{"id":8252,"date":"2015-01-20T08:53:21","date_gmt":"2015-01-20T13:53:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=8252"},"modified":"2015-01-20T08:53:21","modified_gmt":"2015-01-20T13:53:21","slug":"before-the-open-jan-20-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=8252","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Jan 20)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Tuesday. Hope you had a good long weekend. <\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed with a lean to the upside. Japan closed up 2.1%; India rallied 1.85%; China gained 1.8%, and Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan also did well. Europe is currently up across the board. France, Spain, Italy, Austria and Stockholm are up more than 1%. London, Belgium and Amsterdam are also doing well. Futures here in the States point towards a moderate gap up open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\n The dollar is up. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are up. <\/span>
\n I don’t have much to add to the comments I made in the report posted over the weekend and the video<\/a> posted yesterday.<\/span>
\n The market has been mostly weak (going back to the last couple days of 2014), but it hasn’t been that weak, and if you back the chart up and see the big picture, one could argue the market has simply been in a large consolidation pattern near its highs.<\/span>
\n Since the beginning of November, the S&P has moved up 100, down 100, up 120, down 100, up 70, down 75…and is now exactly unchanged. Considering the multi-year uptrend in place, this could be a consolidation pattern within the trend. At the very least, you should consider this a possibility. After all, the trend has been up for a very long time, and the bears have gotten crushed over and over attempting to pick tops. <\/span>
\n Several things point towards this being a top – such as the surge in volatility – but the bulls deserve the benefit of the doubt until the overall trend really does change. <\/span>
\n The Swiss National Bank dropped a bomb on the market last week when it unpegged its currency from the euro. The Swiss market suffered a huge loss, but little damage was done to the US market.<\/span>
\n Yesterday China dropped 7.7%.<\/span>
\n The #1 thing the US market has going for it is that it’s the strongest and safest market in the world. This alone can keep it propped up due to money exiting riskier countries looking for safety. <\/span>
\n In the intermediate term I am neutral. Rallies have gotten sold, dips have gotten bought. Nothing has lasted very long, so it’s not wise to dig your feet in, have a strong opinion and defend your stance. More after the open. <\/span>
\n Stock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n CME Group (CME +0.20%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Citigroup who raised its price target for the shares to $94 from $88.<\/span>
\n T-Mobile (TMUS -0.14%) was upgraded to ‘Conviction Buy’ from ‘Buy’ at Goldman Sachs.<\/span>
\n Morgan Stanley (MS +0.90%) reported Q4 continuing operations EPS of 47 cents, below consensus of 48 cents.<\/span>
\n Archer Daniels (ADM +1.00%) was downgraded to ‘Underweight’ from ‘Neutral’ at JPMorgan Chase.<\/span>
\n Viacom (VIAB +2.39%) was downgraded to ‘Underweight’ from ‘Equal Weight’ at Morgan Stanley.<\/span>
\n Halliburton (HAL +4.82%) reported Q4 EPS of $1.19, better than consensus of $1.10.<\/span>
\n Intel (INTC +0.72%) was downgraded to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at JMP Securities.<\/span>
\n Watsco (WSO unch) was upgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Sell’ at Goldman Sachs.<\/span>
\n Regions Financial (RF +0.89%) reported Q3 EPS of 14 cents, well below consensus of 21 cents.<\/span>
\n Exelon (EXC +0.30%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at Wells Fargo.<\/span>
\n Baker Hughes (BHI +5.66%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of $1.44, well above consensus of $1.07.<\/span>
\n Value Act reported a 5.1% stake in Baker Hughes (BHI +5.66%) .<\/span>
\n AT&T (T +1.62%) reported a Q4 $10 billion charge related to pension benefits and network assets.<\/span>
\n Carl Icahn raised his stake in Manitowoc (MTW +4.13%) to 7.81% from 7.77%.<\/span>
\n Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Russia’s government bond rating to Baa3 from Baa2. The rating was also placed on review for further downgrade.<\/span>
\n Green Courte Partners reported a 15.03% stake in Sun Communities (SUI +0.80%).<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n 10:00 NAHB Housing Market Index<\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: ATI, BHI, DAL, EDU, HAL, IGTE, JNJ, MS, MTB, MTG, PETS, RF, SAP<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: ADTN, AMD, CA, CLS, CREE, FULT, IBKR, IBM, NFLX, SMCI, WWD<\/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