{"id":8207,"date":"2014-12-30T08:59:51","date_gmt":"2014-12-30T13:59:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=8207"},"modified":"2014-12-30T08:59:51","modified_gmt":"2014-12-30T13:59:51","slug":"before-the-open-dec-30-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=8207","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Dec 30)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Tuesday.<\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed mostly down. Japan, Hong Kong and Australia dropped more than 1%. Indonesia did well. Europe is currently mostly down. Russia is down 3.2%; Spain, London, Germany, France, Austria, Greece, Amsterdam and Norway are down 0.8% or more. Futures here in the States point towards a moderate gap down open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\n The dollar is down. Oil is down, copper up. Gold and silver are up. <\/span>
\n Yesterday we got more new highs from the indexes, but par for the course this time of year, volume was light and the range was small. If Wall St. is a big voting booth, more traders\/investors are voting for higher prices, but turnout at the polls isn’t impressive. Still, you can’t fight it. Most of the indexes are at all-time highs, and most of the indicators are supporting the strength. Yes, in the near term some backing-and-filling makes sense, but unless the indicators suddenly stop, odds favor higher prices over the next couple weeks.<\/span>
\n The big story\/opportunity remains oil. A 10-point move in either direction is very possible. Oil could continue down from its currently level in the mid-50’s, hit an air pocket and quickly drop to the mid-40’s…Or yesterday’s weakness and new low will prove to be a trap, and crude will suddenly bounce. The stocks of course, being very sensitive to crude’s movement, could rally or fall 25% based on what the underlying does. If you love movement and action, this is where it’s at heading into the new year. <\/span>
\n Stock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n BB&T (BBT +0.41%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Rafferty Capital.<\/span>
\n Piper Jaffray keeps an ‘Overweight’ rating on CBS (CBS +0.84%) and said it is a top pick for 2015.<\/span>
\n Hyperion Therapeutics (HPTX +2.93%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ at Brean Capital with a price target of $40.<\/span>
\n Piper Jaffray keeps an ‘Overweight’ rating on Microsoft (MSFT -0.90%) and said it is a top pick for 2015.<\/span>
\n QLogic (QLGC -0.62%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ at DA Davidson with a price target of $17.<\/span>
\n First Marblehead (FMD +14.72%) rose over 3% in after-hours trading after HC2 Holdings reported an 8.56% stake in the company.<\/span>
\n SPO Partners reported a 7.9% stake in Oasis Petroleum (OAS -1.68%) .<\/span>
\n MSD Capital reported a 5.1% passive stake in Esterline (ESL -0.28%) .<\/span>
\n Gabelli reported a 5.24% stake in The Pantry (PTRY +0.32%) .<\/span>
\n Tiger Global reported a 9.2% passive stake in OnDeck (ONDK -2.69%) .<\/span>
\n Civeo Corp. (CVEO +2.61%) slumped over 20% in after-hours trading after it said it sees fiscal 2015 revenue of $540 million-$600 million, well below consensus of $817.2 million and said it will suspend its quarterly dividend.<\/span>
\n Bulldog reported a 9.09% stake in Alliance New York Municipal Income Fund (AYN +0.76%) .<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n 7:45 ICSC Retail Store Sales
\n 8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
\n 9:00 S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index
\n 10:00 Consumer Confidence
\n 10:00 State Street Investor Confidence Index
\n 3:00 PM Farm Prices<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: none<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: HGR<\/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