{"id":7981,"date":"2014-09-25T07:43:03","date_gmt":"2014-09-25T12:43:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=7981"},"modified":"2014-09-25T07:43:03","modified_gmt":"2014-09-25T12:43:03","slug":"before-the-open-sep-25-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=7981","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Sep 25)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Thursday. Happy New Years for those who celebrate it.<\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed mixed. Japan rallied 1.3%, followed by Indonesia (up 0.53%) and New Zealand (up 0.37%). India and Taiwan closed down 1%, and Hong Kong lost 0.64%. Europe is currently mostly up. Russia is up 0.8%, followed by Prague (up 0.68%), Spain (up 0.66%) and Italy (up 0.61%). Greece is down 1.23%. Futures here in the States point towards a down open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\n The dollar is up. Oil is up, copper down. Gold and silver are down. <\/span>
\n Yesterday was an impressive day for the market. After a weak start the indexes rallied relatively hard…then rested during lunch…and then rallied again. Across-the-board gains were registered…the Nas, Dow and small caps led the way. <\/span>
\n The key going forward is the movement of the small caps and mid caps. The Dow, Nas and S&P would not even be considered in correction or pullback mode. They just hit new highs at the end of last week, and it takes more than three down days to get the bulls attention. The small and mid caps, on the other hand, have been declining all month and are down a couple percent. There is a stark difference between them and the rest of the market. <\/span>
\n If the small caps and mid caps can catch a bid, the rest of the market will be free to rally up to new highs again. Simple as that. Failure of the smaller stocks to rally would cap the upside of the entire market. We need evidence investors are willing to take a chance with smaller and riskier companies. Here’s the divergence that needs to right itself. <\/span>
\n\"\"
\nStock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n Northrop Grumman (NOC +0.89%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Argus with a $145 price target.<\/span>
\n AutoZone (AZO +0.17%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Argus.<\/span>
\n Yahoo (YHOO +2.13%) was downgraded to ‘Sector Perform’ from ‘Outperform’ at RBC Capital.<\/span>
\n Comerica (CMA -0.59%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Wunderlich.<\/span>
\n Barrick Gold (ABX -1.35%) was upgraded to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Neutral’ at HSBC.<\/span>
\n KB Home (KBH -5.30%) was downgraded to ‘Sector Perform’ from ‘Outperform’ at RBC Capital.<\/span>
\n Rexahn Pharmaceuticals (RNN unch) jumped over 10% in after-hours trading after it announced that the FDA has granted Orphan Drug Designation for its drug RX-3117 for the treatment of patients with pancreatic cancer.<\/span>
\n Worthington (WOR unch) reported Q1 EPS of 63 cents, right on consensus, although Q1 revenue of $862.4 million was higher than consensus of $857.67 million.<\/span>
\n H.B. Fuller (FUL +0.37%) slumped over 10% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 42 cents, well below consensus of 76 cents as Q3 revenue of $526.8 million was below consensus of $539.54 million.<\/span>
\n Boeing (BA +0.94%) was awarded a $102 million government contract for full rate production of the Next Generation Automatic Test System.<\/span>
\n Raytheon (RTN +0.47%) was awarded a $251.13 million government contract for the procurement of 231 Tomahawk Block IV All-Up-Round missiles for the U.S. Navy and the United Kingdom.<\/span>
\n Jabil Circuit (JBL -0.10%) rose over 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 core EPS of 5 cents, well above consensus of no gain, and then raised its 2015 revenue estimate to $16.5 billion-$18.0 billion, above consensus of $16.35 billion.<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n 8:30 Durable Goods
\n 8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
\n 9:45 PMI Services Index Flash
\n 10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
\n 11:00 Kansas City Fed Mfg Survey
\n 1:00 PM Results of $29B, 7-Year Note Auction
\n 1:20 PM Fed’s Lockhart: U.S. Economic Outlook and Monetary Policy
\n 4:30 PM Money Supply
\n 4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: SCHL<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: ARCW, DMND, THO<\/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