{"id":6714,"date":"2013-05-29T07:30:54","date_gmt":"2013-05-29T12:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=6714"},"modified":"2013-05-29T07:30:54","modified_gmt":"2013-05-29T12:30:54","slug":"before-the-open-may-29-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=6714","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (May 29)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.<\/span>
\nThe Asian\/Pacific markets closed mostly up. China and Singapore dropped more than 1%; South Korea and Taiwan did well. Europe is currently mostly down. France, Germany, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Switzerland, London, Greece and the Czech Republic are down more than 1%. Futures here in the States point towards a big gap down for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\nThe dollar is down. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are up.<\/span>
\nYesterday the market gapped up but then drifted down most of the day, and although the indexes closed with gains, they closed in the bottom half of their intraday ranges. <\/span>
\nToday will be the 4th consecutive day the market will at least gap moderately at its open. Last Thursday and Friday the market gapped down and then grinded higher most of each day. Yesterday was the opposite. Today’s gap will erase yesterday’s gains and put the market back at Friday’s close.<\/span>
\nAll these gaps are increasing volatility which is characteristic of a topping pattern, not the typical calmness that takes place when the market trends up. <\/span>
\nAlso of note is something I mentioned over the weekend. I did not find many good set ups among high-volume large caps. Most of the good ones were lower-volume small or micro cap. Time and again I’d find a good set up and then look at the volume and realize it was too light to play. To me this is a warning. With limited funds, money flows the safe stocks. After that, additional money flows down to the mid and small caps. It’s only when there’s so much money flowing around that needs a home that the POS garbage at the bottom of the exchanges gets bid up. That’s what happening, and in my opinion, it’s a sign of too much fluff. I’m not predicting a top, but I am saying this development may need to be worked about before the market legs up again. <\/span>
\nHere are stock-specific stories from barchart…<\/span>
\nBrocade (BRCD -1.28%) was downgraded at Morgan Stanley to “Underweight” from “Equal Weight.”<\/span>
\nChico’s FAS (CHS +1.15%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 32 cents, weaker than consensus of 36 cents.<\/span>
\nWilliam Blair says that Cyberonics (CYBX +0.04%) should be bought at the open and keeps an Outperform rating on the stock.<\/span>
\nBrown Shoe (BWS +3.46%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 32 cents, well ahead of consensus of 22 cents, and raised guidance on fiscal 2013 EPS to $1.22-$1.29, higher than consensus of $1.23.<\/span>
\nSeaWorld (SEAS -0.74%) was initiated with a “Buy” at BofA\/Merrill with a target price of $43.<\/span>
\nThe WSJ reported that Apple (AAPL -0.83%) has agreed to pay $53 million to settle litigation related to warranty coverage for iPhone and iPad customers who were denied coverage under a company policy associated with handling water damage.<\/span>
\nWilliam Lyon Homes (WLH -0.68%) rose over 3% in after-hours trading after Paulson Property reported a 10.6% stake in the company.<\/span>
\nThe WSJ reported that Goodyear Tire (GT +2.54%) told employees that its tire plant in Amiens, France has not received any viable offers.<\/span>
\nSteel Excel reported a 14.3% stake in Forbes Energy (FES +0.84%) .<\/span>
\nUnited Natural Foods (UNFI +1.35%) reported Q3 EPS of 64 cents, right on consensus, and Reported Q3 revenue of $1.57 billion, slightly higher than consensus of $1.56 billion. The company also narrowed guidance on fiscal 2013 to $2.12-$2.14 from $2.12-$2.18, lower than consensus of $2.19.<\/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