{"id":8238,"date":"2015-01-14T08:36:11","date_gmt":"2015-01-14T13:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=8238"},"modified":"2015-01-14T08:36:11","modified_gmt":"2015-01-14T13:36:11","slug":"before-the-open-jan-14-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=8238","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Jan 14)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.<\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed mostly down. Japan and Indonesia dropped more than 1%; Australia and Taiwan also dropped notably. Europe is currently mostly down. London is down 2.3%, followed by Austria, Norway, Stockholm and Greece, which are down more than 1%, and Amsterdam, Spain, Italy, Germany and France, which are down more than 0.8%. Futures here in the States point towards a moderate gap down open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\n The dollar is down. Oil and copper are down. Gold is up, silver down. <\/span>
\n The market is in a dangerous place here. When the week began I didn’t think anything was urgent. Nobody had their back against the wall. Nobody had to dig in and defend their turf. Things have changed. After two down days and a big move off yesterday’s gap up, the bulls are now “on the clock.” Unless they step in and immediately buy the market at today’s open, many indicators will hint at more needed selling before being oversold. <\/span>
\n Here’s 10-day MA of the NYSE AD line. Pullbacks within uptrends tend to find support at the 0 line. Brief penetrations of the level are permissible, but notable penetrations require bigger drops to washout the weak hands. That’s the situation right now. The current level is salvageable, but any deeper move down will likely lead to a test of the lows by the indicator and the S&P taking out its early-January low and at least testing the December low. <\/span>
\n\"\"
\n Don’t churn your account. More after the open. <\/span>
\n Stock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n Foot Locker (FL -2.04%) was downgraded to ‘Sell’ from ‘Neutral’ at Goldman Sachs.<\/span>
\n JPMorgan Chase (JPM +0.02%) was downgraded to ‘Underweight’ from ‘Neutral’ at HSBC.<\/span>
\n Viacom (VIAB +0.32%) was downgraded to ‘Sell’ from ‘Buy’ at Citigroup.<\/span>
\n Travelers (TRV +0.15%) and Allstate (ALL +0.60%) were downgraded to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at Macquarie.<\/span>
\n KB Home (KBH -16.29%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Outperform’ at Credit Suisse.<\/span>
\n BlackRock (BLK +0.30%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Goldman Sachs.<\/span>
\n Chesapeake (CHK +0.90%) , Resolute Energy (REN -9.88%) and Marathon Oil (MRO -1.33%) were all downgraded to ‘Underweight’ from ‘Equal Weight’ at Barclays.<\/span>
\n JPMorgan Chase (JPM +0.02%) reported Q4 EPS of $1.33, better than consensus of $1.32.<\/span>
\n Stryker (SYK +0.21%) said it sees Q4 adjusted EPS of $1.43-$1.45, below consensus $1.46, and then lowered guidance on fiscal 2014 EPS to $4.72-$4.74, less than consensus of $4.75.<\/span>
\n Integrated Core Strategies reported a 4.9% passive stake in Gulfport Energy (GPOR -2.82%) .<\/span>
\n Portolan Capital reported a 5.12% passive stake in Datawatch (DWCH -1.80%) .<\/span>
\n Tesla (TSLA +1.01%) fell over 4% after CEO Musk said Q4 China sales declined significantly.<\/span>
\n Cintas (CTAS +1.15%) announced that its Board of Directors approved an additional $500 million share repurchase program.<\/span>
\n GameStop (GME -2.96%) rose over 6% in after-hours trading after it said that comparable holiday same-store-sales decreased -3.1%, comprised of -3.3% in the U.S. and -2.7% internationally, but said it backs its fiscal 2014 EPS view of $3.40-$3.55, within the range of consensus at $3.49.<\/span>
\n CSX (CSX -1.06%) reported Q4 EPS of 49 cents, right on consensus, although Q4 revenue of $3.20 billion was better than consensus of $3.18 billion.<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n 7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
\n 8:30 Retail Sales
\n 8:30 Import\/Export Prices
\n 10:00 Atlanta Fed’s Business Inflation Expectations
\n 10:00 Business Inventories
\n 10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
\n 1:00 PM Results of $13B, 30-Year Note Auction
\n 2:00 PM Fed’s Beige Book<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: JPM, SJR, WFC<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: CLC, GEF, FUL<\/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