{"id":9480,"date":"2016-02-17T08:50:38","date_gmt":"2016-02-17T13:50:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=9480"},"modified":"2016-02-17T08:50:38","modified_gmt":"2016-02-17T13:50:38","slug":"before-the-open-feb-17-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=9480","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Feb 17)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.<\/span>
\n The Asian\/Pacific markets closed mixed. Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore fell more than 1%. China rallied 1.1%; India also did well. Europe is posting solid, across-the-board gains. Austria and Greece are up more than 3%; Germany, France, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Denmark, Finland, Spain, Italy and Portugal are up more than 2%. Futures here in the States point towards a moderate gap up open for the cash market. <\/span>
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\nWebinar TODAY <\/a> – click to sign up<\/strong><\/span>
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\nThe dollar is flat. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are down. <\/span>
\n Yesterday the market followed through on last Friday’s big up day, and at today’s open it’ll follow through more. The S&P is now in the upper half of its 6-week range. Here’s SPY.<\/span>
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\n This chart highlights one of the difficulties playing bear markets. Despite the fact that the market topped last summer and fell 300 points off its high (S&P 500), most of the selling took place in a very small number of days. There was a plunge in August that lasted a week and a big sell-off to start the year. Those two bouts of selling went for 475 points, so the rest of the days combined for a 175-point gain. Think about that. Over the last seven months, if not for two bouts of sell that lasted a total of 3-4 weeks, the market would be up. It’s a characteristic of a bear markets. Most of the losses are contained in a small number of days. More after the open. <\/span>
\nStock headlines<\/strong> from barchart.com…<\/span>
\n Boeing (BA +3.65%) gained over 1% in pre-market trading after it said it secured a $1.3 billion order for planes from China’s Okay Airways.<\/span>
\n Kinder Morgan (KMI +4.41%) climbed over 9% in pre-market trading after a regulatory filing showed that Berkshire Hathaway added investment in the company in Q4.<\/span>
\n HealthStream (HSTM +1.36%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Needham & Co. with a 12-month price target of $26.<\/span>
\n Express Scrips (ESRX +1.95%) dropped over 1% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 revenue of $26.2 billion, below consensus of $26.6 billion.<\/span>
\n Fossil Group (FOSL +3.36%) jumped over 11% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 GAAP EPS of $1.46, well above consensus of $1.30.<\/span>
\n Icahn Associates Corp. said that it added almost 12 million shares of Hertz Global Holdings (HTZ +8.54%) and 4 million shares of Cheniere Energy (LNG +2.03%) to its holdings.<\/span>
\n Concho Resources (CXO +1.14%) will replace Plum Creek Timber (PCL +5.44%) in the S&P 500 as of the close of trading Friday, Feb 19.<\/span>
\n Agilent (A +2.37%) slid over 6% in after-hours trading after it lowered guidance on Q2 adjusted EPS to 37 cents-39 cents, below consensus of 43 cents.<\/span>
\n Cerner (CERN +1.02%) fell 6% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 bookings of $1.35 billion, below estimates of $1.45 billion-$1.55 billion<\/span>
\n FMC Technologies (FMC +4.99%) lost almost 1% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 46 cents, below consensus of 48 cents.<\/span>
\n Boyd Gaming (BYD +5.19%) rose over 1% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 16 cents, higher than consensus of 13 cents.<\/span>
\n Terex (TEX -0.49%) jumped over 10% in pre-market trading after Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology Co. Ltd reiterated its committment to buy the company for $30 in cash.<\/span>
\n Cheesecake Factory (CAKE +2.36%) slipped over 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 revenue of $526.8 million, weaker than consensus of $528.8 million.<\/span>
\n Kaiser Aluminum (KALU +2.29%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 60 cents, well below consensus of $1.09.<\/span>
\nEarnings and Economic Numbers<\/strong> from seekingalpha.com…<\/span>
\n Tuesday’s Key Earnings
\n Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN) -6.6% AH on slashing 20% of staff, cutting dividend.
\n Express Scripts (NASDAQ:ESRX) unmoved AH after meeting profit estimates.
\n Rackspace (NYSE:RAX) -6.6% AH following soft Q1\/2016 sales guidance.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n Today’s Economic Calendar
\n 7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
\n 8:30 Producer Price Index
\n 8:30 Housing Starts
\n 8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
\n 9:15 Industrial Production
\n 10:00 Atlanta Fed’s Business Inflation Expectations
\n 10:00 E-Commerce Retail Sales
\n 2:00 PM FOMC minutes<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\nToday’s Earnings here<\/a><\/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>
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