{"id":6833,"date":"2013-07-17T07:20:57","date_gmt":"2013-07-17T12:20:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=6833"},"modified":"2013-07-17T07:20:57","modified_gmt":"2013-07-17T12:20:57","slug":"before-the-open-jul-17-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=6833","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Jul 17)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.<\/span>
\nThe Asian\/Pacific markets closed mixed and with an upward bias. China dropped 1%; Indonesia and South Korea did well. Europe is currently trading mixed and with an upward bias. Belgium and the Czech Republic are down the most. Amsterdam, Italy and Greece are leading to the upside. Futures here in the States suggest a flat open for the cash market.
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\nThe dollar is up slightly. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down.<\/span>
\nIt’s been a slow week so far. The market moved up on Monday on very light volume, and then it moved down yesterday on light volume which was stronger than Monday. The net is a slightly down week so far. No big deal – especially considering the market had moved vertically up for three straight weeks. <\/span>
\nToday, Bernanke speaks before Congress 30 minutes after the open. Everyone of course will be listening for clues as to when the Fed will taper and how quickly it’ll happen. Currently the Fed buys about $85B in bonds every month to keep long term rates low and to sprinkle money throughout the economy. It is a big deal that this program will be wound down over the next year. It has, after all, been a big driver in the economy and on corporate balance sheets. <\/span>
\nToday has the potential to be a game changer in the near term, but it would be very odd for Bernanke’s comments to change the intermediate term. News often induces hiccups but it rarely changes the entire picture. The trend and sentiment typically win over time. We’ll see. <\/span>
\nFor now the market is in good shape, but the risk\/rewards for entering new positions is not nearly as good as it was just a week or two ago. If you’re an active trader, you can’t get caught up in the gains and expect your winners to grow even more. Be in the habit of taking some money off the table and rotating funds to new positions with better upside potential. <\/span>
\nHere are stock-specific headline stories from barchart.com…<\/span>
\nBank of America (BAC +0.29%) this morning reported Q2 EPS of 32 cents, which was substantially better than market expectations of 25 cents.<\/span>
\nYahoo (YHOO -1.68%) rallied 1% in after-hours trading yesterday after reporting Q2 adjusted EPS of 35 cents, well above the consensus of 30 cents.<\/span>
\nTextron (TXT +0.04%) this morning reported Q2 EPS of 40 cents, above the consensus of 38 cents.<\/span>
\nFirst Republic Bank (FRC -1.12%) reported Q2 EPS this morning at 77 cents, above the consensus of 74 cents.<\/span>
\nMattel (MAT -0.64%) reported Q2 EPS of 21 cents, well below the consensus of 32 cents.<\/span>
\nCSX (CSX +1.23%) rallied 2% in after-hours trading yesterday after better than expected earnings.<\/span>
\nMeade Instruments (MEAD -1.08%) rallied 11% in after-hours trading yesterday on news the company entered a revised agreement to be acquired for $4.21 per share.<\/span>
\nUnited Rentals (URI -2.37%) fell 1.3% in after-hours trading after some disappointing news in its earnings report.<\/span>
\nPackaging Corp (PKG -1.57%) late yesterday reported Q2 adjusted EPS of 71 cents, well above the consensus of 63 cents.<\/span>
\nthis week’s Earnings<\/a><\/span>
\nthis week’s Economic Numbers<\/a><\/span>
\ntoday’s upgrades\/downgrades<\/a><\/span>
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