{"id":7979,"date":"2014-09-24T07:36:07","date_gmt":"2014-09-24T12:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=7979"},"modified":"2014-09-24T07:36:07","modified_gmt":"2014-09-24T12:36:07","slug":"before-the-open-sep-24-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=7979","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Sep 24)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.<\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed mixed, but movement was small. China rallied 1.5%; New Zealand, Korea and Hong Kong also closed up. Australia dropped 0.7%; Japan and Indonesia also fell. Europe currently leans to the upside. Russia and Italy are up 0.9%, followed by France (up 0.7%) and Germany and Switzerland (up 0.25% each). Prague is down 0.34%. Futures here in the States point towards a moderate gap up open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\n The dollar is up. Oil is flat, copper up. Gold and silver are down.<\/span>
\n It was another ugly day on Wall St. yesterday. The large caps dropped moderately; the small caps got hit hard and are in a virtual free fall. Since the 3-day pop surrounding last week’s FOMC announcement, which put several indexes at new highs, it’s been all down hill. And I can’t even say rallies are getting sold because there are no rallies – just steady, consistent, across-the-board selling pressure. <\/span>
\n Sooner or later we’ll get a legit rally attempt. It could last a day (the biggest up days occur within downtrends) or it could last a couple days. In either case, unless a complete washout takes place first, such a rally attempt is likely to get sold into. Not enough damage has been done and not enough pain has been felt for the market to put in a bottom. But if we get more selling first, if longs can be partially wiped out, then something more meaningful can play out. <\/span>
\n If you’re a long only trader, have patience. If you play both sides, the easy money on the short side has been made (in the near term), so expect a bounce soon. More after the open. <\/span>
\nStock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n Rio Tinto (RIO +1.51%) was upgraded to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Equal Weight’ at Morgan Stanley.<\/span>
\n Ericsson (ERIC -1.46%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at UBS.<\/span>
\n Accenture PLC (ACN +0.48%) reported Q4 EPS of $1.08, below consensus of $1.10.<\/span>
\n Autoliv (ALV -0.98%) was initiated with an ‘Outperform’ at Exane BNP Paribas with a price target of $118.<\/span>
\n Morgan Stanley (MS -0.45%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Overweight’ at JPMorgan Chase.<\/span>
\n Sage Therapeutics (SAGE +11.55%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Goldman Sachs.<\/span>
\n Newmont Mining (NEM +1.39%) raised its 2014 copper output guidance to 120,000 metric tons (MT)-125,000 MT from 80,000 MT-95,000 MT and raised its fiscal year 2015 copper production guidance to 250,000 MT-270,000 MT from 220,000 MT-240,000 MT following the receipt of an export permit in Indonesia.<\/span>
\n Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY -1.57%) jumped over 6% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 EPS of $1.17, better than consensus of $1.14.<\/span>
\n AAR Corp. (AIR +0.25%) reported Q1 EPS of 36 cents, less than consensus of 38 cents, and then lowered guidance on fiscal 2015 EPS view to $1.65-$1.75 from $1.80-$1.90, below consensus of $1.87.<\/span>
\n Steelcase (SCS +0.19%) reported Q2 adjusted EPS of 27 cents, higher than consensus of 23 cents.<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n 7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
\n 10:00 New Home Sales
\n 10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
\n 11:30 Results of $13B, 2-Year FRN Auction
\n 12:05 PM Fed’s Mester: Economic Outlook and Monetary Policy
\n 1:00 PM Results of $35B, 5-Year Note Auction<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: ACN, KBH, PAYX, MTN<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: JBL, WOR<\/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