{"id":8289,"date":"2015-02-05T08:40:57","date_gmt":"2015-02-05T13:40:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=8289"},"modified":"2015-02-05T08:40:57","modified_gmt":"2015-02-05T13:40:57","slug":"before-the-open-feb-5-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=8289","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Feb 5)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Thursday.<\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed with a lean to the downside. China dropped 1.2%, followed by Japan (down 1%), Indonesia (down 0.7%) and South Korea (down 0.5%). Australia moved up 0.6%. Europe is currently mostly down. Russian is up 2.2%, and Norway is up 0.9%. Greece is down 3%, followed by Switzerland (down 1%), Prague (down 0.8%), Spain and Italy (down 0.6%) and Belgium (down 0.5%). Futures here in the States point towards a moderate gap up open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\n Yesterday was a fairly routine day until the final hour when word broke the European Central Bank (ECB) would no longer permit Greece to use government bonds as collateral for loans because there’s no guarantee there’ll be a successful conclusion to the Greek bailout talks with its current lenders. This sent the market plunging. The S&P 500 dropped 20 points in less than 15 minutes. Pretty good across-the-board gains turned into losses. <\/span>
\n I stated that after Wall St. was given a chance to think about the decision, the market could gap down a bunch or quickly recapture the losses. Wall St. is like that. The first reaction, a complete knee-jerk reaction mostly based on following the crowd and momentum may not be enough…or it may be completely wrong. In this case, at least at first glance, it appears to be wrong because a good chunk of the loss will be recaptured at today’s open. This doesn’t mean the lows can’t be revisited…just that, at first glance, it was at least overdone. For now this story will dominate. The technicals get throw out, and whether details are added or parts of the story get retracted could quickly move the market like it did yesterday. <\/span>
\n Tomorrow we get the latest employment figures here in the US. <\/span>
\n My stance remains the same. The market is range bound, so trades need to be kept short term. Rallies get sold, dips get bought, so we gotta shoot for 5-10% moves that may only last a couple days instead of bigger moves lasting several weeks or longer. More after the open. <\/span>
\n Stock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n Cigna (CI +1.29%) reported Q4 EPS of $1.69, more than consensus of $1.67.<\/span>
\n O’Reilly Automotive (ORLY -0.29%) reported Q4 EPS of $1.76, better than consensus of $1.68.<\/span>
\n Ralph Lauren (RL -18.22%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Citigroup.<\/span>
\n Lincoln National (LNC -0.02%) reported Q4 operating EPS of $1.67, above consensus of $1.48.<\/span>
\n Under Armour (UA +1.02%) reported Q4 EPS of 40 cents, more than consensus of 39 cents.<\/span>
\n Con-way (CNW -1.58%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 41 cents, less than consensus of 45 cents.<\/span>
\n Hub Group (HUBG -1.05%) reported Q4 EPS ex-items of 41 cents, better than consensus of 38 cents.<\/span>
\n Yum! Brands (YUM +0.05%) reported Q4 EPS ex-items of 61 cents, weaker than consensus of 66 cents.<\/span>
\n Genpact (G unch) reported Q4 EPS of 26 cents, more than consensus of 24 cents.<\/span>
\n Cincinnati Financial (CINF +0.71%) reported Q4 EPS of $1.02, higher than consensus of 85 cents.<\/span>
\n Prudential (PRU -0.25%) fell 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of $2.12, below consensus of $2.38.<\/span>
\n Allstate (ALL +0.76%) reported Q4 EPS of $1.72, more than consensus of $1.68, and then announced a $3 billion stock buyback program.<\/span>
\n 21st Century Fox (FOXA +0.17%) reported Q2 EPS ex-items of 53 cents, higher than consensus of 42 cents.<\/span>
\n Fortune Brands (FBHS +0.19%) reported Q4 EPS of 44 cents, below consensus of 51 cents, and then lowered guidance on fiscal 2015 EPS to $2.00-$2.10, well below consensus of $2.32.<\/span>
\n Spectrum Brands (SPB +0.89%) reported Q1 EPS of $1.07, less than consensus of $1.08.<\/span>
\n Keurig Green Mountain (GMCR -3.88%) fell 7% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 EPS of 88 cents, below consensus of 89 cents, and then loweed guidance on Q2 EPS to $1.00-$1.05, weaker than consensus of $1.18.<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n Chain Store Sales
\n 7:30 Challenger Job-Cut Report
\n 8:30 Gallup US Payroll to Population
\n 8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
\n 8:30 International Trade
\n 8:30 Productivity and Costs
\n 9:45 Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index
\n 10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
\n 4:30 PM Money Supply
\n 4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: ABB, ADS, AINV, AMSC, APO, ARW, AZN, BCE, BCO, BDC, BDX, BLL, BR, CFX, CHTR, CI, CMI, COTY, CSL, DFT, DLPH, DNKN, EL, EQM, EQT, ETR, FBP, FIS, GLT, GPI, GPK, GRA, GRUB, ICE, IT, IVC, KORS, LAZ, LIOX, LQDT, MDSO, MMP, MMS, MSCI, NGD, NUS, ODFL, OZM, PBH, PM, PPL, PRGO, PRLB, PTEN, RFP, RSTI, SBH, SIRI, SNA, SNCR, SPH, SQNS, TDC, TE, TEVA, TW, USG, UTEK, VLP, VMC, VSH, XYL<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: ACET, ACLS, ADNC, AHL, AIV, ARCW, ASEI, ASYS, ATHN, ATR, ATVI, BCOV, BEBE, BMI, BRKS, BRS, BWLD, CALD, CME, CPST, CTRL, CUTR, DCT, DV, ECHO, ECOM, EGAN, EGOV, ENH, EXPE, FLDM, FLT, FWM, GPRO, HME, IMPV, KIM, KRG, LF, LGF, LNKD, MCK, MRIN, MTD, MXWL, NTGR, NUAN, OLN, ONNN, OUTR, P, PCTY, PDFS, PDM, PXLW, RDEN, RENT, SIMG, SLH, SPF, SPSC, SRCL, SWIR, SYMC, TPX, TSYS, TWTR, UBNT, UEPS, VRSN, WAIR, YELP, YRCW<\/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