{"id":7232,"date":"2013-12-12T08:36:30","date_gmt":"2013-12-12T13:36:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=7232"},"modified":"2013-12-12T08:36:30","modified_gmt":"2013-12-12T13:36:30","slug":"before-the-open-dec-12-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=7232","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Dec 12)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Thursday.<\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed down across the board. India, Indonesia and Japan dropped more than 1%. Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan also dropped noticeably. Europe is currently down across the board. Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain, Stockholm, Switzerland, London, Czech Republic and Greece 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 flat. Oil is up, copper down. Gold and silver are getting killed. <\/span>
\n We finally got a big smack down day yesterday. The overall trend has been up for a long time, but the short term trend mostly oscillates between being up and being neutral. Lately it’s been neutral. We have had very few good set ups to trade, and many breadth indicators have not supported higher prices. Hence why I’ve been cautious lately. <\/span>
\n Here’s the 60-min S&P chart. A consolidation pattern in late October\/early November resolved up, and now we’ve gotten another consolidation pattern. In the grand scheme of things this is perfectly normal and healthy movement for a strong stock market. I’d love an opportunity to buy stocks at lower prices, so I’m secretly hoping for a break of support and at least a month down to the mid 1750’s.<\/span>
\n Be patient. <\/span>
\n\"\"
\nStock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n lululemon (LULU -1.11%) dropped 10% in pre-market trading after it cut guidance on fiscal 2013 EPS to $1.94-$1.96, below consensus $1.96, and said it sees fiscal 2013 revenue of $1.605 billion-$1.61 billion, weaker than consensus of $1.64 billion.<\/span>
\n Southwest (LUV -3.28%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at BofA\/Merrill.<\/span>
\n Marathon Oil (MRO -1.14%) and Apache (APA -1.66%) were both downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Citigroup.<\/span>
\n Oracle (ORCL -0.69%) was downgraded to ‘Sector Perform’ from ‘Outperform’ at RBC Capital.<\/span>
\n Micron (MU -2.77%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Nomura.<\/span>
\n Danaher (DHR -1.62%) lowered guidance on fiscal 2014 EPS to $3.60-$3.75, below consensus of $3.81.<\/span>
\n Moody’s Investors Service has placed on review for downgrade the general obligation rating of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.<\/span>
\n Men’s Wearhouse (MW -1.92%) reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 90 cents, higher than consensus of 86 cents.<\/span>
\n UNS Energy (UNS -0.99%) soared 30% in after-hours trading after it announced that it will be acquired by Fortis for $60.25 per share.<\/span>
\n Athenahealth (ATHN -2.15%) slumped over 12% in after-hours trading after it lowered guidance on fiscal 2014 EPS to 98 cents-$1.10, well below consensus of $1.38.<\/span>
\n Alliance Data Systems (ADS -1.45%) rose 3% in after-hours trading after it was announced that it will replace Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF -0.98%) in the S&P 500 after the market close on December 20.<\/span>
\n Mohawk Industries (MHK -1.06%) climbed 2.5% in after-hours trading after it was announced that it will replace (JDSU -1.14%) in the S&P 500 after the market close on December 20.<\/span>
\n Facebook (FB -1.71%) gained over 4% in after-hours trading after it was announced that it will replace Teradyne (TER -1.12%) in the S&P 500 after the market close on December 20.<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n 8:30 Retail Sales
\n 8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
\n 8:30 Import\/Export Prices
\n 9:45 Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index
\n 10:00 Business Inventories
\n 10:00 Quarterly Services Report
\n 10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
\n 1:00 PM Results of $13B, 30-Year Note Auction
\n 4:30 PM Money Supply
\n 4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: CIEN, HOV, LULU<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: ADBE, ZQK, RH<\/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