{"id":7417,"date":"2014-02-25T08:52:26","date_gmt":"2014-02-25T13:52:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=7417"},"modified":"2014-02-25T08:52:26","modified_gmt":"2014-02-25T13:52:26","slug":"before-the-open-feb-25-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=7417","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Feb 25)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Tuesday.<\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed mixed. China dropped 2%, Indonesia 1%. Japan rallied 1.4%, South Korea 0.8%. Europe is currently mostly down. London is down almost 1%, Norway, the Czech Republic and Russia are down ~ 0.85%. Greece is up almost 2%. Futures here in the States point towards a moderate gap down open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\n The dollar is down. Oil is down $1.35, copper is down. Gold and silver are down. <\/span>
\n The first half of yesterday looked great. The market gapped up and rallied straight out of the gate. The Nas, Nas 100, Russell 1000, Russell 3000, S&P 500 and S&P 400 hit new highs. But then, what started as an innocent pullback, ended up continuing into the close and taking away half the day’s intraday gains. The market’s movement around key levels is always more important and telling than in the middle of a range, so it’s notable the market was not able to hold its early gains. <\/span>
\n Overall I still like the market. Most of what I look at points to more new highs in the next few weeks, but yesterday’s early rally may constitute “jumping the gun” a little. It did seem premature…as if the market wasn’t quite ready to leg up again. A little backing and filling right now would be perfectly fine in the grand scheme of things. Don’t let the short term noise take you out of the market. <\/span>
\nStock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n HSBC (HSBC -2.37%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Overweight’ at JPMorgan.<\/span>
\n Domino’s Pizza (DPZ +1.97%) reported Q4 EPS of 78 cents, better than consensus of 76 cents.<\/span>
\n Verizon (VZ -2.20%) was upgraded to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Neutral’ at JPMorgan.<\/span>
\n Morgan Stanley reiterates its ‘Overweight’ rating on Tesla (TSLA +3.84%) and raised its price target on the stock to $320 from $153.<\/span>
\n American Tower (AMT -1.27%) reported Q4 EPS of 83 cents, weaker than consensus of 96 cents.<\/span>
\n Home Depot (HD +0.17%) reported Q4 EPS of 73 cents, higher than consensus of 71 cents.<\/span>
\n Perry Ellis (PERY +2.69%) slumped 20% in after-hours trading after it lowered guidance on fiscal 2014 adjusted EPS to 34 cents-37 cents, well below consensus of 97 cents, and said earnings were undercut by inclement weather across major parts of the country and a challenging consumer spending environment.<\/span>
\n PayPal, a unit of eBay (EBAY +3.13%) , announced on a company blog that it will be the first global payments company to support the mobile fingerprint authentication technology on Samsung’s (SSNLF unch) latest Samsung Galaxy S5.<\/span>
\n Chemtura (CHMT +0.36%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 16 cents, higher than consensus of 11 cents.<\/span>
\n EOG Resources (EOG +1.35%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of $2.00, better than consensus of $1.94.<\/span>
\n Minerals Technologies (MTX -0.34%) increased its offer to acquire AMCOL ({=ACO to $42.50 per share.<\/span>
\n Einstein Noah Restaurant Group (BAGL -1.27%) announced that effective immediately, the Board of Directors has appointed Michael Arthur as Interim Chief Executive Officer and President following the resignation of Jeff O\u2019Neill.<\/span>
\n Tutor Perini (TPC +2.36%) reported Q4 EPS of 68 cents, stronger than consensus of 61 cents.<\/span>
\n Stifel Financial (SF +1.52%) reported Q4 EPS of 79 cents, higher than consensus of 68 cents.<\/span>
\n Frontier Communications (FTR -0.86%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 7 cents, better than consensus of 6 cents.<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n 7:45 ICSC Retail Store Sales
\n 8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
\n 9:00 FHFA House Price Index
\n 9:00 S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index
\n 10:00 Consumer Confidence
\n 10:00 State Street Investor Confidence Index
\n 10:00 Richmond Fed Mfg.
\n 1:00 PM Results of $32B, 2-Year Note Auction<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: AIXG, AMT, ARIA, AYR, BLMN, BMO, CBRL, CRZO, DLR, DPZ, EOG, EXH, EXLP, EXPD, FCH, FE, FNP, GLDD, GTLS, HD, HFC, HPT, IART, INFI, LNT, M, MSO, ODP, OGE, RLGY, RST, SAFM, SDRL, SHOO, TMUS, TOL, UNS, UTHR, VC, VSI, ZINC<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: AEGN, AMRS, ARC, AVGO, AXTI, BGFV, BOOM, CBI, CERS, CLGX, CPRT, DMD, DWA, ECPG, EIX, FR, FSLR, FST, HEI, HT, IL, JAZZ, MIDD, MX, NDSN, NFX, NLY, OAS, ORA, PEGA, PZZA, QCOR, QEP, RGR, RRC, RRD, SAM, SBAC, SLCA, SPN, SSS, VRSK, WFT, WIFI, XCO, ZAGG<\/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