{"id":8637,"date":"2015-05-26T07:39:50","date_gmt":"2015-05-26T12:39:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=8637"},"modified":"2015-05-26T07:39:50","modified_gmt":"2015-05-26T12:39:50","slug":"before-the-open-may-26-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=8637","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (May 26)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Tuesday. Hope you had a great long weekend.<\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed with a lean to the upside. China rallied 2%; Hong Kong and Australia moved up about 0.9%. Europe is currently mixed. Greece is up 1.2%, and Italy is up 0.9%. Prague is down 0.9%, followed by Norway (down 0.8%) and Austria (down 0.7%). Futures here in the States point towards a down open for the cash market.<\/span>
\nS&P Select – Week in Review<\/strong><\/a><\/span>
\n The dollar is up. Oil is down, copper is down. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are up. <\/span>
\n We have a lot of warning signs heading into this new week. Besides the ongoing divergence between the large and small caps, we also have non-confirmation of the S&P’s new high from the AD line and AD volume line. The put\/call dropped to its lowest level in almost a year, and the ATR fell to a 6-month low. But the cumulative AD line and bullish % index put in lower highs. <\/span>
\n Research has revealed a handful of good short set-ups, so despite the overall uptrend, the near term is definitely “in question,” “under pressure” or whatever other terminology you want to use. <\/span>
\n I would not be very aggressive here on the long side…if you’re long at all. If part of your plan tells you to take the easy and obvious trade, there isn’t much to do. Things will get better, but right now this grinding market which can’t get any traction in either direction isn’t a great environment to swing trade. <\/span>
\n Don’t force trades. More after the open.<\/span>
\nStock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n Macerich (MAC -0.40%) was downgraded to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at Credit Suisse.<\/span>
\n First Solar (FSLR -1.47%) was downgraded to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Sector Perform’ at RBC Capital.<\/span>
\n Children’s Place (PLCE -0.47%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Overweight’ at Piper Jaffray.<\/span>
\n L Brands (LB -1.13%) and Dollar General (DG +0.37%) were both upgraded to ‘Conviction Buy’ from ‘Buy’ at Goldman Sachs.<\/span>
\n Ann Inc. (ANN -0.13%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Mizuho.<\/span>
\n Marvell (MRVL -8.56%) was upgraded to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Equal Weight’ at Morgan Stanley.<\/span>
\n Deere (DE +4.35%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Outperform’ at Baird.<\/span>
\n Charter Communications (CHTR -1.86%) agreed to buy Time Warner Cable (TWC +3.42%) for about $55 billion.<\/span>
\n Chico’s (CHS -0.35%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Mizuho.<\/span>
\n AutoZone (AZO -0.39%) reported Q3 EPS of $9.57, better than consensus of $9.52.<\/span>
\n Glenhill Advisors reported a 7.0% stake in Pep Boys (PBY -1.51%) .<\/span>
\n Barron’s reports that General Motors (GM +0.34%) stock trades at 7.5 times forward earnings, and is about 55% cheaper than the broad market, making it significantly undervalued.<\/span>
\n Polaris Venture Partners reported a 8.2% stake in Tyr Pharma (LIFE +2.96%).<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n 8:30 Durable Goods
\n 9:00 FHFA House Price Index
\n 9:00 S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index
\n 9:45 PMI Services Index Flash
\n 10:00 New Home Sales
\n 10:00 Richmond Fed Mfg.
\n 10:00 Consumer Confidence
\n 10:00 State Street Investor Confidence Index
\n 10:30 Dallas Fed Manufacturing Outlook
\n 1:00 PM Results of $26B, 2-Year Note Auction<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: AZO, CAE, CYRN<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: FWM, NMBL, TDW, TIVO, VNET, WDAY<\/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