{"id":7349,"date":"2014-01-29T08:38:35","date_gmt":"2014-01-29T13:38:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=7349"},"modified":"2014-01-29T08:38:35","modified_gmt":"2014-01-29T13:38:35","slug":"before-the-open-jan-29-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=7349","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Jan 29)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.<\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed mostly up. Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea did well. Taiwan lagged. Europe is currently mostly down. Norway, Switzerland, Austria and the Czech Republic are down the most. Futures here in the States point towards a big gap down open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\n The dollar is up. Oil is down, copper is up. Gold and silver are up. <\/span>
\n Obama has spoken. The speech sounded more like a campaign speech than a State of the Union address. In my opinion, the most potentially impactful comment (and remember, I don’t listen to any before or after comments from the talking heads, I only listen to the speech) was his support for raising the minimum wage to $10.10\/hour. If this happens it would certainly hurt retailers, who traditionally pay their employees much less than $10.10 an hour. Perhaps this is another reason retailers have been sucking wind lately – the content of the speech was leaked. But raising the minimum wage would put more money into the pockets of people who need it the most. I also found it interesting he didn’t say “America is strong.” Instead he said the “people of American are strong.” Every State of the Union since Reagan has contained the phrase “America is strong” regardless of whether it was true or not at that point in time (Presidents are good at spinning things). Perhaps saying America is strong when so many people are struggling would receive a lot of backlash. <\/span>
\n Moving on…<\/span>
\n We have a Fed announcement today. Rates won’t change, but it’s unknown whether the Fed will taper further (from the current $75B level) or hold steady. Also this is Janet Yellen’s first meeting as Chair, and although I doubt the wording of the statement will change much, you never know. <\/span>
\n The big overnight, overseas news is Turkey raised its overnight lending rate from 7.75% to 12% and borrowing rate from 3.5% to 8%.<\/span>
\n Here’s the 60-min SPX chart. Call it a line of demarcation. It’s been hit several times and has only been penetrated once. Consider it to be an important line in the sand until it’s taken out and disrespected.<\/span>
\n\"\"
\n I am in “wait and see” mode. I see no reason to force things right now. More after the open. <\/span>
\nStock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n Marathon Petroleum (MPC -0.40%) reported Q4 EPS of $2.10, much better than consensus of $1.15.<\/span>
\n Dow Chemical (DOW -0.09%) reported Q4 EPS of 65 cents, well ahead of consensus of 43 cents.<\/span>
\n McCormick & Co. (MCK +1.32%) reported Q4 EPS of $1.20, better than consensus of $1.19.<\/span>
\n Biogen Idec (BIIB +2.61%) reported Q4 EPS of $2.34, higher than consensus of $2.27.<\/span>
\n JP Morgan reported a 6.1% passive stake in GenMark (GNMK +1.63%) .<\/span>
\n Freescale (FSL unch) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 19 cents, higher than consensus of 18 cents.<\/span>
\n Owens-Illinois (OI +1.57%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 51 cents, weaker than consensus of 53 cents.<\/span>
\n W. R. Berkley (WRB +2.09%) reported Q4 operating EPS of 85 cents, stronger than consensus of 77 cents.<\/span>
\n Hub Group (HUBG -0.25%) reported Q4 EPS of 50 cents, better than consensus of 48 cents.<\/span>
\n Yahoo (YHOO +4.28%) reported Q4 EPS of 46 cents, well above consensus of 38 cents.<\/span>
\n Amgen (AMGN +1.84%) reported Q4 EPS of $1.82, well ahead of consensus of $1.68.<\/span>
\n VMware (VMW +1.97%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of $1.01, higher than consensus of $1.00.<\/span>
\n Electronic Arts (EA +1.63%) reported Q3 adjusted EPS of $1.26, stronger than consensus of $1.23, and then raised its fiscal 2014 EPS view to $1.30, higher than consensus of $1.28.<\/span>
\n AT&T (T +0.57%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 53 cents, better than consensus of 50 cents.<\/span>
\n Texas Industries (TXI +2.88%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at CL King.<\/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 11:30 FRN 2-Yr Note Auction
\n 2:00 PM FOMC Announcement<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: AME, AUDC, BA, BABY, BIIB, CAJ, CFR, CP, CVLT, EMC, ENR, EVER, EVR, FLWS, GIB, GNTX, HES, ISSI, JBLU, MDP, MKC, MKTX, MPC, MPLX, MTOR,MWV, NMM, NVS, NYCB, PSX, PSXP, PX, RES, ROK, SEIC, SLAB, SO, TCB, TUP, VLO, WLP<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: ACXM, AF, ALGT, AVB, CACI, CAVM, CBT, CDNS, CLB, CMO, CNQR, COHR, CTXS, DOX, DRE, ELY, EXAR, FB, FBHS, FLEX, FTNT, HBI, IEX, INFN, ININ,INVN, IRF, ISIL, KEX, LRCX, LVS, MLNX, MUR, NOW, NSR, OPLK, PRXL, QCOM, QGEN, QLGC, QTM, SFG, SGI, SLG, SPB, SYMC, TSCO, TTEK, VPRT, VRTX<\/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