{"id":7552,"date":"2014-04-22T07:31:51","date_gmt":"2014-04-22T12:31:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=7552"},"modified":"2014-04-22T07:31:51","modified_gmt":"2014-04-22T12:31:51","slug":"before-the-open-apr-22-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=7552","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Apr 22)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Tuesday.<\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed mostly up. Japan dropped 0.85%; Singapore rallied 0.67%. Otherwise movement was small. Europe is currently mostly up. London, Germany, France, Spain and Italy are leading the way. Russia and Amsterdam are down more than 1%. Futures here in the States point towards a flat open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\n The dollar is down. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down. <\/span>
\n The week begins now. Yesterday doesn’t matter. Volume was light, and the range was small. Yes the indexes closed with across-the-board gains and yes the Nas led the way, but all that can be quickly negated when activity picks up today. <\/span>
\n The charts have improved a bunch in the near term, but the Nas and Russell are still lagging by a long shot, and we need to be aware of the market’s tendency to give some back after options expire.<\/span>
\n In my opinion, the Nas and Russell 2000 are calling the shots right now. The market will go as they go. <\/span>
\n I’m still very long oil but otherwise I’ve trimmed my positions back and have lots of cash on hand. More after the open. <\/span>
\nStock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n Lockheed Martin (LMT +0.77%) reported Q1 EPS of $2.87, higher than consensus of $2.54.<\/span>
\n Comcast (CMCSA +1.59%) reported Q1 EPS of 68 cents, better than consensus of 64 cents.<\/span>
\n Harley-Davidson (HOG +1.35%) reported Q1 EPS of $1.21, stronger than consensus of $1.08.<\/span>
\n Travelers (TRV -0.32%) reported Q1 EPS of $2.95, well ahead of consensus of $2.16.<\/span>
\n Celanese (CE +0.96%) reported Q1 EPS of $1.33, well above consensus of $1.21.<\/span>
\n Allergan (AGN +6.03%) surged 19% in European trading after Pershing Square reported a 9.7% stake in the company and then said that Valeant (VRX +3.24%) intends to propose a merger with Allergan.<\/span>
\n Lone Pine Capital reported a 5.5% passive stake in Michael Kors (KORS +0.83%) .<\/span>
\n Rent-A-Center (RCII -1.38%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 57 cents, better than consensus of 55 cents, and then raised guidance on fiscal 2014 EPS to $2.30-$2.50, higher than consensus of $2.29.<\/span>
\n Werner (WERN -0.08%) reported Q1 EPS of 20 cents, below consensus of 21 cents.<\/span>
\n Visium Asset reported a 5.1% passive stake in Brookdale Senior Living (BKD +0.41%) .<\/span>
\n Polaris Venture Partners V reported a 17.3% stake in Cerulean (CERU +6.72%) .<\/span>
\n The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Eli Lilly’s (LLY +0.71%) Cyramza drug to treat patients with advanced stomach cancer or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma.<\/span>
\n Hexcel (HXL unch) reported Q1 EPS of 50 cents, better than consensus of 49 cents.<\/span>
\n Waste Connections (WCN -0.02%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 44 cents, higher than consensus of 41 cents.<\/span>
\n Facebook (FB +3.90%) climbed over 2% in after-hours trading after it was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at Credit Suisse.<\/span>
\n Netflix (NFLX +0.80%) rose 7% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 EPS of 86 cents, higher than consensus of 83 cents, and said it expects Q2 EPS of $1.12, better than consensus of $1.00.<\/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 10:00 Existing Home Sales
\n 10:00 Richmond Fed Mfg.
\n 1:00 PM Results of $32B, 2-Year Note Auction<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: ACI, AKS, AOS, ATI, BK, CMCSA, CNC, CP, CSL, FMER, GPC, HOG, HUB.B, IPG, ITW, JNS, LMT, LPT, LXK, MCD, MDSO, MTG, OMC, PCH, PHG, PLD, PNR, RF, SAH, SNV, SPG, TCB, TRV, UTX, XRX<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: ACC, AMGN, BCR, CBST, CNI, CREE, CVA, CYT, DFS, ETH, FBC, FTI, FULT, GILD, HA, HLIT, HTS, IEX, IGT, ILMN, IRBT, ISRG, JNPR, MANH, MSA, NBR, PKG, SANM, SKX, SMCI, SWKS, T, TMK, TSS, UIS, VASC, VMI, VMW, WRB, WWD, XOOM, YUM, ZIXI<\/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