{"id":7866,"date":"2014-08-08T07:48:52","date_gmt":"2014-08-08T12:48:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=7866"},"modified":"2014-08-08T07:48:52","modified_gmt":"2014-08-08T12:48:52","slug":"before-the-open-aug-8-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=7866","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Aug 8)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Friday.<\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed mostly down. Japan dropped 3%; Australia, India and Korea dropped more than 1%. Europe is currently mostly down. Greece is down 2.2%; Amsterdam and Switzerland are also down noticeably. Russia is up almost 2%; Italy is also doing very well. S&P futures here in the States were down about 15 overnight but are now up about 5.
\n<\/span>
\n The dollar is down. Oil is up, copper is flat. Gold and silver are down slightly. <\/span>
\n The big news out is Obama has approved air strikes in Iraq. This sent futures plunging in overnight trading, but they bottomed around 4:00 am and have moved up with force since. Oil moved opposite – first surging, then dropping back. <\/span>
\n It’s been an up and down week. Big move up Monday followed by an even bigger move down Tuesday. A rally attempt Wednesday that fizzled and then a big move down yesterday. The S&P has taken out its previous day’s low every day, but the Russell has taken out its previous day’s high every day except yesterday. For the week, most of the indexes are posting losses; the Russell is up slightly. <\/span>
\n Here’s a long term S&P chart. The index is getting awfully close to a support trendline, a significant moving average, and for what it’s worth, a big, fat, whole number. <\/span>
\n\"\"
\n Overall my bias remains to the downside. All the indexes are pointing down on their daily charts, and even though an argument can be made that several indicators have reached extreme levels and therefore support a bounce, unless the near term trend actually reverses, a rally is likely to get sold into. Also, up until now it’s been Israel vs. Palestine and Russia vs. Iraq. Now the US is going to strike Iraq – another military conflict that has the ability to induce a big move at any moment. This is not an ideal time for a swing trader to operate. More after the open. <\/span>
\nStock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n Dillard’s (DDS -0.50%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Buckingham.<\/span>
\n Activision Blizzard (ATVI -2.40%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Longbow.<\/span>
\n Ann Inc. (ANN -5.31%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at UBS.<\/span>
\n Hibbett Sports (HIBB -1.22%) was downgraded to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at Credit Suisse.<\/span>
\n Allergan (AGN -3.30%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at Leerink.<\/span>
\n Tang Capital reported an 11.4% stake in La Jolla (LJPC -0.10%) .<\/span>
\n lululemon (LULU -2.35%) jumped over 5% in after-hours trading after Dow Jones says founder Chip WIlson will sell half his stake to private equity firm Advent for $845 million.<\/span>
\n NVIDIA (NVDA -1.02%) reported Q2 EPS of 30 cents, well above consensus of 20 cents, and then was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Needham.<\/span>
\n CSC (CSC -1.24%) reported Q1 EPS of $1.03, higher than consensus of 94 cents.<\/span>
\n Gap (GPS -0.67%) climbed ove 4% in after-hours trading after it said it sees Q2 EPS ex-benefits of 68 cents-69 cents with Q2 net sales of $3.98 billion, better than consensus of 66 cents and Q2 sales of $3.96 billion.<\/span>
\n Monster Beverage (MNST -1.42%) rose nearly 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 EPS of 81 cents, better than consensus of 75 cents.<\/span>
\n News Corp. (NWSA -1.19%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 1 cents, below consensus of 3 cents.<\/span>
\n CBS (CBS -1.30%) reported Q2 adjusted EPS of 78 cents, higher than consensus of 72 cents.<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n 8:30 Productivity and Costs
\n 10:00 Wholesale Trade<\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: BAM, BECN, BID, BPL, CCC, CHH, EBIX, ERF, HMSY, HRG, LXU, MGA, MHR, PDCE, PGEM, PGNX, RDNT, SIRO, SUSP, SUSS, TTI<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: MDRX<\/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