{"id":7382,"date":"2014-02-12T08:19:05","date_gmt":"2014-02-12T13:19:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=7382"},"modified":"2014-02-12T08:19:05","modified_gmt":"2014-02-12T13:19:05","slug":"before-the-open-feb-12-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=7382","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Feb 12)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.<\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed up across-the-board. Australia, Hong Kong and Taiwan rallied more than 1%. Europe is currently mostly up. Italy and Greece are leading while Germany and Czech Republic are also doing well. Futures here in the States point towards a flat open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\n The dollar is up. Oil and copper are up. Gold is flat, silver is up. <\/span>
\n The S&P tacked on another 20 points yesterday and is now about 80 points off its low from late last week. <\/span>
\n I posted this weekly chart last week as a reminder to not get overly bearish…that the long term trend was still up and last week’s bottoming candle was no different than previous bottoming candles. <\/span>
\n\"\"
\n Zooming in with the daily, 1800 was easily taken out. Now the index is up against 1820.<\/span>
\n\"\"
\n If I had to bet, I’d say today will be a slow, range-bound day. Yesterday Yellen appeared before the House Financial Services Committee; today she goes before the Senate Banking Committee. After yesterday’s big rally, a rest is needed and well-deserved. More after the open.<\/span>
\nStock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n Lorillard (LO +1.01%) reported Q4 EPS of 82 cents, below consensus of 85 cents.<\/span>
\n Valspar (VAL -0.21%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 70 cents, better than consensus of 66 cents.<\/span>
\n Deere (DE +0.11%) reported Q1 EPS of $1.81, well above consensus of $1.53.<\/span>
\n Packaging (PKG +0.06%) reported Q4 ex-items EPS of $1.04, stronger than consensus of 89 cents.<\/span>
\n Willis Group (WSH +1.26%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 42 cents, weaker than consensus of 49 cents.<\/span>
\n Procter & Gamble (PG +1.04%) said it expects an 8 cent-10 cent a share charge due to the devaluation of Venezuela’s currency.<\/span>
\n Midcoast Energy (MEP +1.01%) reported Q4 EPS of 6 cents, well below consensus of 16 cents.<\/span>
\n Senior Housing (SNH -1.09%) was downgraded to ‘Sell’ from ‘Neutral’ at UBS.<\/span>
\n Service (SCI +0.34%) reported Q4 EPS ex-items of 27 cents, higher than consensus of 24 cents.<\/span>
\n Fossil (FOSL +1.70%) jumped 6% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 EPS of $2.68, stronger than consensus of $2.43.<\/span>
\n DaVita (DVA +0.77%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of $1.10, above consensus of 98 cents.<\/span>
\n Andersons (ANDE +0.97%) reported Q4 EPS of $1.08, well below consensus of $1.61 as Q4 revenue was $1.6 billion, lower than consensus of $1.74 billion.<\/span>
\n Team Health (TMH -1.73%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 46 cents, better than consensus of 44 cents.<\/span>
\n Western Union (WU +1.53%) fell 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 EPS of 31 cents, below consensus of 32 cents.<\/span>
\n Intuit (INTU +1.78%) fell 2% in after-hours trading after it lowered guidance on Q2 EPS to 1 cent-2 cents, well below consensus of 26 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 $24B, 10-Year Bond Auction
\n 2:00 PM Treasury Budget<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: AAWW, AB, ACCO, ANR, BGCP, COT, CSTE, CYNO, DE, DPS, EZCH, HSP, INCY, LO, MSA, OC, PNK, RCI, SBGI, SPW, TLM, TMHC, TRI, VAL, VG, VICL, VOYA, WCG<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: ACC, AEM, AMAT, ANGI, BGC, BGS, CAKE, CBS, CJES, CSCO, CTL, CTRP, CXW, DDR, ECOL, EFX, EXL, FNF, INT, IO, IPI, ITRI, KGC, LF, LPSN, MDLZ, MET, NEWP, NRP, NTAP, NTES, NVDA, REG, RKUS, ROVI, SKX, SPRT, SPWR, STAG, TAL, TCO, TNGO, WFM, Z<\/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