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Morning Rage 9.18.2012

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Metals futures continue to slide lower from Friday as well. Gold futures are down 10.80 overnight and platinum futures continue their reversal, down 12.60 points. Crude futures stayed relatively still, only losing about 0.38 after getting crushed yesterday, down about three points.

Apple (AAPL|  $699.78) continues to be the diamond in the rough as buyers pushed its price over the $700 mark in after hours trading to $701.60. This comes after another big gain of $8.50 even as the rest of the market slid downward. The sentiment in the market seems to be that iPhone 5 record sales have proved to investors that AAPL has not lost it’s obsessive fans and may not for some time.

My earnings plays for today is FedEx (FDX| $87.53). FeDex reported a rate increase for 2013 amidst an earnings report down once cent from last year for this first quarter. Revenue and operating income grew 3.0% and 1.0% respectively from last year but net income was down 1.0% from last year for this quarter. FedEx has dropped its forecast for annual earnings to $6.20 to $6.60 from $6.90 to $7.40. The stock fell in after hours trading almost 2%. The Sep ATM straddle suggests the stock will move around $2.50 by Friday and a little more than $4.00 by Oct expiration. I am going to wait to see what direction it moves in today and possibly play a spread in that direction for October.

Later today, a housing market index report will be released around 10:00 am EST. Last month, the index rose 2 points reflecting sales of new homes, expected sales in the next six months, and prospective buyers. Expected sales may jump higher because of QE3, so the information may be distorted higher.

Alex Kalish has a master’s degree in economics from Suffolk U.

Questions, comments and suggestions welcome: alexk@keeneonthemarket.com



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Halftime Report 9.12.2012

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Some of the announcements from today include iPad sales of 84 million units and the iPad accounts for 91% of web traffic. The phone has a thinner, lighter and bigger glass screen and aluminum case. Apple gave developers an early peek at the specs in order to have apps available for the new dimensions. The new iPhone is both HSPA+ and LTE compatible on a single chip and single radio. It has a new A6 processor with double the speed of CPU and graphics. The 5 is an overall upgrade from the iPhone 4.

AT&T Inc. (T) move up one dollar early in the morning most likely on news from Apple (AAPL) releasing its new iPhone 5. The stock is now up only $0.15. The carriers will have to pay a high premium to get the iPhone 5, contributing as much as $400 per customer for a two year contract.

The DOW is up 26 points today, 0.19%, to 13,347; The NASDAQ up 10 points, 0.34%, to 3,115 and the S&P is up 4 points, 0.31%, to 1,438. The DOW started higher today and peaked early in the morning at 13,374 and then hit a low around 11:00 am of 13,318. It is hard to tell what is moving the market today as both positive and negative news has come out of the media today.

Gold futures are flat, silver and crude futures are down less than half of a point but platinum futures jumped up 41.90 points today, a 2.61% gain. Corn futures are down -9 points, a 1.16% drop. Corn peaked around 830 in the middle of August and has since been down, currently sitting at 768.60.

Imports and Export prices came out today. Import prices are down on the year by more than 2%. Jobless claims and Producer Price Index tomorrow at 8:30 am EST.

Alex Kalish has a masters in economics from Suffolk University.

Questions, comments and suggestions welcome: alexk@keeneonthemarket.com

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