{"id":7766,"date":"2014-06-20T07:44:21","date_gmt":"2014-06-20T12:44:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=7766"},"modified":"2014-06-20T07:44:21","modified_gmt":"2014-06-20T12:44:21","slug":"before-the-open-jun-20-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=7766","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Jun 20)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Friday. Happy Option Expiration day.<\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed mostly down. South Korea dropped 1.2%; Australia and New Zealand also dropped noticeably. Europe is currently trading mixed. London and Germany are up; Russia, Italy and France are down, but no market has moved much from its unchanged level. Futures here in the States point towards a down open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\nLast chance to join Leavitt Brothers at the current membership rates. The rate will go up next Tuesday. Click here<\/a> to lock in your rate (all memberships will be grandfathered in). Click here<\/a> for more info.<\/strong><\/span>
\n So far this week’s gains have completely recaptured all of last week’s losses. Some indexes have are sitting at all-time highs; others are very close. The trend is obviously up. Unless you’re running $10B and have to scale in and out over several weeks, you should ride the trend and don’t worry about picking turning points. Yeah a top will be put in place eventually, and yeah I’ll personally lose a little money when it happens, but sitting tight and maintaining my long bias has made me a heck of a lot more money than I’ll lose when the market turns. And Besides, I don’t care much about the first 5% of a move anyways. I’m content to nail the bulk in the middle. Unless you’re a slick short term trader, you should be too. <\/span>
\n I have felt like a broken record lately…telling everyone the trend is up, stick with it. If traders listen, great. If now, oh well. Nothing I can do. A lot of money is lost by being cynical and in denial. Everyone knows when you buy a stock at 50 and dump it at 49 you lost a point. But what about sitting on the sidelines when the market is in rally mode. If you do it once in a while, fine. Everyone does. I do. But there have been some who’ve been in a state of denial and mostly on the sidelines for five years. Ugh. <\/span>
\n The dollar is up 0.10%. Oil is down, copper up. Gold and silver are down.<\/span>
\nStock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n PetSmart (PETM -1.32%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Outperform’ at Wedbush.<\/span>
\n Darden Restaurants (DRI -0.40%) reported Q4 EPS of 84 cents, well below consensus of 94 cents.<\/span>
\n Cimarex Energy (XEC -0.39%) will replace International Game (IGT +1.26%) in S&P 500 as today’s close.<\/span>
\n Autonation (AN +0.44%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Goldman Sachs.<\/span>
\n Molson Coors (TAP +0.91%) was upgraded to ‘Equal Weight’ from ‘Underweight’ at Morgan Stanley.<\/span>
\n Kroger (KR +5.06%) was upgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Sell’ at Goldman Sachs.<\/span>
\n Raging Capital reported a 10.3% passive stake in 1-800-Flowers.com (FLWS -1.75%) .<\/span>
\n AK Steel (AKS -2.11%) dropped 4% in after-hours trading after it lowered guidance on Q2 adjusted EPS to a loss of -6 cents to -2 cents, well below consensus of a 10 cent profit.<\/span>
\n Gabelli reported a 5.74% stake in Hillshire Brands (HSH -0.16%) .<\/span>
\n According to Bloomberg, Energy Transfer Equity (ETE -0.20%) is near a deal to acquire Targa Resources (TRGP +20.45%) and Targa Resources Partners (NGLS +17.74%) in a deal valued at a combined total of more than $15 billion.<\/span>
\n Smith & Wesson (SWHC +1.01%) sank over 12% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 EPS of 44 cents, higher than consensus of 39 cents, but then lowered guidance on fiscal 2015 GAAP EPS to $1.30-$1.40, below consensus of $1.45.<\/span>
\n Family Dollar (FDO -0.12%) rose over 3% in after-hours trading after billionare investor Carl Icahn sent a letter to the company’s CEO urging an ‘immediate sale’ of the company.<\/span>
\n Oracle (ORCL -0.70%) slid 7% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 92 cents, weaker than consensus of 95 cents, and then was downgraded by Citigroup to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy.’<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n 10:00 Atlanta Fed’s Business Inflation Expectations<\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: DRI, KMX<\/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>
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