{"id":7133,"date":"2013-11-04T08:18:51","date_gmt":"2013-11-04T13:18:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=7133"},"modified":"2013-11-04T08:18:51","modified_gmt":"2013-11-04T13:18:51","slug":"before-the-open-nov-4-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=7133","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Nov 4)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Monday. Hope you had a nice weekend.<\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed mostly down. Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Australia dropped the most. Europe currently is mostly up. Greece is down 1.2%, but Austria, Czech Republic, London, Italy and Spain are doing well. Futures here in the States point towards a moderate gap up open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\n The dollar is down. Oil and copper are down. Gold is up, silver down. <\/span>
\n The market currently has many forces pulling it in opposite directions. <\/span>
\n Some leadership stocks have topped and are moving down. TSLA and LNKD topped a month ago while GOOG and AMZN are near their highs.<\/span>
\n Some indicators support further upside while others tells us the market needs a rest in the near term.<\/span>
\n The indexes themselves are not moving together. The dividend-paying, large caps have clearly out-performed the Nas, small caps and mid caps. <\/span>
\n Something has to give. There’s definitely a disconnect. <\/span>
\n Long term I like the market. I think further gains will be made into the end of the year. <\/span>
\n But in the near term I’m less optimistic. A little more weakness to cast some doubt would help set the stage for a year-end rally. <\/span>
\nStock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n TravelCenters (TA +2.53%) reported Q3 EPS of 53 cents, higher than consensus of 44 cents.<\/span>
\n Salesforce.com (CRM +1.12%) was upgraded to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Neutral’ at Atlantic Equities.<\/span>
\n Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF -1.55%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at SunTrust.<\/span>
\n DigiTimes reported that Samsung (SSNLF unch) plans to launch 12.2-inch tablets by the end of 2013.<\/span>
\n Occidental Petroleum (OXY -0.45%) was upgraded to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Equal Weight’ at Barclays.<\/span>
\n Gap (GPS -0.57%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Goldman.<\/span>
\n Kohl’s (KSS +0.09%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at UBS.<\/span>
\n U.S. Steel (X +3.58%) and AK Steel (AKS +4.55%) were both upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Sell’ at Goldman, who cites improved long-term steel demand prospects.<\/span>
\n Teva (TEVA +0.08%) was downgraded to ‘Underweight’ from ‘Neutral’ at JPMorgan, who cites uncertainty following the departure of the company’s CEO.<\/span>
\n CME Group (CME +0.66%) reported Q3 EPS of 75 cents, better than consensus of 73 cents.<\/span>
\n R.R. Donnelley (RRD unch) reported a 23.4% stake in Consolidated Graphics ({=CGX .<\/span>
\n Billionare investor George Soros reported a 5.02% passive stake in Mercury Systems (MRCY -0.65%) .<\/span>
\n CBOE Holdings (CBOE +1.16%) reported October trading volume for options contracts totaled 126.24 million contracts, up +15% m\/m and +34% y\/y.<\/span>
\n RA Capital reported a 21.2% stake in Achillion (ACHN +0.80%) .<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n No events scheduled.<\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: AER, CME, EXTR, K, MFA, RLGY, SE, SEP, SYY, TA, TESO, VMC<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: AEIS, AEL, ANAD, APC, ARI, AWR, BDE, BGC, BKH, BRE, BSFT, CENX, CF, CHMT, CLDT, CRK, CRZO, CSOD, DDR, DNB, DRYS, ED, ELNK, FST, GDP,GIMO, GSM, GST, GTAT, HK, HTZ, IPXL, JMBA, LF, LGCY, LMNX, MDR, MNKD, MR, MRO, NFX, NGLS, OMI, OTTR, PAA, PIKE, PKT, PNG, PPO, PXD,QLYS, RKT, SAAS, SB, SBAC, SGY, SNCR, STAG, TDW, THC, TPC, UNM, VNO, VOLC, WFT, WMGI<\/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>
\n