{"id":7879,"date":"2014-08-13T07:41:55","date_gmt":"2014-08-13T12:41:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=7879"},"modified":"2014-08-13T07:41:55","modified_gmt":"2014-08-13T12:41:55","slug":"before-the-open-aug-13-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=7879","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Aug 13)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.<\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed with a bullish bias. Korea rallied 1%, followed by Hong Kong (up 0.8%) and Indonesia and Taiwan (up 0.7% each). Europe is currently posting solid, across-the-board gains. Germany, Prague, Russia and Greece are up more than 1%; France, Austria, Belgium, Italy and Norway are also doing well. Futures here in the States point towards a relatively big gap up open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\n The dollar is up. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down. <\/span>
\n At yesterday’s close I earmarked today as somewhat important. We got a big move up last Friday and a little continuation Monday morning, but then the market pulled back Monday afternoon and continued pulling back yesterday – all on declining volume. If a bottom is in place, if the buying that took place Friday was more than just short covering, the market should not drop too much further. At least that’s what I was thinking, and now we’re getting a relatively big gap up. We’ll see if it helps. Going back to the high, the S&P has closed below its open 11 out of 14 days (after taking into account the inaccurate opening print). That’s not great. <\/span>
\n I’m seeing more charts like these floating around the internet (this one is from McClellan). Do I follow them? Well, I look at them, but that’s about it. Compiling such data used to take a big staff and hundreds of hours – now it can be done in literally minutes. Most traders would be better off not looking at such info because it hardens a bias in their mind, and they aren’t flexible to what is happening. This chart looks great, right? But what about all the comparison charts posted last year that predicted a correction? Whether it be about the presidential cycle or a new Fed Chief taking over or a certain year within a 10-year frame or the time of year or anything else. The market fails to follow historical precedent many more times than not. Again, most traders would be better of not having them. Just judge the market for what it is right now. <\/span>
\n\"\"
\nStock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n Deere & Co. (DE -0.78%) reported Q3 EPS of $2.33, higher than consensus of $2.20, but then said worldwide sales of agriculture and turf equipment are forecast to decrease by about 10% for fiscal-year 2014.<\/span>
\n SeaWorld (SEAS +0.32%) reported Q2 EPS of 43 cents, well below consensus of 59 cents.<\/span>
\n Southern Company (SO +0.37%) was downgraded to ‘Underweight’ from ‘Equal Weight’ at Morgan Stanley.<\/span>
\n Demandware (DWRE +1.04%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Goldman Sachs.<\/span>
\n Ford (F +0.23%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Stifel.<\/span>
\n CSR (CSRE +0.25%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Jefferies.<\/span>
\n Fossil (FOSL -0.93%) reported Q2 EPS of 98 cents, better than consensus of 96 cents.<\/span>
\n JDSU (JDSU -0.50%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 14 cents, higher than consensus of 13 cents.<\/span>
\n King Digital (KING +0.17%) plummeted over 20% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 adjusted EPS of 59 cents, right on consensus, but reported Q2 revenue of $593.5 million, below consensus of $605.67 million.<\/span>
\n Cree (CREE -0.99%) slipped 7% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 EPS of 42 cents, better than consensus of 41 cents, but then lowered guidance on Q1 EPS to 40 cents to 45 cents, below consensus of 46 cents.<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n 7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
\n 8:30 Retail Sales
\n 10:00 Atlanta Fed’s Business Inflation Expectations
\n 10:00 Business Inventories
\n 10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
\n 1:00 PM Results of $21B, 10-Year Bond Auction<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: AIT, CAE, CSIQ, DE, EZCH, IOC, M, MEA, PF, SEAS<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: ANW, AZPN, CNAT, CSCO, EXXI, GEVO, IAG, NDLS, NTAP, NTES, OCLR, PAAS, SLW, VIPS, VJET, WX, XONE, YUME<\/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