{"id":7315,"date":"2014-01-16T08:38:42","date_gmt":"2014-01-16T13:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=7315"},"modified":"2014-01-16T08:38:42","modified_gmt":"2014-01-16T13:38:42","slug":"before-the-open-jan-16-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=7315","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Jan 16)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Thursday.<\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed mixed. Australia was the only country to post a decent gain. Indonesia and Malaysia dropped the most. Europe is currently mixed. Greece and the Czech Republic are down the most. Belgium and Amsterdam are up the most. Futures here in the States point towards a down open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\n The dollar is flat. Oil is up, copper down. Gold and silver are down. <\/span>
\n Yesterday the market followed through on the previous day’s gains. The Nasdaq, S&P 500, Russell 2000 and S&P 400 hit new highs. The Dow is lagging some, but that’s not a surprise considering it went vertical the last two weeks of December. Here are the dailies. <\/span>
\n\"\"
\n Continuing the theme of my write-up<\/a> yesterday about retailers possibly being a canary in a coal mine, Best Buy (BBY) is down almost 30% this morning. <\/span>
\n I’ve seen a significant improvement in the charts of individual stocks lately. We actually have many good set ups to play, so my bottoms-up approach tells me the market is strong. <\/span>
\n Options expire tomorrow. It’s a meaningless day in my view because anyone who needed to square off positions or roll to a new month has already done so. Then we get a 3-day weekend…the market is closed Monday for MLK day. <\/span>
\n I see no reason to change my MO. The lagging retail sector is notable; otherwise things look pretty good…good enough to keep trading long. More after the open. <\/span>
\nStock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n Goldman Sachs (GS +1.22%) reported Q4 EPS of $4.60, well ahead of consensus of $4.18.<\/span>
\n CSX (CSX +1.21%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Argus.<\/span>
\n Best Buy (BBY +1.40%) fell over 9% in pre-market trading after it reported holiday sales for the nine weeks ended Jan 4, 2014 were down -0.8% compared to teh same period last year.<\/span>
\n UnitedHealth Group (UNH +1.11%) reported Q4 EPS of $1.41, right on expectations.<\/span>
\n PNC Financial Services Group (PNC +1.08%) reported Q4 EPS of $1.83, better than consensus of $1.64.<\/span>
\n BlackRock (BLK +0.72%) reported Q4 EPS of $4.92, well ahead of consensusu of $4.33<\/span>
\n Reuters reported that an advisory panel to the U.S. FDA concluded that Merck’s (MRK -0.91%) experimental blood clot-preventing drug vorapaxar should be approved to reduce the risk of further heart problems in people who have suffered a heart attack recently.<\/span>
\n H.B. Fuller (FUL -0.36%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 68 cents, well below consensus of 75 cents.<\/span>
\n Hirzel Capital reported a 6.0% passive stake in Aeropostale (ARO +0.65%) .<\/span>
\n SAC Capital reported a 5.0% passive stake in Textura (TXTR -3.77%) .<\/span>
\n J.C. Penney (JCP +1.15%) rose nearly 2% in after-hours trading after ut said it will close 33 stores and cut 2,000 jobs.<\/span>
\n Kinder Morgan (KMI -0.03%) reported Q4 EPS of 33 cents, weaker than consensus of 35 cents.<\/span>
\n CSX (CSX +1.21%) fell over 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 EPS of 42 cents, below consensus of 43 cents.<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n 8:30 Consumer Price Index
\n 8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
\n 9:00 Treasury International Capital
\n 9:45 Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index
\n 10:00 NAHB Housing Market Index
\n 10:00 Philly Fed Business Outlook
\n 10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
\n 11:10 PM Bernanke: \u2018Conversation on challenges facing central banks’
\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: BBT, BLK, C, FRC, GS, HBAN, IGTE, IIIN, PNC, PPG, PVTB, TSM, UNH<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: ASBC, AXP, COF, INTC, OZRK, PBCT, SLM, SWKS<\/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