{"id":7228,"date":"2013-12-10T08:27:06","date_gmt":"2013-12-10T13:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=7228"},"modified":"2013-12-10T08:27:06","modified_gmt":"2013-12-10T13:27:06","slug":"before-the-open-dec-10-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=7228","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Dec 10)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Tuesday.<\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed mostly down, but only Indonesia (up 1.5%) and Singapore (down 1%) moved much. Europe is currently mixed. Greece and Amsterdam are up the most; France, Stockholm and Switzerland are down the most. Futures here in the States point towards a flat-to-down open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\n The dollar is down. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are up. <\/span>
\n Yesterday was extremely slow. The market traded in a tight range, and other than a morning drop by the Russell which only lasted 30 minutes, there were no winners. The range was tight, and there was a definite lack of energy on both sides of the market. But as I stated after yesterday’s close, I’m not complaining. There are a handful of breadth indicators not supporting the market’s uptrend in the near term, and we have a lack of good set ups to play with. A few days (or longer) of dead trading that allows the charts to better set up is fine with me. <\/span>
\n That’s it for now. The market needs to flip over another card or two before I commit to a near term bias. <\/span>
\nStock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n Citigroup keeps a ‘Buy’ rating on FedEx (FDX +0.30%) and raised its price target on the stock to $170 from $140.<\/span>
\n Celgene (CELG +2.15%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at Credit Suisse.<\/span>
\n Burlington Stores (BURL +0.29%) reported a Q3 adjusted EPS loss of -5 cents, smaller than consensus of -6 cents.<\/span>
\n AutoZone (AZO -0.49%) reported Q1 EPS of $6.29, stronger than consensus of $6.27.<\/span>
\n Toll Brothers (TOL +2.10%) reported Q4 EPS of 54 cents, better than consensus of 43 cents<\/span>
\n Harman (HAR -0.36%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at Wells Fargo who also raised their price target on the stock to $95-$100 from $74-$78.<\/span>
\n Vivendi (VIVHY -0.31%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Deutsche Bank.<\/span>
\n Vail Resorts (MTN +1.44%) reported a Q1 EPS loss of -$2.04, a bigger loss than consensus of -$1.91.<\/span>
\n Casey’s General Stores (CASY -1.43%) reported Q2 EPS of $1.06, below consensus of $1.14.<\/span>
\n Pep Boys (PBY -0.22%) slumped over 12% in pre-market trading after it reported Q3 EPS of 2 cents, well below consensus of 14 cents.<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n 7:30 NFIB Small Business Optimism Index
\n 7:45 ICSC Retail Store Sales
\n 8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
\n 10:00 Wholesale Trade
\n 1:00 PM Results of $30B, 3-Year Note Auction<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: AZO, HDS, HITK, TOL<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: AVNR, DDC, HRB, IRET, MIND, PLAB, PPHM, SWHC<\/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