{"id":7749,"date":"2014-06-16T07:37:50","date_gmt":"2014-06-16T12:37:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=7749"},"modified":"2014-06-16T07:37:50","modified_gmt":"2014-06-16T12:37:50","slug":"before-the-open-jun-16-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=7749","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Jun 16)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Monday. Hope you had a nice weekend. <\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed mixed. Japan dropped 1.1%, followed by Indonesia (down 0.8%). China moved up 0.7%. Europe is currently mostly down. Italy and Spain are down 1%, followed by Stockholm (down 0.8%), Russian (down 0.7%) and Norway (down 0.6%). Futures here in the States point towards a moderate gap down open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\n The dollar is up slightly. Oil, which was up overnight, is now flat. Copper is up. Gold and silver are up. <\/span>
\n I don’t have anything to add to the conclusion drawn in my weekly Index Report posted yesterday. Overall the market is in good shape. I’m a little concerned the NYSE AD line and NYSE AD volume couldn’t breakout of their ranges and surge to a high level. Given the extent of the move off the mid-May low, a stronger technical setting would have entailed higher prints. I’m also a little concerned the Nas bullish percent is not at a higher level. The Nas isn’t far from a new high, but its bullish percent is well off its high. But surges from new highs and a high print from the SPX bullish percent as well as high prints from the percent of SPX stocks at a 20-day high and above their 20-day MA tell us the intermediate term rally has legs and the market should see higher prices. Overall I like the market and expect higher prices, but in the near term, it’s unclear if last week’s mini correction is over.<\/span>
\n I’m swinging for singles while the market does some backing and filling. More after the open. <\/span>
\n To partially illustrate what’s stated above, here’s the AD…<\/span>
\n\"\"
\n And here’s the SPX bullish percent…<\/span>
\n\"\"
\nStock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH -0.18%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at SunTrust.<\/span>
\n AK Steel (AKS +0.63%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at BofA\/Merrill.<\/span>
\n Williams (WMB +0.70%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Jefferies with a price target of $65.<\/span>
\n CenterPoint Energy (CNP +0.25%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at BMO Capital.<\/span>
\n DISH (DISH -0.14%) was upgraded to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Neutral’ at JPMorgan Chase.<\/span>
\n RenaissanceRe (RNR +0.85%) was downgraded to ‘Market Perform’ from ‘Outperform’ at JMP Securities due to valuation.<\/span>
\n Micron (MU +1.04%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at RW Baird.<\/span>
\n GNC Holdings (GNC -5.51%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Outperform’ at RW Baird.<\/span>
\n Medtronic (MDT -0.15%) jumped 11% in pre-market trading after Sanford C. Bernstein said that Medtronic’s acquisition of Covidien will allow it to challenge Johnson & Johnson as the world’s biggest medical device company.<\/span>
\n Covidien Plc (COV -0.03%) surged 35% in pre-maket trading after Medtronic agreed to buy the company for $42.9 billion.<\/span>
\n Eminence Capital reported a 5.1% passive stake in Allscripts (MDRX -1.63%) .<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n 8:30 Empire State Mfg Survey
\n 9:00 Treasury International Capital
\n 9:15 Industrial Production
\n 10:00 NAHB Housing Market Index<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: LAYN, MPAA<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: ANFI, KFY<\/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