{"id":8560,"date":"2015-05-04T07:44:13","date_gmt":"2015-05-04T12:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=8560"},"modified":"2015-05-04T07:44:13","modified_gmt":"2015-05-04T12:44:13","slug":"before-the-open-may-4-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=8560","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (May 4)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Monday. Hope you had a great weekend. <\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed mostly up. India rallied 1.8%, followed by Indonesia (up 1.1%) and China (up 0.9%). New Zealand fell 0.5%. Europe is currently posting mostly solid gains. Germany, France, Austria, Amsterdam, Norway and Italy are up more than 1%. Spain, Stockholm and Prague are also doing very well. Futures here in the States point towards a moderate gap up open for the cash market.<\/span>
\nList of ETFs –> here<\/a><\/strong><\/span>
\n The dollar is up. Oil is up, copper down. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are up. <\/span>
\n Last week started strong and ended strong but was weak-ish in the middle. The S&P 500 and Nas hit new highs while the Dow and Russell small caps put in lower highs. <\/span>
\n Many indicators dropped and then rallied and closed without much strong conviction in either direction. Other indicators tells us participation is declining…the overall market strength has not been broad based. <\/span>
\n Oil continues to be a group I focus on. Crude broke out last week, got a little follow through and then settled into a consolidation range. The potential for big gains from the group is still there, but there are no guarantees. There are many highly-liquid oil stocks, so we’re either in the process of getting a round of trades, or we’ll be taking some losses and staying away. <\/span>
\n Earnings season is still front and center. Unless a trade is longer term, you’d be wise not to hold into a report. There have been a lot of huge gaps following announcements. It’s just not worth the risk. Sometimes earnings season is calm and peaceful and virtually irrelevant. Not this season. Wall St. is nervous.<\/span>
\n That’s it for now. Be careful out there. More after the open. <\/span>
\n Stock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n Comcast (CMCSA +1.13%) is up over 2% in pre-market trading after it reported Q1 EPS of 79 cents, above consensus of 74 cents.<\/span>
\n Loews (L +0.22%) reported Q1 EPS of 27 cents, well below consensus of 71 cents.<\/span>
\n Diamond Offshore Drilling (DO unch) reported Q1 EPS of 50 cents, above consensus of 42 cents.<\/span>
\n Tyson Foods (TSN +2.51%) reported Q2 EPS of 77 cents, higher than consensus of 72 cents.<\/span>
\n Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH +1.02%) reported Q1 EPS of 71 cents, better tgan consensus of 70 cents.<\/span>
\n UBS reiterated its ‘Buy’ rating on Disney (DIS +1.66%) as it raised its pric target on the stock to $125 from $116.<\/span>
\n Genuine Parts (GPC +1.80%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Sterne Agee CRT.<\/span>
\n Henry Schein (HSIC +1.27%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of $1.28, better than consensus of $1.27, although Q1 revenue of $2.46 billion was below consensus of $2.54 billion.<\/span>
\n Warren Buffett said he bought more shares of Internaatinal Business Machines (IBM +1.39%) in Q1.<\/span>
\n Twitter (TWTR -2.87%) was upgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Sell’ at Stifel.<\/span>
\n Buckeye Partners (BPL +0.56%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Stifel.<\/span>
\n The Athyrium Opportunities Fund reported a 9.9% stake in Pernix Therapeutics (PTX +4.55%) .<\/span>
\n Donaldson (DCI +0.88%) lowered guidance on fiscal 2015 EPS to $1.51-$1.61 from $1.65-$1.85, below consensus of $1.74.<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n 8:30 Gallup US Consumer Spending Measure
\n 10:00 Factory Orders
\n 12:25 PM Fed’s Evans: U.S. Economy and Monetary policy
\n 12:30 PM TD Ameritrade IMX<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: AMCX, ARCB, ARCC, ARRY, BSFT, BWP, CEVA, CMCSA, CNA, CTSH, CVC, D, DO, EMES, EXAS, GLPI, HNT, HSIC, HYH, KERX, KOS, L, LMIA, MDWD, MGM, NMM, ON, PETS, RLGY, SYY, TSN, WLK<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: ADEP, AEGR, AEIS, APC, APU, ATEN, BALT, BBRG, BKH, CAR, CDE, CGNX, CHUY, CKEC, CXO, DENN, DNB, DVA, ECOM, EGOV, ELNK, ENH, EOG, EOX, FBP, FN, FNF, HIL, IDTI, IM, ININ, INN, INVN, IRG, ITRI, KS, LMNX, LSCC, MATX, MCEP, MDU, MERU, MIC, MUSA, NLS, NUVA, ONDK, OTTR, PACD, PLOW, PPS, PQ, PTCT, QLYS, RAIL, RGR, ROSE, RWT, SGY, SHO, SNHY, STAG, THC, TXRH, UGI, VNO, XEC, XPO<\/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