{"id":7208,"date":"2013-12-03T08:24:07","date_gmt":"2013-12-03T13:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=7208"},"modified":"2013-12-03T08:24:07","modified_gmt":"2013-12-03T13:24:07","slug":"before-the-open-dec-3-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=7208","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Dec 3)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leavitt Brothers Cyber Week Special<\/strong><\/a><\/span>
\n Good morning. Happy Tuesday.<\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets leaned to the downside. China gained 0.7%; South Korea, Australia, Hong Kong and Indonesia dropped the most. Europe is currently down across the board. Austria, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland and Czech Republic are down more than 1%. Futures here in the States point towards a moderate gap down open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\n The dollar is down. Oil is up, copper down. Gold and silver are up. <\/span>
\n Be alerted of new content. Join our email list here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/span>
\n After yesterday’s drop, the market fell for the second straight day for only the second time since October. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not a big deal. The long term picture looks good, and I continue to expect higher prices in the future. The near term, however, as noted over the weekend, is less clear. Starting with the three late-day sell-offs last week and culminating in a handful of breadth indicators not supporting higher prices right now, the market wasn’t necessarily due for a pullback, the numbers just weren’t supporting more upside. <\/span>
\n Within an uptrend, I only go long, but my exposure oscillates between being almost all in (I’m almost never all in these days) and having much less exposure. As a rally matures and the upside seems limited, I scale back. Then when prices drop back or enough time passes for the indicators to cycle, I increase my exposure. I don’t go short. I leave that to better short term trades who can pick the mini moves in both directions. For me, I’d rather play the bigger picture because it has served me well. <\/span>
\n Your style has to be yours – crafted from hundreds of trades and many months or years of “in the arena” practice. <\/span>
\n My first downside target for the S&P is 1785.<\/span>
\nStock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n Disney (DIS +0.52%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at B. Riley.<\/span>
\n ChannelAdvisor said that Cyber Monday same-store sales were up 44.3% for Amazon (AMZN -0.34%) and up 32.1% for eBay (EBAY +1.64%) from midnight ET to 6 pm ET.<\/span>
\n CME Group (CME -0.68%) said that November 2013 volume averaged 12.1 million contracts per day, up 9% compared with November 2012.<\/span>
\n Pfizer (PFE +0.32%) was downgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Conviction Buy’ at Goldman.<\/span>
\n AK Steel (AKS -1.59%) was upgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Underperform’ at BofA\/Merrill.<\/span>
\n Oceaneering (OII +2.02%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Societe Generale.<\/span>
\n Apple (AAPL -0.87%) rose over 1% in pre-market trading after UBS upgraded the stock to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ and raised its price target on the stock to $650 from $540.<\/span>
\n Heartland Advisors reported a 13.9% stake in Hudson Global (HSON +2.34%) .<\/span>
\n International Data Corporation said it expects worldwide PC shipments to fall by -10.1% in 2013, slightly more the previous projection of -9.7%, and by far the most severe yearly contraction on record.<\/span>
\n Thor Industries (THO +0.33%) reported Q1 EPS of 77 cents, well above consensus of 70 cents.<\/span>
\n Xcel Energy (XEL -0.36%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Goldman.<\/span>
\n Shoe Carnival (SCVL -5.05%) reported Q3 EPS of 54 cents, higher than consensus of 53 cents.<\/span>
\n Ascena Retail (ASNA -1.97%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 36 cents, better than consensus of 32 cents.<\/span>
\n Roundy’s (RNDY -2.53%) acquired 11 Dominick\u2019s stores from Safeway (SWY -1.09%) for $36 million in cash.<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n Auto sales
\n 7:45 ICSC Retail Store Sales
\n 8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: BMO, LTXC<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: BOBE, GBDC, GWRE, OVTI, UNFI<\/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