{"id":7810,"date":"2014-07-11T08:04:19","date_gmt":"2014-07-11T13:04:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=7810"},"modified":"2014-07-11T08:04:19","modified_gmt":"2014-07-11T13:04:19","slug":"before-the-open-jul-11-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=7810","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Jul 11)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Friday.<\/span>
\n Well this is it. After 18 months we are heading home from Costa Rica tomorrow. It’s been fun (most of the time, when the power was on, when internet worked). It’s been an experience. My wife loved her teaching job (no standardized test, just teaching), and the kids liked school too. We went on many excursions, and even though they’re young, we hope they remember the time here. At the very least, they’ve soaked in a happy environment. But it’s time to go home. At this time tomorrow we’ll be on a flight back to Colorado.
\n<\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed mostly down. India and Indonesia dropped more than 1%; Korea and Taiwan dropped 0.7%. Singapore did well. Europe is currently mostly up. Italy, Greece and Prague are up more than 1%; Spain is also doing well. Futures here in the States point towards a slight up open for the cash market. <\/span>
\n The dollar is up. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are up small amounts. <\/span>
\n So far this week we have three down days and one up day. The S&P is down 1% for the week – the biggest down week since early-April. The last six weeks have been up, down, up, down, up, down (assuming we don’t get a big rally today), but since the up weeks have been much bigger than the down, the market is up nicely over this time. <\/span>
\n In the near term I’ve been cautious – because I don’t see many good set ups to be had, and because I have so many things to do here in CR before leaving. <\/span>
\n Long term I think the market is in good shape, and as long as we don’t get a lot of internal deterioration, I’d expect prices to move up again once this mini pullback plays out. <\/span>
\n For now I’m laying low and just hoping everything goes smoothly on our flight back. <\/span>
\nStock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n Whirlpool (WHR -1.35%) will acquire a majority interest in Indesit for $15.06 per share.<\/span>
\n Imperial Tobacco (ITYBY +0.37%) confirms talks with Reynolds (RAI -0.65%), Lorillard (LO +0.13%) over asset acquisition. Reynolds and Lorillard are close to a merger agreement, according to FT.<\/span>
\n Infosys (INFY +1.13%) reporte Q1 EPS of 84 cents, better than the consensus of 76 cents.<\/span>
\n Taco Bell (YUM -0.91%) plans to launch a new high-end menu, according to Business Insider.<\/span>
\n Rent-A-Center (RCII -1.59%) fell over 8% in after-hours trading after it reported preliminary Q2 adjusted EPS between 36 cents and 38 cents, well below consensus of 48 cents.<\/span>
\n Aspen Insurance (AHL -1.02%) said that it sees Q2 diluted operating EPS of $1.30-$1.35, above consensus of $1.22.<\/span>
\n Carlson Capital reported a 12.4% passive stake in TRI Pointe Homes (TPH -3.80%) .<\/span>
\n Gap (GPS -1.09%) reported that June net sales increased 1% compared with last year.<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n 2:00 PM Treasury Budget<\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: FAST, INFY, WFC<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: CUDA, EOPN, PSMT, VOXX<\/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