{"id":7512,"date":"2014-04-07T07:39:30","date_gmt":"2014-04-07T12:39:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=7512"},"modified":"2014-04-07T07:39:30","modified_gmt":"2014-04-07T12:39:30","slug":"before-the-open-apr-7-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=7512","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Apr 7)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Monday. Hope you had a good weekend. <\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed mostly down. Indonesia did well; Japan, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong led to the downside. Europe is currently down across the board. Russia is down 3%; Germany, London, France, Norway, Switzerland and Prague are also down a bunch. Futures here in the States point towards a moderate gap down open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\n The dollar is down. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down. <\/span>
\n A month of divergences and warnings seems to have finally caught up with the market. <\/span>
\n Money has been rotating from speculative small caps and tech stocks into well-established large caps. <\/span>
\n It’s been coming out of growth stocks and going into value plays. <\/span>
\n It’s been coming out of the Nas and going into the NYSE.<\/span>
\n Many leading stocks have stopped leading.<\/span>
\n Many leading groups are now under performing. <\/span>
\n Many breadth indicators have divergence from the underlying price action. <\/span>
\n The market tried its best to hold up, but the sum total of the weight of all the above seems to have finally been the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. <\/span>
\n The path of least resistance is now down. <\/span>
\n April tends to be a decent month for the market (“sell in May” doesn’t start until May), but ignore those types of historical stats…unless you plan on executing a certain set up for the next 50 years. <\/span>
\n The market has V bottomed numerous times the last few years, so it’s always possible…especially with the Fed still somewhat in control (they could halt the tapering process or recommit to keeping rates low beyond next year).<\/span>
\n Unless something happens to change the technicals, the path of least resistance is down. More after the open. <\/span>
\nStock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n C.R. Bard (BCR -0.07%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at BofA\/Merrill.<\/span>
\n Netflix (NFLX -4.90%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Perform’ at Oppenheimer.<\/span>
\n Questcor (QCOR -5.96%) was acquired by Mallinckrodt (MNK +0.05%) for $5.6 billion.<\/span>
\n Under Armour (UA -7.39%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Sterne Agee.<\/span>
\n Alcoa (AA -0.86%) and Newmont Mining (NEM +0.04%) were boths upgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Sell’ at Deutsche Bank.<\/span>
\n Analog Devices (ADI -1.96%) was upgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Sell’ at Goldman.<\/span>
\n Mattel (MAT -1.23%) was downgraded to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at BMO Capital.<\/span>
\n Intel (INTC -0.95%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Sector Perform’ at Pacific Crest.<\/span>
\n PBF Energy (PBF -0.87%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Citigroup.<\/span>
\n Statoil (STO +0.54%) was downgraded to ‘Sell’ from ‘Neutral’ at Goldman Sachs.<\/span>
\n Blackstone (BX -2.26%) will acquire Gates Global for $5.4 billion.<\/span>
\n SAC Capital lowered its passive stake in Diamond Foods (DMND -3.07%) to 4.0% from 9.0%.<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n 8:30 Gallup US Consumer Spending
\n 11:45 Fed’s Bullard: U.S. Economy and Monetary Policy
\n 12:30 TD Ameritrade IMX
\n 3:00 PM Consumer Credit<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: none<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: none<\/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