{"id":6980,"date":"2013-09-04T07:38:17","date_gmt":"2013-09-04T12:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=6980"},"modified":"2013-09-04T07:38:17","modified_gmt":"2013-09-04T12:38:17","slug":"before-the-open-sep-4-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=6980","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Sep 4)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.<\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed mixed and with a bearish bias. Indonesia dropped 2.2%, Singapore 1.3% and Australia 0.6%. India rallied 1.8%. Europe is currently down across-the-board. Italy is down almost 2%, France almost 1% and Germany 0.7%. Futures here in the States point towards a down open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\n The dollar is down. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down.<\/span>
\n The market gapped up yesterday and then dropped to give everything back. The indexes closed much closer to their lows than their highs. This has been a recurring theme. The S&P has been mostly range bound the last four sessions, but the closes have been in the lower half of the intraday ranges. <\/span>
\n If anything yesterday reminds us that anything goes in the near term until the US involvement in Syria is known. A lack of activity over the weekend led to yesterday’s big opening gap. But in the last week, word the US was going to strike Syria led to immediate selling pressure. <\/span>
\n Some indicators improved yesterday and would be supportive of a move up if the market chose to bounce. Others haven’t yet moved to extreme levels and would not support a rally. <\/span>
\n I continue to favor the downside in the near term. If left alone, the technicals tell me more downside is needed before a sustained rally can begin. Syria is of course a big wild card. News from Washington can quickly move prices in either direction. Factor this into what trades you take and the size of your positions. <\/span>
\n Stock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n Prudential (PRU +1.39%) was upgraded to “Overweight” from “Equal Weight” at Barclays who also raised their price target on the stock to $95 from $83.<\/span>
\n Best Buy (BBY +2.75%) was upgraded to “Neutral” from “Underperform” at BofA\/Merrill.<\/span>
\n Loews (L +0.16%) was initiated with a “Buy” at Deutsche Bank with a target of $52.<\/span>
\n Dollar General (DG -0.17%) reported Q2 EPS of 77 cents, better than consensus of 74 cents.<\/span>
\n SAIC (SAI +0.53%) reported Q2 EPS of 13 cents, well below consensus of 21 cents, and lowered guidance on fscal 2014 EPS view to 95 cents-$1.03, below consensus of $1.13.<\/span>
\n ZOLL Medical (ZOLL) was awarded a $210 million government contract for defibrillators, monitors, warmers, and infusers.<\/span>
\n Hain Celestial (HAIN +0.12%) fell over 3% in after-hours trading after Carl Icahn filed to sell 3.65 million shares of the company.<\/span>
\n Cedar Fair Entertainment (FUN +0.33%) raised its fiscal 2013 revenue estimate to $1.10 billion-$1.25 billion, from $1.09 billion-$1.115 billion.<\/span>
\n Glenview Capital reported a 9.1% passive stake in J. C. Penney (JCP +1.92%) .<\/span>
\n Consolidated Press International Holdings reported a 9.35% passive stake and Cavalane Holdings reported a 9.35% passive stake in Zillow (Z +2.74%) .<\/span>
\n Matrix Service (MTRX +1.80%) reported Q4 EPS of 28 cents, better than consensus of 26 cents.<\/span>
\n H&R Block (HRB -0.11%) is down 4% in after-hours trading after it reported a Q1 EPS loss of -40 cents, a wider loss than consensus of -37 cents.<\/span>
\n Bank of America (BAC +0.92%) sold its remaining stake in China Construction Bank, approxiamtely 2 billion shares, and said it sees a pretax gain of approximately $750 million from the sale.<\/span>
\n Earnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:<\/span>
\n Auto sales
\n 7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
\n 7:45 ICSC Retail Store Sales
\n 8:30 International Trade
\n 8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
\n 10:00 Quarterly Services Report
\n 2:00 PM Fed’s Beige Book<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: CIEN, DG, FRAN, NAV, SAI, VRNT<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: BV, DDC, FCEL, MIND<\/span>
\n Other<\/strong>…<\/span>
\ntoday’s upgrades\/downgrades<\/a> from briefing.com<\/span>
\nthis week’s Earnings<\/a><\/span>
\nthis week’s Economic Numbers<\/a><\/span>
\n