{"id":7405,"date":"2014-02-20T08:32:40","date_gmt":"2014-02-20T13:32:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=7405"},"modified":"2014-02-20T08:32:40","modified_gmt":"2014-02-20T13:32:40","slug":"before-the-open-feb-20-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=7405","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Feb 20)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Thursday.<\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed mostly down. Japan dropped 2.2%, Hong Kong 1.2% and India, South Korea and Taiwan also suffered moderate losses. Europe is currently down across the board. Germany and Amsterdam are down more than 1%; Belgium, Stockholm, Switzerland, Russia, Italy and Spain are also down noticeably. Futures here in the States point towards a gap down open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\n The dollar is up. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down. <\/span>
\n Facebook (FB) is buying privately held WhatsApp for $19B. Wall St. “approves” of the purchase…FB is only down 1.5% in premarket trading. <\/span>
\n Tesla (TSLA) is up 23 bucks (12%) in premarket trading…earnings related.<\/span>
\n Yesterday the market dropped after FOMC minutes revealed a few Fed officials saw a chance to hike rates relatively soon. This spooked Wall St. who has been led to believe rates will be kept low for a very long time…well beyond when their metrics improve significantly. <\/span>
\n But a little give back after the S&P rallies 100 points isn’t cause for panic. A rest – whether it comes in the form in a price pullback or sideways movement – is perfectly normal and healthy for a market that has run up and is showing signs it wants to run higher. <\/span>
\n Many indicators have turned up from extremely low levels….this is good, and it has to continue to support more upside. <\/span>
\n And many other indicators have hit over-bought levels…it would be normal for the market to rest before shooting higher again. High, over-bought prints from breadth indicators are not a reason to sell all holdings. Tops tend to be rounded, so even if a top is forming, it’ll take several weeks. <\/span>
\n Manage positions wisely here. A little rest is overdue. <\/span>
\nStock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n Wal-Mart (WMT -0.64%) reported Q4 EPS of $1.60, better than consensus of $1.59.<\/span>
\n Hormel Foods (HRL +0.35%) reported Q1 EPS of 57 cents, right on consensus.<\/span>
\n Apple (AAPL -1.58%) fell over 1% in pre-market trading after research firm Canalys said Apple’s smartphone market share in China fell to 7% in Q4 from 9% a year earlier.<\/span>
\n DirecTV (DTV -0.16%) reported Q4 EPS of $1.53, stronger than consensus of $1.29.<\/span>
\n Vectren (VVC -0.62%) reported Q4 EPS of 60 cents, better than consensus of 58 cents.<\/span>
\n Facebook (FB +1.13%) fell over 3% in after-hours trading after it said it will acquire WhatsApp for $16 billion.<\/span>
\n Curtiss-Wright (CW -2.53%) raised guidance on its 2014 EPS outlook to $3.30-$3.40 from $3.20-$3.35, higher than consensus $3.33.<\/span>
\n Acadia Healthcare (ACHC -3.60%) lowered guidance on fiscal 2014 EPS to $1.26-$1.29, below consensus of $1.41.<\/span>
\n Safeway (SWY +1.50%) rose over 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 EPS ex-items of 53 cents, higher than consensus of 48 cents.<\/span>
\n Jack in the Box (JACK +1.46%) reported Q1 EPS of 75 cents, stronger than consensus of 66 cents.<\/span>
\n Avis Budget (CAR +2.77%) reported Q4 EPS of 15 cents, higher than consensus of 12 cents.<\/span>
\n ARRIS (ARRS -1.79%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 54 cents, well above consensus of 45 cents.<\/span>
\n Tesla (TSLA -4.94%) rose 10% in after-hours trading after he reported Q4 EPS of 33 cents, better than consensus of 21 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 PMI Manufacturing Index Flash
\n 9:45 Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index
\n 10:00 Philly Fed Business Outlook
\n 10:00 Leading Indicators
\n 10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
\n 11:00 EIA Petroleum Inventories
\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: ACT, AER, CBB, CCO, CDE, CONE, CRIS, CRY, CVI, CVRR, CWEI, CYBX, DAN, DNR, DTV, ELOS, EXAS, FCN, FDML, FUN, HEP, HRL, HSC, HSNI, I, ICLR, ICON, IDCC, IMAX, IRC, LTM, LXP, MRGE, PAAS, PDCO, PEG, PWR, RS, SCG, SONS, SUI, THI, TK, TRP, TTC, UAN, UPL, WLK, WLT, WMT, WWE, YNDX<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: ACTG, AGU, AHS, ANAD, ARUN, BBG, BCOR, BLDR, BLOX, CENX, COG, DTLK, DXCM, ESRX, EXEL, EXR, FLTX, FNGN, FUEL, GRPN, HNSN, HPQ, INAP, INTU, IPXL, JWN, KND, LOPE, MDRX, MHK, MRC, MRVL, MTSN, MXWL, NEM, PCLN, PEB, PPC, PSA, QLIK, SEM, SSRI, SSTK, TRMR, TS, TTS, VMI, WAGE, WBMD, WRE, XNPT<\/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