{"id":7921,"date":"2014-09-02T07:38:08","date_gmt":"2014-09-02T12:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=7921"},"modified":"2014-09-02T07:38:08","modified_gmt":"2014-09-02T12:38:08","slug":"before-the-open-sep-2-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=7921","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Sep 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Tuesday. Hope you had a good weekend.<\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed with a lean to the upside. China led with a 1.4% gain followed by Japan (up 1.2%). Taiwan dropped 1.2%. Europe is currently mixed. Prague is leading with a 0.9% gain, followed by Italy (up 0.7%) and Greece (up 0.6%). There are no big losers. Futures here in the States point towards a flat-to-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 Here’s the S&P 500 weekly chart. Yes volume has declined the last couple weeks, but otherwise what’s not to like? This is why I keep saying the bulls deserve the benefit of the doubt…because they’ve been in control of the intermediate and long term for so long…and up trends don’t change very quickly.<\/span>
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\n But breadth has been weakish. Even though a couple indexes are at new highs, new highs among individual stocks has been lacking. This can’t last. The bullish percent charts are also much lower than they’ve been going back a couple months. So there seems to be less participation. The indexes are doing great, but beneath the surface there’s a lack of broad-based participation. Something has to give. Oh, and the small caps have also not kept up, thanks to a big July drop.<\/span>
\n I like the the market overall. The trend is up…the quality of set-ups has improved…but weak breadth has lingered, and I wonder if\/when it’ll pull the market down (assuming it doesn’t improve). I guess you can say I’m cautiously bullish. That means I’m long but not all in, and I would not be surprised if the market corrected soon if the technicals don’t improve. More after the open.<\/span>
\nStock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n Northrop Grumman (NOC +0.27%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Sector Perform’ at RBC Capital.<\/span>
\n Tesla (TSLA +2.21%) and Cabot Oil & Gas (COG +0.51%) were both upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Stifel.<\/span>
\n CNBC reports that Dollar General (DG -0.33%) will raise its offer for Family Dollar (FDO unch) to $80 a share or $9.1 billion.<\/span>
\n AutoZone (AZO +0.01%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Overweight’ at JPMorgan Chase.<\/span>
\n Flowserve (FLS -0.13%) was initiated with an ‘Overweight’ at Barclays with a price target of $85.<\/span>
\n Finisar (FNSR +1.80%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Jefferies.<\/span>
\n Progressive (PGR +0.44%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Goldman Sachs.<\/span>
\n Boeing (BA -0.24%) was awarded a $234.7 milion contract for the production and delivery of 24 AH-6I aircraft to Saudi Arabia.<\/span>
\n Amphenol (APH -0.37%) jumped 10% in after-hours trading after it acquired Casco Automotive Group for $450 million.<\/span>
\n David Voyticky reported a 5.2% passive stake in Miller Energy (MILL +2.78%) .<\/span>
\n RA Capital reported a 9.9% passive stake in Wafergen Biosystems (WGBS -1.10%) .<\/span>
\n Larry Feinberg reported a 6.4% passive stake in Metabolix (MBLX +1.47%).<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n 8:30 Gallup US Consumer Spending Measure
\n 9:45 PMI Manufacturing Index
\n 10:00 ISM Manufacturing Index
\n 10:00 Construction Spending
\n 11:00 Global Manufacturing PMI
\n 1:00 PM Gallup US ECI<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: CONN<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: AVNW, GWRE, PIKE, PRGN<\/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