{"id":8748,"date":"2015-06-29T07:31:47","date_gmt":"2015-06-29T12:31:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=8748"},"modified":"2015-06-29T07:31:47","modified_gmt":"2015-06-29T12:31:47","slug":"before-the-open-jun-29-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=8748","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Jun 29)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Monday. Hope you had a great weekend. <\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets are down across-the-board. China is down more than 3%; Taiwan, Australia, Japan and Hong Kong are down more than 2%; Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea are down more than 1%. Europe is currently down across-the-board. Portugal is down more than 4%; Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Amsterdam are down more than 3%; Austria, Belgium, Norway, Finland and Prague are down more than 2%; London, Stockholm, Switzerland, Poland, Turkey, Denmark are down more than 1%. Futures here in the States point towards a big gap down for the cash market.<\/span>
\nLeavitt Brothers video overview<\/a><\/strong><\/span>
\nThe dollar is up. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are up. <\/span>
\n It’s all about Greece this morning as the odds of the country exiting the euro jumped this weekend. Greece is set to default on a debt payment tomorrow, and emergency aid to the country has been frozen. The Greek stock market didn’t open today, and banks will remain closed for six working days. ATM withdrawals will be capped. German bonds rallied, while bonds in Portugal, Italy and Spain sold off. <\/span>
\n Whether Greece matters from an economic standpoint doesn’t matter. The market doesn’t like uncertainty, and this is exactly what we have. <\/span>
\n As of this writing, S&P 500 futures were down about 22 points – not a great open, but it’s not horrendous, and it’s 20-points off the overnight low. <\/span>
\n Throw technical analysis out the window (and all other forms of analysis). It’s all about fear, who’s trapped in what positions, what kind of leverage is in place and what follow-on news stories we get. Greece possibly exiting the euro shouldn’t surprise anyone. <\/span>
\n From a trading standpoint we’ve been keeping everything short term. The range, the ups and downs, the lack of staying power, the short life of directional moves – all added up to keeping trades short term and simply trying to peck away and make money while focusing on not taking big chances and being ahead of the curve taking profits, not behind. If you followed this, worst case scenario is you have a small amount of long exposure at today’s open. Not a huge deal. <\/span><\/span>
\n Protect what you have. Otherwise if you don’t know what to do, do nothing. Greece really could exit they euro…or Russia or another country could step in as a white knight. Protect what you have until things are more clear. <\/span>
\nStock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n Qualcomm (QCOM -0.90%) was downgraded to ‘Sell’ from ‘Hold’ at Drexel Hamilton.<\/span>
\n JPMorgan Chase (JPM +0.44%) downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer.<\/span>
\n Ternium (TX -1.08%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at BofA\/Merrill Lynch.<\/span>
\n Tesla shares (TSLA -0.63%) have ‘substantially’ more upside, says Credit Suisse.<\/span>
\n Synaptics (SYNA -3.90%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Perform’ at Oppenheimer.<\/span>
\n Chesapeake (CHK +0.45%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Underperform’ at Sterne Agee CRT.<\/span>
\n Ryder (R -0.67%) and Old Dominion (ODFL -0.23%) were both upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Stifel.<\/span>
\n Macy’s(M +0.98%) was downgraded to ‘Sell’ from ‘Buy’ at Deutsche Bank.<\/span>
\n LifePoint (LPNT +0.59%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Mizuho.<\/span>
\n LinkedIn (LNKD -0.90%) filed to sell 3.57 million shares of Class A common stock for holders.<\/span>
\n First Light Asset reported a 5.16% passive stake in Streamline Health (STRM +6.93%).<\/span>
\n J.B. Hunt (JBHT -0.12%) will replace Integrys Energy (TEG +0.70%) in the S&P 500 as of the close of trading on Tuesday, June 30.<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Today’s economic calendar:
\n 10:00 Pending Home Sales
\n 10:30 Dallas Fed Manufacturing Outlook
\n 3:00 PM Farm Prices<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Notable earnings before today’s open: none<\/span>
\n Notable earnings after today’s close: APOL, IRET<\/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