{"id":8211,"date":"2015-01-02T08:45:26","date_gmt":"2015-01-02T13:45:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=8211"},"modified":"2015-01-02T08:45:26","modified_gmt":"2015-01-02T13:45:26","slug":"before-the-open-jan-2-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=8211","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Jan 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Friday. Happy New Years. <\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed mostly up. China rallied 2.1%, followed by India (up 1.4%), Hong Kong (up 1.1%), South Korea (up 0.6%) and Australia (up 0.5%). Japan dropped 1.6%, and Malaysia fell 0.5%. Europe is currently mixed. Austria, Prague and Greece are up more than 1%; Italy and Spain are also doing well. Russia is down 2.5% and Switzerland and Germany are down 0.6%. 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 down, copper is down. Gold is down, silver is up. <\/span>
\n Today feels like a Monday because of the time off and slow market on Wednesday, but it’s Friday. Many traders will still be out, so I wouldn’t expect things to fully get back to normal until next week. <\/span>
\n The market ended 2014 with two down days which pulled the market off its highs. Several indexes hit new all-time highs just a couple days ago, and given the run off the mid-December low (S&P rallied 7 of 8 days and moved up about 120 points), a low-volume drop isn’t anything to be concerned with…yet.<\/span>
\n The indicators are supportive of the bull’s case. <\/span>
\n Unfortunately we don’t have a big basket of very good set ups. We’ve had some good trades the last month, but we don’t have our typical list of set ups to choose from. That’s what happens when the market goes straight down and then straight up. Charts in both directions get blown out, and we’re left with a near term bias and trend but not many textbook set ups to play with. Oh well. The market needs to move around a little to allow the charts to reset.<\/span>
\n In my opinion the lead story heading into 2015 is still oil and oil stocks. Crude can hit a little downside air pocket and quickly drop to 45 (from its currently level near 52.5), or the recent weakness could be a trap before crude pops into the 60’s. Oil stocks, being very sensitive to the underlying commodity, could rally 20% in the next couple weeks or get hit hard. For short term trades who want movement, oil is where it will be to start the year. <\/span>
\n Otherwise we’ll have to be patient because there aren’t a lot of good looking charts to play. More after the open. <\/span>
\n Stock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n Macau reported that December casino revenue fell -30.4%, affecting companies in the Macau gaming industry such as Las Vegas Sands (LVS -0.56%), MGM Resorts (MGM -0.33%), Melco Crown (MPEL -0.51%) and Wynn Resorts (WYNN -1.61%).<\/span>
\n Signet Jewelers (SIG +0.14%) Kate Spade (KATE +0.13%), and Sally Beauty (ABH) were named as top picks at Sterne Agee.<\/span>
\n LINN Energy (LINE +0.40%) provided its outlook for 2015 and announced a strategic partnership with GSO Capital Partners.<\/span>
\n Main Street Capital reported a 21.4% stake in Glowpoint (GLOW unch) .<\/span>
\n MiMedx (MDXG +3.97%) slid over 10% in after-hours trading after it announced that it has received a subpoena from the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services in connection with a civil investigation.<\/span>
\n Deerhill Management reported a 5.25% passive stake in State Investors Bancorp (SIBC +34.90%) .<\/span>
\n Cormorant Global Healthcare reported a 5.13% passive stake in Ardelyx (ARDX -0.74%).<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n 9:45 PMI Manufacturing Index
\n 10:00 ISM Manufacturing Index
\n 10:00 Construction Spending
\n 11:00 Global Manufacturing PMI
\n 4:30 PM Money Supply
\n 4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: none<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: none<\/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