{"id":7824,"date":"2014-07-18T07:39:56","date_gmt":"2014-07-18T12:39:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=7824"},"modified":"2014-07-18T07:39:56","modified_gmt":"2014-07-18T12:39:56","slug":"before-the-open-jul-18-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=7824","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Jul 18)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Friday. <\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed mixed. There were no big winners or losers. Europe is currently mostly down. Greece is down 2.6%; Prague and Russia are down 1.3-1.4%. Switzerland, Norway, Amsterdam, Austria, Spain and Germany are also down noticeably. Futures here in the States point towards an up open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\n The dollar is up a small amount. Oil is flat, copper up. Gold and silver are down. <\/span>
\n Yesterday was the market’s biggest down day since the April bottom, and baring a decent rally today, this week and last week will combine for the biggest back-too-back down weeks since January. <\/span>
\n The warnings have been there. <\/span>
\n The lagging small caps have been a big warning. <\/span>
\n The indicators we follow have been lagging for a couple weeks. <\/span>
\n And the quality and quantity of good set to be had have been very low, so even if you wanted to trade, there hasn’t been much to work with. <\/span>
\n I’ve been laying low for two weeks – partly because there hasn’t been many good set ups to play and partly because of my move back to the States. In fact I stated a couple weeks ago I was more interested in keeping what I had than building on it. <\/span>
\n If a top is in place, fine. There’s plenty of time to get short. One of the consequences of nailing a 5-year rally is you miss the turn. If you try to pick tops, you miss the bulk of the move on the way up. If you do what I do – ride a trend for all it’s worth – you give a little back when the market turns. Nobody will nail an entire move AND pick the top exactly. Determine your style and stick with it. <\/span>
\n If the market really is going to trend down for a while, there will be plenty of time to get short. More after the open. <\/span>
\nStock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n Amazon (AMZN -0.97%) announces a Kindle Unlimited subscription service for $9.99 per month.<\/span>
\n Johnson Controls (JCI -1.01%) reported Q3 EPS of 84 cents, better than consensus of 83 cents.<\/span>
\n Honeywell International (HON -1.27%) reported Q2 EPS of $1.38, higher than consensus of $1.36.<\/span>
\n General Electric (GE -1.52%) reported Q2 EPS of 39 cents, right on consensus.<\/span>
\n Bank of New York Mellon (BK -0.29%) reported Q2 EPS of 62 cents, better than consensus of 57 cents.<\/span>
\n Celanese (CE -1.25%) rose 2% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 adjusted EPS of $1.47, well ahead of consensus of $1.24.<\/span>
\n Advanced Micro Devices (AMD -1.93%) slumped over 15% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 EPS of 2 cents, below consensus of 3 cents.<\/span>
\n Schlumberger (SLB -1.07%) reported Q2 EPS ex-items $1.37, above consensus of $1.36.<\/span>
\n Capital One (COF -2.24%) reported Q2 EPS of $2.04, well above consensus of $1.82.<\/span>
\n Google (GOOG -1.53%) rose nealy 2% in pre-market trading after it reported Q2 EPS of $6.08, below consensus of $6.24, but reported Q2 sales excluding revenue passed on to partners of $12.7 billion, higher than consensus of $12.3 billion.<\/span>
\n International Business Machines (IBM +0.07%) reported Q2 adjusted EPS of $4.32, better than consensus of $4.29, and said that it sees fiscal year 2014 EPS at least $18.00, above consensus of $17.87.<\/span>
\n Stryker (SYK -0.70%) reported Q2 adjusted EPS of $1.08, right on consensus, but then lowered guidance on fiscal 2014 EPS to $4.75 – $4.80, on the lower end of consensus of $4.80.<\/span>
\n Hub Group (HUBG +1.34%) reported Q2 EPS of 51 cents, higher than consensus of 50 cents.<\/span>
\n Seagate (STX -2.97%) reported Q4 EPS of $1.10, right on consensus, although Q4 revenue of $3.30 billion was slightly below consensus of $3.33 billion.<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n 9:55 Reuters\/UofM Consumer Sentiment
\n 10:00 Leading Indicators<\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: ALV, BK, ERIC, FHN, GE, HBAN, HON, IPG, JCI, KSU, LH, VFC<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: BMI<\/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