{"id":8730,"date":"2015-06-24T07:43:28","date_gmt":"2015-06-24T12:43:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=8730"},"modified":"2015-06-24T07:43:28","modified_gmt":"2015-06-24T12:43:28","slug":"before-the-open-jun-24-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=8730","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Jun 24)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.<\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed mostly up, but only China (up 2.5%) gained much ground. Europe is currently mostly down. Greece is down 3.8%; Germany, Portugal and Austria are down more than 1%; Stockholm, Prague, Spain, Italy and Russia are down noticeably. Turkey is up more than 1%. Futures here in the States point towards a moderate gap down for the cash market.<\/span>
\nFollow my public list<\/a> at stockcharts.com.<\/strong><\/span>
\n The dollar is down. Oil is flat, copper is up. Gold is flat, silver is up. Bonds are up. <\/span>
\n Yesterday was a slow day that saw the small caps hit another all-time high and the large caps trade quietly in a range. <\/span>
\n The Russell has followed through nicely from its breakout last week. <\/span>
\n\"\"
\n The S&P, on the other hand, is trading near the top of its range…but is still range bound. <\/span>
\n\"\"
\n Several indicators, such as the 10-day MA of the NYSE AD line, have improved, so I continue to like the market. I don’t love it, but I like it and consider it tradeable for short term trades. <\/span>
\n\"\"
\n Go with the flow…but be open-minded. There are no guarantees here. More after the open. <\/span>
\nStock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n Citigroup (C +0.77%) and Goldman Sachs (GS +0.87%) were both downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Deutsche Bank.<\/span>
\n McCormick (MKC +0.06%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at Bernstein.<\/span>
\n Electronic Arts (EA -0.06%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Jefferies with a price target of $80.<\/span>
\n Anthem (ANTM -0.61%) was initiated with an ‘Outperform’ at RBC Capital with a price target of $222.<\/span>
\n UnitedHealth (UNH +2.07%) was initiated with an ‘Outperform’ at RBC Capital with a price target of $159.<\/span>
\n Comerica (CMA +1.10%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at BofA\/Merril Lynch.<\/span>
\n BHP Billiton (BHP +1.48%) was upgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Underperform’ at Credit Suisse.<\/span>
\n Lennar (LEN -1.01%) reported Q2 EPS of 79 cents, better than consensus of 64 cents.<\/span>
\n Sysco (SYY -0.03%) dropped nearly 3% in after-hours trading after a federal judge blocked its bid to acquire U.S. Foods.<\/span>
\n Ford (F +1.06%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Goldman Sachs.<\/span>
\n General Motors (GM +0.30%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Goldman Sachs.<\/span>
\n Columbia Pipeline Group (CPGX) will replace Allegheny Technologies (ATI +3.22%) in the S&P 500 as of the close of trading on July 1.<\/span>
\n Netflix (NFLX +0.93%) rose nearly 3% in after-hours trading after it announced a seven-for-one stock split.<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n 7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
\n 8:30 GDP Q1
\n 8:30 Corporate Profits
\n 10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
\n 11:30 Results of $13B, 2-Year FRN Auction
\n 1:00 PM Results of $35B, 5-Year Note Auction<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: LEN, MON<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: APOG, BBBY, FUL, MLHR, SCS, WOR<\/span>
\nNotable earnings after today’s close: none
\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