{"id":8585,"date":"2015-05-11T07:41:17","date_gmt":"2015-05-11T12:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=8585"},"modified":"2015-05-11T07:41:17","modified_gmt":"2015-05-11T12:41:17","slug":"before-the-open-may-11-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=8585","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (May 11)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Monday. Hope you had a great weekend. <\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed with a lean to the upside. China rallied 3%, followed by India (up 1.5%) and Japan (up 1.25%). Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea also did well. Europe is currently mixed. Belgium is up 3.1%, London is up 2.5% and Prague is seeing a 1.6% gain. Greece is down 2.8%. Futures here in the States point towards a flat open for the cash market.<\/span>
\nS&P Select – Week in Review<\/strong><\/a><\/span>
\n The dollar is up. Oil is up, copper is down. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are down. <\/span>
\n The market ended last week with a huge up day. In fact the Thursday\/Friday combo was one of the biggest 2-day periods all year. The S&P went from its lowest level in a month to within 10 points of its all-time high. <\/span>
\n The Russell small caps also did well, but they have a lot of catching up to do. Herein lies the crux of the current situation. If the Dow and S&P attempt to breakout, the small caps must participate. And while I’m at it, the breadth indicators, which have been lagging, must improve. Absent across-the-board improvement, which signals broad-based participation, the market’s upside will be limited. Perhaps the S&P can jump 20 or 40 or 60 points, but after that, without significant improvement elsewhere, it’ll be nothing more than a trap.<\/span>
\n China’s central bank cut its benchmark lending rates by 25 basis points to 5.1%, it’s third reduction in six months. <\/span>
\n Greece is in the news. There’s a meeting today of eurozone finance ministers to discuss the country’s financial situation. <\/span>
\n Earnings season is winding down, and the next FOMC meeting isn’t until the middle of June. <\/span>
\n This is setting up to be a key week. Does the market follow through on last week’s end-of-week strength, or does it remain range bound?<\/span>
\nStock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n FMC Corp. (FMC +2.52%) reported Q1 EPS of 62 cents, below consensus of 72 cents.<\/span>
\n Activis Plc (ACT +1.92%) reported Q1 EPS of $4.30, better than consensus of $3.92.<\/span>
\n Endo International Plc (ENDO +0.76%) reported Q1 EPS of $1.17, higher than consensus of $1.05.<\/span>
\n Noble Energy (NBL +2.08%) acquires Rosetta Resources (ROSE +1.20%) in an all-stock deal valued at $2.1 billion.<\/span>
\n Joy Global (JOY +0.84%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at Baird.<\/span>
\n Monster Beverage (MNST -10.47%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Citigroup.<\/span>
\n DISH (DISH -0.21%) reported Q1 EPS of 76 cents, stronger than consensus of 40 cents, although Q1 revenue of $3.72 billion was below consensus of $3.74 billion.<\/span>
\n National Oilwell Varco (NOV +2.42%) was downgraded to ‘Sell’ from ‘Neutral’ at Citigroup.<\/span>
\n Syngenta (SYT +11.36%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at UBS, saying Monsanto is likely to raise its takeover bid for the company.<\/span>
\n Nokia (NOK +3.12%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at Exane BNP Paribas.<\/span>
\n General Electric (GE +1.18%) was awarded a $2 billion government contract for the T700 701D\/401C engine in support of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, foreign military sales, and other government agency program requirements.<\/span>
\n Reuters reports that Mylan (MYL +1.31%) executive chairman Robert Coury said it is not willing to sell itself to Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries (TEVA +0.90%) but would consider buying Teva “down the road.”<\/span>
\n ESW Capital reported a 6.6% passive stake in Broadvision (BVSN +1.36%) .<\/span>
\n Cyrus Capital Partners reported an 18.1% stake in Overseas Shipholding Group (OSGB +0.25%) .<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n 10:00 Labor market condition index<\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: ACT, AER, AES, BID, CNP, CRK, CVT, DF, DISH, ENDP, EVEP, FISH, FRM, GWPH, ICPT, LGND, MBLY, MGIC, MHR, NTWK, PLUG, RBC, RDNT, SSYS, TICC, VRTS, W<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: AMBC, APEI, ARCW, ARNA, ASEI, ATHX, BDE, CALL, CHMI, CLNE, CYTX, DEPO, DRYS, DTSI, EAC, ELON, FF, FMC, FMI, FTEK, FXEN, GBDC, GTY, HALO, HI, IPAR, IPXL, JUNO, LPSN, MBI, MCC, MDR, MNTX, MODN, MR, MTZ, MVNR, OME, OMER, ONTY, OPK, ORIG, PAAS, PEIX, PINC, PVA, RAX, REN, SCLN, SF, SFXE, TCRD, TEP, TRQ, TTEC, UNXL, VRTU, XON, YY, ZGNX<\/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