{"id":8421,"date":"2015-03-24T07:45:06","date_gmt":"2015-03-24T12:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=8421"},"modified":"2015-03-24T07:45:06","modified_gmt":"2015-03-24T12:45:06","slug":"before-the-open-mar-24-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=8421","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Mar 24)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Tuesday.<\/span>
\nThe Asian\/Pacific markets closed mixed. Malaysia rallied 1%; Hong Kong fell 0.4%. Everything else stayed relatively close to home. Europe is currently mostly up. Greece is up 2.3%, followed by Italy (up 0.7%) and Belgium (up 0.5%). Austria is down 0.4%. Futures here in the States point towards an up open for the cash market.
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\nMy public list<\/a> at stockcharts.com is here. If you’re a sub, vote if you want me to continue posting.<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe dollar is down. Oil is up 18 cents; copper is down. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are up. <\/span>
\nYesterday was a very quiet day. Even with a last-minute sell-off from the indexes, there was very little movement from Friday’s closes. A true coffee day. The S&P moved sideways most of the day; the small caps slowly moved up, but again, there was very little net change. <\/span>
\nHere’s the daily S&P 500. Lots of up and down movement the last five months. Other than a little extra push at the end of February, no rallied has lasted very long or gone very far. Because of this we’ve had more shorter term trades that have only lasted a week instead of longer term ones that have lasted a month or more. It is what it is. We can’t call our pitches here. We take what the market gives. If it gives up 5-10% moves that last a week (like we have gotten from the health care plan stocks), then we’ll say thanks and take it. <\/span>
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\n Stock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\nRW Baird upgraded Cummins (CMI -0.01%) to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Neutral’ and raised its price target to $166 from $155.<\/span>
\nL Brands (LB +0.02%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ at Topeka with a price target of $106.<\/span>
\nEstee Lauder (EL -0.78%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at Wells Fargo.<\/span>
\nHartford Financial (HIG -0.26%) coverage resumed with a ‘Buy’ at Goldman Sachs with a price target of $49.<\/span>
\nMcCormick & Co. (MKC +0.44%) reported Q1 EPS of 70 cents, higher than consensus of 64 cents.<\/span>
\nIHS Inc. (IHS -0.16%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of $1.36, right on consensus, but then lowered guidance on fiscal 2015 adjusted EPS to $5.77-$5.97 from $6.10-$6.30, below consensus of $6.18.<\/span>
\nHD Supply (HDS -0.98%) reported Q4 EPS of 11 cents, better than consensus of 10 cents.<\/span>
\nFluor (FLR +1.03%) was awarded an engineering contract for a new Chinese polysilicon plant in Yulin, Shaanxi Province, China, that will have an anticipated total investment of more than $1 billion.<\/span>
\nStarboard reported a 13.1% stake in Insperity (NSP -3.55%).<\/span>
\nCarl Icahn reported a 10.98% stake in Chesapeake (CHK +3.67%).<\/span>
\nThe U.S. FDA approved Abiomed’s (ABMD +2.38%) Impella 2.5 System, a miniature blood pump system intended to help certain patients maintain stable heart function and circulation during certain high-risk percutaneous coronary intervention procedures.<\/span>
\nAmerican Water (AWK -0.76%) coverage was resumed with a ‘Buy’ at Janney Capital with a price target of $62.<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\nToday’s economic calendar:
\n8:30 Consumer Price Index
\n8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
\n9:00 FHFA House Price Index
\n9:45 PMI Manufacturing Index Flash
\n10:00 New Home Sales
\n10:00 Richmond Fed Mfg.
\n1:00 PM Results of $26B, 2-Year Note Auction<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\nNotable earnings before today’s open: GIII, HDS, IHS, MKC<\/span>
\nNotable earnings after today’s close: CBK, SCS, SONC, TRQ<\/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>
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