{"id":7429,"date":"2014-03-03T08:25:08","date_gmt":"2014-03-03T13:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=7429"},"modified":"2014-03-03T08:25:08","modified_gmt":"2014-03-03T13:25:08","slug":"before-the-open-mar-3-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=7429","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Mar 3)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Monday. Hope you had a nice weekend.<\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed mostly down. China closed up, but Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Indonesia and South Korea suffered decent losses. Europe is down big across-the-board. Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Amsterdam, Stockholm and Prague are down more than 2%; Belgium, Switzerland and London are down more than 1%. Russia is down 11% (that’s not a typo). 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 up 2 bucks, copper is down. Gold and silver are up. <\/span>
\n It’s all about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Nothing else matters right now. The aggressive action on Russia’s part has sent stocks around the world down. Ukraine is not a NATO member, so there’s no obligation for the US to get involved, but when has the US ever declined an opportunity to get involved in world affairs? <\/span>
\n The situation could be long and drawn out. Putin has been dreaming of an opportunity to flex his muscles, so he’s not likely to back down any time soon. Plus the situation is very complex because of Europe’s reliance on oil and gas from Russian. The US doesn’t need Russia, so we can employ all types of diplomacy in an attempt to force Russia’s hand. But Europe needs Russia’s oil, so it’s less likely ruffle Russia’s feathers. It’s complex. There are lots of intertwined parts. <\/span>
\n Fun times. The world is never boring. The charts don’t matter now. News from Ukraine will drive prices. More after the open. <\/span>
\nStock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n Autodesk (ADSK -3.32%) was downgraded to ‘Sell’ from ‘Neutral’ at Citigroup.<\/span>
\n Superior Energy (SPN +2.00%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Guggenheim.<\/span>
\n Darden (DRI +2.53%) lowered guidance on Q3 EPS to 82 cents, below consensus of 93 cents, citing severe winter weather that undercut restaurant sales.<\/span>
\n Tyco (TYC -0.66%) said it will sell its security business in South Korea to Carlyle Group (CG +0.58%) for $1.93 billion.<\/span>
\n Intuit INTU=}) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Citigroup.<\/span>
\n U.S. Cellular (USM -3.81%) and Telephone and Data (TDS -2.36%) were both upgraded to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Neutral’ at JPMorgan.<\/span>
\n Magna (MGA +2.21%) reported Q4 EPS of $2.03, well above consensus of $1.54.<\/span>
\n Bloomberg reported that Las Vegas Sands (LVS +0.14%) said customer data was stolen recently in a cyber-attack on systems at its Pennsylvania property.<\/span>
\n Raytheon (RTN +0.33%) was awarded $655.41 million government contract for two PATRIOT fire units and associated initial spares for the military of Kuwait.<\/span>
\n In a regulatory filing, billionare investor Carl Icahn disclosed the purchase of an additional 33,515 shares of Herbalife (HLF -1.01%) .<\/span>
\n VA Partners reported a 6.6% stake in Dresser-Rand (DRC +0.06%) .<\/span>
\n Cooper Tire (CTB +0.08%) reported Q3 EPS of 0 cents, well below consensus of 38 cents, as the company said there was unusual items related to the terminated merger agreement with Apollo Tyres.<\/span>
\n Moody’s Investors Service raised its outlook on Germany’s Aaa government bond rating to stable from negative.<\/span>
\n Michael Weiss reported a 15.0% stake in Coronado (CNDO -3.73%) .<\/span>
\n River Road Asset reported a 9.2% stake in Miller Energy (MILL +0.73%) .<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n Auto sales
\n 8:30 Personal Income and Outlays
\n 8:58 PMI Manufacturing Index
\n 10:00 ISM Manufacturing Index
\n 10:00 Construction Spending
\n 11:00 Global Manufacturing PMI<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: ACW, AKRX, CLDX, DNDN, EVEP, JKS, MGA, MGLN, NUS, PERI, ROC, SSW, SSYS, SWC<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: AMBC, ASNA, AUQ, BDE, DXPE, GWRE, MBI, MCP, MDR, MR, NUVA, PDLI, SNHY, URS, VIPS<\/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