\nI’ve said several times the last few weeks to lay down your analysis tools because the market has a mind of its own right now. It’s going to do what it wants to do. But laying down my tools doesn’t mean I’m ignoring them. I’m still checking a few out to see how the current rally compares to past rallies. According to the following SPX Bullish % chart, the extent of the current rally has produced more buy signals on the point-n-figure charts than another other rally the last three years. A full 90%!. When the market first rallies, only the best companies move up. Then good and average companies join. Eventually the bottom of the barrel stocks participate. That’s what’s happening now. Everything, even the garbage stocks, are being bid up.<\/span>
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\nWe gotta stay long, but we also have to be careful about initiating new positions with the market being as stretched as it is.<\/span>
\nHere are some stock specific headlines from barchart.com…<\/span>
\nTarget (TGT +0.86%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS with items of 77 cents, weaker than consensus of 87 cents, and lowered guidance on fiscal 2013 EPS to $4.70-$4.90 from $4.85-$5.05.<\/span>
\nLowe’s (LOW +0.17%) reported Q1 EPS of 49 cents, weaker than expectations of 51 cents.<\/span>
\nStaples (SPLS +0.55%) reported Q1 EPS of 26 cents, lower than consensus of 27 cents.<\/span>
\nChesapeake (CHK +0.24%) was upgraded to “Positive” from “Neutral” at Susquehanna who also raised its price target on the stock to $26 from $23.<\/span>
\nXcel Energy (XEL +0.07%) boosted its dividend from 27 cents to 28 cents per share.<\/span>
\nMoody’s Investors Service placed Carnival’s (CCL -4.28%) A3 senior unsecured debt rating under review for possible downgrade.<\/span>
\nDycom (DY +0.34%) surged nearly 13% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 EPS of 21 cents, stronger than consensus of 17 cents, and raised guidance on Q4 EPS to 40 cents-47 cents, better than consensus of 38 cents.<\/span>
\nSak (SKS +11.32%) jumped 18% in after-hours trading after the NY Post reported that Saks has hired Goldman Sachs to explore strategic alternatives, including a possible sale.<\/span>
\nNetApp (NTAP -1.51%) rose nearly 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 EPS of 69 cents, better than consensus of 68 cents, and said it has undertaken a realignment of resources and restructuring.<\/span>
\nMore 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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