{"id":6936,"date":"2013-08-21T07:32:29","date_gmt":"2013-08-21T12:32:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=6936"},"modified":"2013-08-21T07:32:29","modified_gmt":"2013-08-21T12:32:29","slug":"before-the-open-aug-21-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=6936","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Aug 21)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.<\/span>
\nThe Asian\/Pacific markets closed mixed. India and South Korea dropped more than 1%; Indonesia and New Zealand rallied about 1%. Europe is currently mostly down. Belgium is down 1%; Stockholm, Spain, Italy and London are also down noticeably. Futures here in the States point towards a down open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\nThe dollar is up. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down.<\/span>
\nAfter the Dow dropped four consecutive days for the first time this year, the market bounced yesterday. Volume was stronger than the previous down day, and the internals were supportive of the move. It was a nice relief for the bulls but certainly doesn’t reverse the near term sentiment.<\/span>
\nSome indicators have reached levels that would support a local bottom being put in place, but I’m not one for guessing. The market will do what it wants to do. Our job isn’t to guess what will happen. Instead we should identify the trend (if there is one) and decide how aggressive or passive we want to be.<\/span>
\nHere’s the 60-min SPX chart. There’s a thin area overhead between the high 1660’s and low 1680’s, and then there’s a big block of overhead supply. To the downside, there a lot thin air.<\/span>
\nThe near term is unclear. I could argue for an oversold bounce, but the internals would need to improve a bunch for a bounce to sustain itself. I could also argue for another immediate down leg because several indicators have not hit extreme levels yet. Lack of a clear picture tells us to trade cautiously in the near term.<\/span>
\n\"\"
\nStock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\nTupperware Brands (TUP +0.20%) was downgraded to “Market Perform” from “Outperform” at BMO Capital.<\/span>
\nTarget (TGT -0.42%) reported Q2 adjusted EPS of $1.19, well ahead of consensus of 96 cents.<\/span>
\nStaples (SPLS +2.62%) reported Q2 EPS of 16 cents, lower than consensus of 18 cents, and then lowered guidance on fiscal 2013 EPS to $1.21-$1.25 from $1.30-$1.35, weaker than consensus of $1.32.<\/span>
\nJM Smucker (SJM +0.04%) reported Q1 EPS of $1.24, stronger than consensus of $1.20.<\/span>
\nBloomberg repoted that PG&E (PCG +0.85%) CEO Tony Earley said that the company may be pushed to the brink of bankruptcy if California state regulators impose a proposed $2.25 billion penalty against the company related to a 2010 pipeline explosion.<\/span>
\nTextron (TXT -0.18%) has been awarded a $640.79 million U.S. government firm-fixed-price contract for 1,300 cluster bomb units for foreign military sales to Saudi Arabia.<\/span>
\nThe WSJ reports that German Finance Minister Wolfgang Sch\u00e4uble says that Greece will need a third bailout.<\/span>
\nLowe’s (LOW +0.94%) reported Q2 EPS of 88 cents, better than consensus of 79 cents, and also announced that CEO Mark Baker will resign.<\/span>
\nLa-Z-Boy (LZB +3.96%) rose over 1% in pre-market trading after it reported Q1 EPS of 18 cents, better than consensus of 15 cents.<\/span>
\nAnalog Devices (ADI +0.15%) reported Q3 EPS of 57 cents, better than consensus of 54 cents.<\/span>
\nIntuit (INTU -0.44%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 0 cents, right on expectations, although Q4 revenue of $634 million was better than consensus of $622.95 million.<\/span>
\nThe Financial Times reported that Goldman Sachs (GS +0.59%) could face up to $100 million in losses after making erroneous trades across multiple options exchanges on Tuesday.<\/span>
\nEarnings<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\nNotable earnings before today’s open: AEO, EV, EXXI, LOW, MSG, PETM, SJM, SPLS,TGT, TOL<\/span>
\nNotable earnings after today’s close: AFCE, HAIN, HPQ, LTD, SB, SNPS, VVTV<\/span>
\nOther<\/strong>…<\/span>
\ntoday’s upgrades\/downgrades<\/a> from briefing.com<\/span>
\nthis week’s Earnings<\/a><\/span>
\nthis week’s Economic Numbers<\/a><\/span>
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