{"id":7142,"date":"2013-11-08T08:41:53","date_gmt":"2013-11-08T13:41:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=7142"},"modified":"2013-11-08T08:41:53","modified_gmt":"2013-11-08T13:41:53","slug":"before-the-open-nov-8-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=7142","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Nov 8)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Friday. Happy Employment Numbers Day.<\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed down across-the-board. China, Japan and South Korea dropped 1%. Europe is currently mostly down. Austria, France, Norway, Czech Republic and Spain are down the most. Futures here in the States point towards a flat open for the cash market. This of course can change when the employment numbers are released.
\n<\/span>
\n The dollar is flat. Oil is up, copper down. Gold is up, silver flat. <\/span>
\n Yesterday the market suffered its worst daily loss since the June meltdown. While TWTR had a spectacular first day of trading, the bears were out in full force otherwise. Besides the 27-point drop off the high, the S&P is now down 14.5 for the week. Barring a big rally, it’ll be the first weekly loss of the last five. <\/span>
\n Here’s the weekly. There is nothing wrong with the long term technical picture. Sure the S&P can fall another 50 points, but overall there’s no reason to believe the uptrend will not continue and new highs not made. <\/span>
\n\"\"
\n Here are the employment numbers\u2026<\/strong>
\n unemployment rate: 7.3% (was 7.2% last month)
\n nonfarm payrolls: +204K
\n private payrolls:
\n average workweek: unchanged at 34.4
\n hourly wages: up 2 cents to $24.10
\n labor participation rate 13.8% from 13.6%<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Sept job gain raised to 163K from 148K
\n Aug job gain raised to 238K from 193K<\/span><\/span>
\n As long as the Fed is data-dependent, the jobs numbers are a catch-22. Bad numbers imply weakness (bad) but no tapering (good for Wall St.). Good numbers imply the opposite. <\/span>
\n The numbers don’t look that bad to me (at least compared to the recent past). And I’m sure the government shutdown had a negative effect. <\/span>
\n But it doesn’t matter. The futures quickly moved down, and that’s all that matters. <\/span>
\n My stance remains the same. Long term I like the market. Near term it’s muddled and unclear.<\/span>
\nStock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n The NY Times reports that the White House is supporting a bill that would raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.<\/span>
\n Whole Foods (WFM -11.18%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Goldman Sachs.<\/span>
\n DigiTimes reports that Samsung (SSNLF -10.34%) will launch smartphones with 64-bit CPUs starting in 2014.<\/span>
\n Peabody Energy (BTU -0.64%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Goldman Sachs.<\/span>
\n Covidien PLC (COV -0.43%) reported Q4 EPS of 91 cents, better than consensus of 90 cents.<\/span>
\n NVIDIA (NVDA -2.35%) rose 1% in pre-market trading after it reported Q3 EPS of 26 cents, better than consensus of 20 cents.<\/span>
\n Disney (DIS -2.68%) reported Q4 EPS of 77 cents, stronger than consensus of 76 cents.<\/span>
\n CareFusion (CFN -0.98%) reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 44 cents, better than consensus of 39 cents.<\/span>
\n The Gap (GPS -0.71%) reported October net sales up 6% y\/y and October Same-Store-Sales were up 4% and then said it sees Q3 EPS of 70 cents-71 cents, above consensus of 66 cents.<\/span>
\n Monster Beverage (MNST -1.25%) fell 2% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 EPS of 53 cents, below consensus of 57 cents.<\/span>
\n Salix (SLXP -2.37%) will acquire Santarus ({=SNTS for $32 per share in cash or $2.6 billion.<\/span>
\n Groupon (GRPN -5.09%) rose almost 2% in pre-market trading after it reported Q3 EPS of 2 cents, double consensus of 1 cent, but then said it sees Q4 EPS at 0 to 2 cents, well below consensus of 6 cents.<\/span>
\n Roundy’s (RNDY -1.93%) reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 7 cents, well below consensus of 13 cents.<\/span>
\n Priceline.com (PCLN -3.32%) reported Q3 adjusted EPS of $17.30, well above consensus of $16.15.<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n 8:30 Nonfarm Payrolls
\n 8:30 Personal Income and Outlays
\n 9:55 Reuters\/UofM Consumer Sentiment<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: AINV, COV, CVC, DRH, EBIX, EGO, HALO, HMSY, LGF, NTWK<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: none<\/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