{"id":8316,"date":"2015-02-17T08:42:53","date_gmt":"2015-02-17T13:42:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=8316"},"modified":"2015-02-17T08:42:53","modified_gmt":"2015-02-17T13:42:53","slug":"before-the-open-feb-17-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=8316","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Feb 17)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Tuesday. Hope you enjoyed your long weekend. <\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed mixed, and there weren’t any big winners or losers. Hong Kong and China moved up; Australia and Singapore moved down. Europe is currently mixed, and there are no big movers there either. London, Italy and Russia are up; Stockholm is down. Futures here in the States point towards a slight down open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\n The dollar is down. Oil is flat, copper is down. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are down. <\/span>
\n We enter this new week with the market having just put in solid back-to-back up weeks. <\/span>
\n Several indexes are at or very close to their all-time highs. <\/span>
\n The indicators continue to improve – for the most part they support the mini uptrend, and there’s room to move before being over-bought. <\/span>
\n The “risk off” environment is turning into a “risk on” environment. Money has been coming out of safe-havens, such as utilities, and going into tech and oil. <\/span>
\n And there seems to be a psychological shift taking place…one that would have traders buying dips and breakouts instead of buying dips and selling rallies. <\/span>
\n We might be in the beginning stages of a leg up. In fact if news could be removed from the equation, I’d say odds favor it, but that of course isn’t possible. Greece’s financial situation remains front and center. Talks between Greece and the euro zone finance ministers went nowhere, so the country now has until Friday to request a 6-month extension of its bailout. We’ll get FOMC minutes tomorrow. The Cleveland Fed President says June should be a viable option for raising rates. We’ll see what kind of discussion took place at the last FOMC gathering. <\/span>
\n From a technical standpoint the market has improved and looks good, but it’s not out of the woods yet. There’s work to do, and fortunately for the bulls, they have a nice cushion to work with. <\/span>
\n My bias right now is neutral, but over the next several weeks it’s to the upside. More after the open. <\/span>
\n Stock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n Cablevision (CVC +1.58%) was downgraded to ‘Sell’ from ‘Neutral’ at UBS.<\/span>
\n Deutsche Bank reiterates a ‘Sell’ rating on Transocean (RIG +2.25%) and cut its price target on the stock to $6 from $16 after the company announced an 80% dividend reduction and the departure of its CEO.<\/span>
\n Medtronic PLC (MDT +0.44%) reported Q3 EPS of $1.01, higher than consensus of 97 cents.<\/span>
\n American Express (AXP -2.98%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Guggenheim.<\/span>
\n Micron (MU -0.28%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at Macquarie.<\/span>
\n Wolverine World Wide (WWW +1.69%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 30 cents, right on consensus.<\/span>
\n LyondellBasell (LYB +0.21%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Citigroup.<\/span>
\n Nordstrom (JWN +0.05%) was downgraded to ‘Underweight’ from ‘Equal Weight’ at Barclays.<\/span>
\n United Stationers (USTR +1.21%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 88 cents, better than consensus of 84 cents.<\/span>
\n Vipshop (VIPS +1.68%) reported Q4 EPS of 12 cents, higher than consensus of 9 cents.<\/span>
\n Reuters reports that Endo Intenational (ENDP +1.35%) is interested in buying Salix Pharmaceuticals (SLXP +2.12%) .<\/span>
\n Elon Musk reported a 21.4% stake in SolarCity (SCTY +0.77%) .<\/span>
\n Reuters reports that United Airlines (UAL -1.65%) will cut about 1,150 positions at 16 airports across the country.<\/span>
\n Bloomberg reports that JetBlue will drop American Express (AXP -2.98%) in favor of MasterCard (MA -0.43%).<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n 8:30 Empire State Mfg Survey
\n 10:00 NAHB Housing Market Index
\n 10:00 E-Commerce Retail Sales
\n 12:45 PM Fed’s Plosser: Monetary Policy and Economic Outlook
\n 4:00 PM Treasury International Capital<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: ACC, AGIO, ALE, CRY, GPC, GT, LECO, MDT, MGM, MNTA, NHI, PES, QSR, TGH, TTS, USAC, VDSI, VNR, WLT, WM, WRI, WWW<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: A, ADI, AMC, ANAD, CF, CHE, CLD, DVN, ENPH, EQY, EXAC, FANG, FE, FLS, FOSL, HR, HTA, HTS, IPHS, JACK, KALU, KAR, LZB, MASI, NCLH, NP, O, OHI, OMI, PBPB, PEB, PEI, PHH, PLAB, RAIL, RAX, ROG, TEX, UCTT, VECO, VMI, VNO, VRNS, WTS, XEC, ZIXI<\/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