{"id":8193,"date":"2014-12-23T08:52:25","date_gmt":"2014-12-23T13:52:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=8193"},"modified":"2014-12-23T08:52:25","modified_gmt":"2014-12-23T13:52:25","slug":"before-the-open-dec-23-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=8193","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Dec 23)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Tuesday.<\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed mixed, but only China (down 3%) and Australia (down 1.1%) moved much from their unchanged levels. Europe is currently mostly up. Russia (down 2.15%) and Greece (down 1.8%) are down. Italy, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Amsterdam and France are doing well. Futures here in the States point towards an up open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\n The dollar is up 0.08%. Oil is up, copper down. Gold and silver are up. <\/span>
\n The market moved up yesterday. The S&P got within a point of its all-time high and then closed at its highest level ever (on a closing basis). The Dow and small caps led, but volume was light. ‘Tis the season for light-volume rallies. Being active can lead to a little frustration because robust follow through isn’t common, but simply sitting on positions often works well because while the day-to-day movement is small, the net movement over the entire holiday season tends to be favorable. <\/span>
\n This is what I’m looking for. With the indexes surging back to their highs, I’ll be closing watching the indicators. If they too move to overbought levels, it’ll be a sign of strength, and the newly formed short-term uptrend shall continue. But if the indicators cannot surge back to high levels, it’ll be a sign of internal weakness, and I’ll question the market’s ability to rally much or rally long. Pretty simple. A big surge is the easy part – after all it only took a couple days. Now I look for the indicators to support the move. We may have to be patient (because of the time of the year), but they will be our most useful tell. <\/span>
\n Bias remains up…but the bulls have a little work to do. More after the open. <\/span>
\n Stock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n Walgreen (WAG +1.42%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 81 cents, better than consensus of 75 cents.<\/span>
\n Kimberly Clark (KMB +0.53%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at BMO Capital.<\/span>
\n Starbucks (SBUX +1.38%) was called a top pick for 2015 at Piper Jaffray.<\/span>
\n DCT Industrial (DCT +0.71%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Stifel.<\/span>
\n Halliburton (HAL -2.00%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Global Hunter.<\/span>
\n Transocean (RIG -1.78%) was downgraded to ‘Reduce’ from ‘Neutral’ at Global Hunter.<\/span>
\n Achillion (ACHN +9.01%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Outperform’ at RW Baird.<\/span>
\n The U.S. Department of Justice said the U.S. filed a civil False Claims Act complaint against Omnicare (OCR +0.18%) alleging that it solicited and received millions of dollars in kickbacks from pharmaceutical manufacturer Abbott Laboratories (ABT +0.69%).<\/span>
\n EJF Capital reported a 6.6% passive stake in Encore Capital (ECPG +2.00%).<\/span>
\n Glen Capital Partners reported a 6.8% passive stake in Regional Management (RM +0.38%).<\/span>
\n Glenview Capital Management reported a 5.12% passive stake in Avis Budget (CAR +0.81%).<\/span>
\n Steelcase (SCS +0.67%) reported Q3 EPS of 29 cents, higher than consensus of 26 cents.<\/span>
\n Chesapeake (CHK -7.25%) announced a $1 billion stock repurchase authorization.<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n 7:45 ICSC Retail Store Sales
\n 8:30 Durable Goods
\n 8:30 GDP Q3
\n 8:30 Personal Income and Outlays
\n 8:30 Corporate Profits
\n 8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
\n 9:00 FHFA House Price Index
\n 9:55 Reuters\/UofM Consumer Sentiment
\n 10:00 Consumer Confidence
\n 10:00 New Home Sales
\n 10:00 Richmond Fed Mfg.
\n 11:30 Results of $13B, 2-Year FRN Auction
\n 1:00 PM Results of $35B, 5-Year Note Auction<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: WAG<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: CAMP, CALM<\/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