{"id":7230,"date":"2013-12-11T08:22:56","date_gmt":"2013-12-11T13:22:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=7230"},"modified":"2013-12-11T08:22:56","modified_gmt":"2013-12-11T13:22:56","slug":"before-the-open-dec-11-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=7230","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Dec 11)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.<\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed down across the board. China and Hong Kong dropped more than 1%; Australia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea also fell noticeably. Europe is currently mixed. France, Germany, Amsterdam, Switzerland, London and Czech Republic are doing well; only Greece is down much. Futures here in the States point towards a flat-to-up open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\n The dollar is flat. Oil is down, copper up. Gold and silver are down. <\/span>
\n For the second time this week, the market traded quietly yesterday. I view this as perfectly normal and healthy activity for a strong market trending up. Here’s the S&P daily. Overall the index is enjoying a steady uptrend. In the near term it’s unchanged over the last couple weeks. I see nothing wrong here. <\/span>
\n\"\"
\n I like everything about the market right now. The unfortunate thing is stocks don’t have much of a runway to break out and rally. Next week’s FOMC meeting is likely to keep the market in a dull mode, and then the following week is Christmas. Then New Years is the next week, and that takes us into January. We don’t have an uninterrupted stretch for a couple weeks, so no matter what stocks do right now, something is looming that can slow down the move. <\/span>
\nStock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n Joy Global (JOY +0.55%) reported Q4 EPS of $1.11, weaker than consensus of $1.12, and lowered guidance on fiscal 2014 adjusted EPS to $3.00-$3.50, below consensus of $3.68.<\/span>
\n General Dynamics (GD +0.02%) was upgraded to ‘Fair Value’ from ‘Sell’ at CRT Capital.<\/span>
\n Costco Wholesale (COST -1.33%) reported Q1 EPS of 96 cents, below consensus of $1.02.<\/span>
\n Billionaire investor Carl Icahn reported that he bought 1.38 million shares of Nuance (NUAN -0.78%) and raised his stake in the company to 60.3 million shares.<\/span>
\n The WSJ and the AP reported that House and Senate negotiators reached a budget deal replacing automatic spending cuts with longer-term savings.<\/span>
\n Franklin Resources (BEN -1.27%) raised its quarterly dividend 2 cents to 12 cents per share and said the company board authorized a 30 million share repurchase program.<\/span>
\n Scripps Networks (SNI +0.68%) surged over 13% in after-hours trading after Variety said Discovery DISCA is weighing a bid for the company.<\/span>
\n BlackBerry (BBRY +3.83%) was downgraded to ‘Sell’ from ‘Neutral’ at Citigroup.<\/span>
\n Qualcomm (QCOM +0.01%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Citigroup.<\/span>
\n MasterCard (MA +0.63%) moved up over 3% in after-hours trading after it announced a 10-for-1 stock split and said it will buy back up to $3.5 billion worth of stock.<\/span>
\n BlackRock reported a 10.14% passive stake in Telecom Italia (TI +3.16%) .<\/span>
\n H&R Block (HRB -0.76%) reported a Q2 adjusted EPS loss of -42 cents, a bigger loss than consensus of -37 cents.<\/span>
\n Smith & Wesson (SWHC -0.66%) shot 5% higher in after-hours reported Q2 EPS of 28 cents, well above consensus of 21 cents.<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n 7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
\n 10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
\n 1:00 PM Results of $21B, 10-Year Bond Auction
\n 2:00 PM Treasury Budget<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: COST, JOY<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: ASYS, CWTR, MW, SIGM, VRA<\/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