{"id":8694,"date":"2015-06-12T07:37:46","date_gmt":"2015-06-12T12:37:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=8694"},"modified":"2015-06-12T07:37:46","modified_gmt":"2015-06-12T12:37:46","slug":"before-the-open-jun-12-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=8694","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Jun 12)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Friday.<\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed mixed. Hong Kong rallied 1.4%, and China moved up 0.9%. There were no big down market. Europe, Africa and the Middle East are mostly down. Greece is down 4.2%; France, Germany and Amsterdam are down more than 1%; London, Austria, Belgium, Norway, Prague, Finland, Switzerland, Hungary, Spain and Portugal are also down noticeably. Futures here in the States point towards a moderate gap down open for the cash market.<\/span>
\nFollow my public list<\/a> at stockcharts.com.<\/strong><\/span>
\n The dollar is up. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are flat. <\/span>
\n Yesterday was a quiet day. The indexes closed a little above their opens, and the ranges were small. Volume declined, and there a complete lack of conviction in both directions, both in terms of price movement and indicator support. <\/span>
\n Now we’re getting a little give back today. I don’t consider this alarming. There are been a couple other instances the last couple months where the market gapped up and rallied off a low, only to turn around and give back some of the gains before the real move began. <\/span>
\n A quick glance at the indexes reveals the small and mid caps are in the upper halves of their ranges going back to March; the Dow, SPX and Nas 100 are in the middle. We are still in consolidation mode. Until this ends, be ahead of the curve taking profits. More after the open.<\/span>
\nStock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n Keurig Green Mountain (GMCR +0.15%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at UBS.<\/span>
\n Host Hotels (HST +0.77%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Stifel.<\/span>
\n Actuant (ATU +1.62%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Sector Perform’ at RBC Capital.<\/span>
\n Mondelez (MDLZ -0.02%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at BMO Capital.<\/span>
\n Monster Beverage (MNST +0.11%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at UBS.<\/span>
\n Williams-Sonoma (WSM +0.67%) upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Perform’ with a $90 price target at Oppenheimer.<\/span>
\n Citrix (CTXS +6.70%) was upgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Underweight’ at Piper Jaffray.<\/span>
\n Novartis (NVS +0.13%) announced that the U.S. FDA has approved its drug Promacta for the treatment of children six years and older with chronic immune thrombocytopenia.<\/span>
\n Bob Evans (BOBE +0.30%) rose over 3% in after-hours trading after the company said it will pursue a strategic transaction for a select portion of its restaurant properties.<\/span>
\n The WSJ reports that DISH (DISH +0.33%) is in talks to borrow $10 billion-$15 billion for its T-Mobile bid.<\/span>
\n Raytheon (RTN +1.19%) was awarded a $152.9 million government contract to provide 53 APY-10 radar system production kits and related support for the P-8A Poseidon full-rate production aircraft for the Navy and the government of Australia.<\/span>
\n Twitter (TWTR -0.03%) jumped more than 4% in after-hours trading after CEO Richard Costolo said he will step down and be replaced by Jack Dorsey, co-Founder and Chairman of the board, in the interim.<\/span>
\n Restoration Hardware (RH -1.03%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 23 cents, higher than consensus of 20 cents, and then raised guidance on fiscal 2015 adjusted EPS to $3.02-$3.15 from $2.95-$3.10, above consensus at $3.04.<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n 8:30 Producer Price Index
\n 10:00 Reuters\/UofM Consumer Sentiment<\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: none<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: none<\/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