{"id":7848,"date":"2014-07-30T08:03:57","date_gmt":"2014-07-30T13:03:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=7848"},"modified":"2014-07-30T08:03:57","modified_gmt":"2014-07-30T13:03:57","slug":"before-the-open-jul-30-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=7848","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Jul 30)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Wednesday. Happy Fed Day.<\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed mostly up. Korea rallied 1%, Australia and Taiwan moved up 0.6%. Europe is currently mixed. Russia is up almost 2%, followed by Spain (up 1%). Belgium is down 0.6%. Futures here in the States point towards a relatively big gap up for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\n The dollar is up. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are up. <\/span>
\n Today is FOMC day – the day the Fed announces their overnight rate target and the discount rate and then issues a statement. Rates aren’t going to move – they haven’t moved in years, and it’s not time to move them up yet. Their bond-buying is expected to be reduced another $10B to stay on pace to completely wind down QE by this October. Wall St. is mostly interested in when the Fed may raise rates in the future. Will it be this fall (doubtful) or next spring or summer? Everyone has an opinion, but nobody knows for sure. Heck the Fed doesn’t even know because they are somewhat data dependent and will be flexible based on some key economic number, one of which gets released in two days – the latest employment figures. <\/span>
\n Normally the day is slow until the statement is released and then, well, who knows. Wall St. likes low interest rates, so news they could be raised sooner rather than later may not be well received. Otherwise, if there are no surprises and Wall St. is content with whatever the Fed says, the news may not move the market. It didn’t move the market last meeting. <\/span>
\n I remain in conservative mode. Smaller trades and quicker profits have been my MO lately. I’m happy to see my account grow as I wait for a better environment. More after the open. <\/span>
\nStock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n WellPoint (WLP -2.61%) reported Q2 EPS of $2.44, better than consensus of $2.26.<\/span>
\n Marriott (MAR -0.73%) reported Q2 adjusted EPS of 71 cents, higher than consensus of 67 cents.<\/span>
\n Express Scripts (ESRX +2.09%) reported Q2 adjusted EPS of $1.23, better than consensus of $1.22.<\/span>
\n U.S. Steel (X -0.61%) reported a Q2 EPS loss of -12 cents, a much smaller loss than consensus of -29 cents.<\/span>
\n Owens-Illinois (OI -1.04%) reported Q2 EPS of 80 cents, weaker than consensus of 82 cents.<\/span>
\n Edwards Lifesciences (EW -0.54%) reported Q2 EPS of 88 cents, above consensus of 77 cents, and then raised guidance on fiscal 2014 EPS outlook to $3.24-$3.34, higher than consensus of $3.19.<\/span>
\n Amgen (AMGN +0.54%) rose 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 EPS of $2.37, well above consensus of $2.07,and then raised guidance on fiscal 2014 EPS view to $8.20-$8.40 from $7.90-$8.20, higher than consensus of $8.09.<\/span>
\n Global Payments (GPN +0.41%) reported Q4 cash EPS of $1.09, higher than consensus of $1.07.<\/span>
\n Aflac (AFL -0.80%) reported Q2 EPS of $1.78, stronger than consensus of $1.59.<\/span>
\n Fiserv (FISV +0.02%) reported Q2 EPS of 81 cents, better than consensus of 80 cents.<\/span>
\n Amdocs (DOX -1.85%) reported Q3 EPS of 81 cents, higher than consensus of 79 cents.<\/span>
\n Twitter (TWTR +1.74%) surged over 20% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 EPS of 2 cents, higher than consensus of a -1 cent loss, and then raised guidance on 2014 revenue to $1.31 billion-$1.33 billion, better than consensus of $1.27 billion.<\/span>
\n Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD +1.47%) reported Q2 EPS of $1.25, better than consensus of $1.20.<\/span>
\n American Express (AXP -0.16%) reported Q2 EPS of $1.43, above consensus of $1.38.<\/span>
\n Ternium (TX +0.07%) reported Q2 EPS of 66 cents, well below consensus of 81 cents.<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n 7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
\n 8:15 ADP Jobs Report
\n 8:30 GDP Q2
\n 10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
\n 11:30 Results of $15B, 2-Year FRN Auction
\n 1:00 PM Results of $29B, 7-Year Note Auction
\n 2:00 PM FOMC Announcement<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: AB, ACCO, ADT, AMED, AMT, ATRO, AUO, BAH, BDC, BEN, CFR, CVE, D, DHX, DORM, DX, ENR, EVER, GIB, GRMN, GT, HAE, HES, HSP, HUM, HUN, IACI, ICLR, INGR, LFUS, LL, LO, LPLA, MGAM, MINI, MMYT, MRGE, MWV, NICE, NVMI, PAG, PBI, PEG, PSX, PSXP, PTRY, ROK, RRD, S, SAIA, SEE, SGNT, SMP, SO, SODA, SONS, SPB, SPW, TASR, TFX, TRI, VLO, VLY, WEC, WLP<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: ABX, AEL, AEM, AKAM, ALB, ALL, ALLE, AMC, ANIK, ARII, ASGN, ATEN, ATW, AUY, AVG, BALT, BGC, BMRN, CATM, CAVM, CBT, CENX, CHDN, CJES, CLUB, CMO, CNL, CNW, CODE, COHR, CTRP, CW, CWT, DDR, DRE, DRIV, EGN, EHTH, ELGX, ENTR, EQIX, EQY, ESRT, ESV, EXL, EXR, FBHS, FEIC, FISH, FMC, FNF, FOE, FORM, FORR, GLUU, HIG, HK, HOLX, HOS, HR, HTH, INT, IPI, ISIL, KBR, KEX, KGC, KRFT, KS, LGCY, LNC, LOCK, LPSN, LRCX, MAA, MANT, MDAS, MEOH, MET, MOBL, MOH, MTGE, MTW, MUR, NANO, NE, NEWP, NOW, OI, OTEX, PDM, PEIX, PGTI, PPC, PVA, QUIK, RKUS, ROVI, RRTS, SAM, SBRA, SCI, SFLY, SIMG, SPN, SPRT, SSS, STAA, STAG, STMP, STR, SU, SZYM, TCO, TGB, TGI, TS, TSO, TTEK, TTMI, TWTC, UNM, VGR, VPRT, WDC, WFM, WLL, WMB, WPZ, WSTL, WTW, YELP<\/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