{"id":7014,"date":"2013-09-13T07:27:40","date_gmt":"2013-09-13T12:27:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=7014"},"modified":"2013-09-13T07:27:40","modified_gmt":"2013-09-13T12:27:40","slug":"before-the-open-sep-13-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=7014","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Sep 13)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Friday.<\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed mostly down. China and Taiwan posted the biggest losses. There were no big winners. Europe is currently mixed. Austria, Czech Republic and Greece are posting the biggest losses; there are no big winners. Futures here in the States point towards a flat open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\n The dollar is up. Oil and copper are down. Gold is down, silver up.<\/span>
\n If the market closes flat today, this will be the biggest up week since July. Not bad considering how bearish some traders had gotten, and if you listened to the talking heads, you would have bought into September being the weakest month of the year. <\/span>
\n Sentiment has shifted. Many indicators have turned and are now supporting the bull’s case. And the indexes have moved up enough to neutralize the intermediate term and switch the odds to be in their favor. <\/span>
\n Next week is options expiration – probably insignificant. The big story is the FOMC. Will they taper? How much? A lot? A little? It’s the most important FOMC announcement in years. It will move the market. Unless something happens with Syria, it will be the only thing Wall St. talks about between now and then. <\/span>
\n Almost everything I’m looking at gives me a green light going forward….except one thing. There aren’t many good set ups to be had. I looked at 1000 charts yesterday…almost none look playable. There are many near 52-week or all-time highs…many others that just don’t look playable. Normally I have a lack of set ups when the market is directionless; it’s odd to have a lack of set ups when trend is up.<\/span>
\n Of course the intermediate term trend isn’t really up. The S&P is almost unchanged since the middle of May. Given the FOMC, perhaps it’s better to not force anything right now anyways. <\/span>
\n It’s been a good week…lots of good set ups triggered. Now it’s time to shift to a defensive posture. Don’t force trades. <\/span>
\n Stock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n Under Armour (UA -0.71%) was downgraded to “Neutral” from “Outperform” at Credit Suisse.<\/span>
\n According to The Hill, House Speaker John Boehner said Republican leaders have been unable to agree to a plan to fund the government after September 30.<\/span>
\n Safeway (SWY -0.04%) rose nearly 2% in pre-market trading after Credit Suisse upgraded the stock to “Outperform” from “Underperform.”<\/span>
\n The Guardian reported that Monsanto (MON +0.04%) is under investigation after samples of alfalfa tested positive for genetically-modified traits in Washington state.<\/span>
\n Aetna (AET -0.09%) was upgraded to “Buy” from “Neutral” at BofA\/Merrill.<\/span>
\n Intel (INTC -0.79%) climbed 1.4% in pre-market trading after Jeffries raised its recommendation on the stock to “Buy” from “Hold.”<\/span>
\n Northrop Grumman (NOC +0.66%) was awarded a $169.85 million government contract modification for contract logistics support for the RQ-4 Global Hawk.<\/span>
\n Honeywell (HON -0.30%) was awarded a $550.36 million government contract modification to provide system and maintenance engineering, network support integration, on-site and off-site depot level maintenance, and software maintenance of the Air Force Satellite Control Network.<\/span>
\n United Natural Foods (UNFI +1.97%) reported Q4 EPS of 65 cents, stronger than consensus of 60 cents.<\/span>
\n Ulta Salon (ULTA -1.96%) jumped over 13% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 EPS of 70 cents, better than consensus of 67 cents.<\/span>
\n Earnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n 8:30 Producer Price Index
\n 8:30 Retail Sales
\n 9:55 Reuters\/UofM Consumer Sentiment
\n 10:00 Business Inventories<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: none<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: none<\/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