{"id":7895,"date":"2014-08-21T07:37:55","date_gmt":"2014-08-21T12:37:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=7895"},"modified":"2014-08-21T07:37:55","modified_gmt":"2014-08-21T12:37:55","slug":"before-the-open-aug-21-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=7895","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Aug 21)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Thursday.<\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed mixed. Japan led with a 0.9% gain, but no other index moved up much. South Korea dropped 1.4% followed by Hong Kong (down 0.7%) and China (down 0.4%). Europe is currently up across-the-board. Italy, Spain, Austria, Russia and Greece are up more than 1%. France (up 0.9%) and Germany (up 0.6%) are also doing well. Futures here in the States point towards a positive open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\n The dollar is flat. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down. <\/span>
\n Thanks to a nearly-vertical move the last 2+ weeks, the Nas is at a new high. The S&P is only 3 points from an all-time high. The Dow and mid caps follow, and then the Russell pulls up the rear. Instead of getting a dead-cat bounce within a downtrend, we’ve gotten a pretty forceful move up which has completely negated the bearish sentiment that built up. My overall bias remains to the upside, although I recognize a couple risks. <\/span>
\n The extent of the move is unsustainable, so a rest is due. <\/span>
\n A couple indicators are getting extended and probably don’t have much more than a day or two left before they too need to correct. <\/span>
\n A few other indicators haven’t supported the market’s recent strength.<\/span>
\n The small and large caps are starting to diverge. (see below). <\/span>
\n\"\"
\n And with the Jackson Hole Summit starting, there’s the potential for a quick move. I like the market, but things are getting a little extended in the near term. More after the open. <\/span>
\nStock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n Hormel Foods ({=HRL reported Q3 EPS of 51 cents, higher than consensus of 48 cents.<\/span>
\n Patterson Cos. (PDCO +0.10%) reported Q1 EPS of 50 cents, right on expectations.<\/span>
\n Dollar Tree (DLTR +0.53%) reported Q2 EPS of 61 cents, weaker than consensus of 64 cents.<\/span>
\n Sears Holdings (SHLD +1.27%) reported a Q2 EPS loss of -$5.39, a much wider loss than consensus of -$2.63.<\/span>
\n Bon-Ton Stores (BONT -1.20%) reported a Q2 EPS loss of -$1.86, a larger loss than consensus of -$1.54.<\/span>
\n Madison Square Garden (MSG +3.44%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Stifel.<\/span>
\n Baird raised its price target on Lowe’s (LOW +1.57%) to $60 from $57 and kept its ‘Outperform’ rating on the stock.<\/span>
\n Sally Beauty (SBH +0.98%) rose nearly 2% in after-hours trading after the company authorized a new $1.0 billion share repurchase program.<\/span>
\n American Eagle (AEO +11.99%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at SunTrust.<\/span>
\n L Brands (LB -0.38%) reported Q2 EPS of 63 cents, better than consensus of 62 cents.<\/span>
\n CACI (CACI +0.23%) reported Q4 EPS of $1.49, stronger than consensus of $1.43.<\/span>
\n Synopsys (SNPS +0.51%) reported Q3 EPS of 65 cents, higher than consensus of 60 cents.<\/span>
\n Hewlett-Packard (HPQ -1.01%) reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 89 cents, right on consensus, although Q3 revenue of $27.6 billion was better than consensus of $27.01 billion.<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n 8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
\n 9:45 PMI Manufacturing Index Flash
\n 10:00 Existing Home Sales
\n 10:00 Philly Fed Business Outlook
\n 10:00 Leading Indicators
\n 10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
\n 4:30 PM Money Supply
\n 4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: BKE, BONT, CYBX, DLTR, HRL, NM, PDCO, PERY, PLCE, SHLD, SMRT, SSI, TTC, WUBA<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: ARAY, ARO, AVNW, BRCD, CRM, GME, GPS, INTU, MENT, MRVL, NDSN, NWY, QUNR, ROST, TFM, TUES<\/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