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Halftime Report 2.4.2013

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A disappointing report on US Factory orders, helped the Dow move lower while all ten groups in the S&P 500 fell at least 0.4 percent, with Chevron (CVX) down 1.1 percent and Wal-Mart down 1.7 percent, leading the decline. This drop off could be merely based on people taking profits from a stellar January, however the markets, specifically the S&P 500, could be a bit overvalued, based on the slow economic recovery. The VIX did jump 13 percent today to 14.53, and is sporting the biggest gain on the year so far. The Euro also looked sluggish and slipped from recent highs against the dollar and yen on political uncertainty in Italy and rising unemployment in Spain.

 

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Morning Rage 9.20.2012

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Bad news across the Atlantic continues with a sharp loss in the services industry for European countries. Yesterday, housing starts and permits reports were lower than expected, but still within range of analysis expectations. Existing home sales grew 7.0%.

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Rite Aid Corp. (RAD| +0.77% [1.34]) released earnings reports this morning and posted 41.4M in losses, an improvement from the same quarter of last year’s 94.8M losses. Analysts expected a loss of $0.07 a share and Rite Aid beat the expectation, losing only $0.05 a share.Weekly jobless claims reports are released this morning at 8:30am EST with an expected claim drop at about ten thousand this week. The Philadelphia Fed survey will follow at 10:00am, which is an index of general business and manufacturing conditions. The index is expected to decline, but at a lesser pace than last month.

Other post-earnings stocks to keep your eyes on are Bed, Bath, and Beyond (BBBY | 68.79) which is down $-3.44, or 5%, after higher costs left earnings unable to meet analysts’ expectations. Expectations were higher this quarter because of improved government data on same-industry sales.

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Halftime Report 9.11.2012

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  Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has announced that China will indeed meet their growth target for the year.  Markets have long been concern over slowing growth in China.  The German Constitutional Court has also announced that their ruling on the European bailout fund will be announced tomorrow. 

 The FOMC meeting is scheduled to begin tomorrow with forecasts scheduled to be released on Thursday. Bernanke’s press conference is also scheduled for Thursday.  Many analysts expect that the Federal Reserve Bank will launch a third round of quantitative easing, but there is still some skepticism over whether or not Bernanke will have enough votes to push the program through.

Moody’s has announced that they may downgrade the U.S. government’s credit rating if they cannot lower the nation’s debt ratio in the upcoming budget negotiations.

Indicies are up with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 both up around 6 points each. 

James Ramelli B.S. in Finance from UIUC. Email: james@keeneonthemarket.com Follow: @Jim_KOTM

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Halftime Report 9.7.2012

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Both the Dow and NASDAQ fell below its opening price today by 11:00 am, but the S&P 500 stands alone ahead 0.30% for the day sitting at 1,436.52.  US indices futures have stayed put as well. Metals futures gained substantial points today with gold, silver and copper up 1.99%, 3.02% and 3.57% respectively. Silver is sitting just below its high of the day at 33.67 and a high of 33.74. Copper is right below its daily high at 3.6425 with a high of 3.6525. Natural Gas just moved away from its low of the day at 2.6740 with a low of 2.6660, down 3.67%.

The Cooper Companies, Inc. (COO | 93.33) hit a new all time high today gaining 7.32 when the market opened to sit around 93. The gain is representative of the company’s third quarter growth in income of almost 50% from last year. Analyst expected earnings at $1.29 per share but the company outperformed with earnings of $1.36 per share.

Facebook (FB | 19.11) has shown three straight days of growth up almost 2 dollars from its new 52 week low on Tuesday. How long can Zuckerberg’s statement keep Facebook from continuing it’s slope downward? The 52-week at-the-money implied volatility has touched its low today. Put/call sentiment is bullish and the stock might just continue its slow climb up next week.

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Morning Rage 9.7.2012

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Leading the market’s growth yesterday was Men’s Warehouse Inc. (MW) at 19% ending the day up about 6 points. After hours MW continued to grow another 0.5%. MW’s 52-week low and high is 24.50 and 40.97 respectively. The specialty retailer of men’s suits and tuxedo rentals products in the US and Canada began to lose value this year when it missed on a third earnings estimate in a row, dropping the stock 20 points in June 2012.  The CFO left in July. The stock then surged to a four month high after Q2 earnings results that were $0.06 cents higher than last year and $0.03 cents higher than estimates. Expect the stock to continue to rely on earnings for any movement.

Yesterday’s morning rage discussed Navistar International Corp (NAV | 23.97). The stock was one of the bigger movers yesterday, growing 17.44%. The stock moved on earnings Wednesday and yesterday seemed to connect to the new CEO’s statement to focus on returning to profitability while switching to different engines in order to meet EPA standards. Navistar’s expenditures have been high because of this switch, and they are expecting to report losses in the fourth quarter.

Look out for the employment situation report released by the labor department today at 8:30am EST. Employment situation is a set of labor market indicators based on household surveys. The prior level of unemployment and number of private payrolls were at 8.3% and 172k. The new levels are expected to sit around 8.3% and 134,000. 

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Stocks Hit 4 Year Highs 9.6.2012

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The S&P 500 is currently up around 1.91% with financials and materials leading the rally, the DOW is up 1.73%, and the Nasdaq is up over 2%.  The VIX has fallen to near 16.

JPMorgan and Bank of America are leading the rally in the Dow up 3.8% and 4.54% respectively.

James Ramelli UIUC graduate in Finance. Email:james@keeneonthemarket.com Follow: @Jim_KOTM

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Morning Rage 9.5.2012

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Some big movers last night were The Wendy’s Company (WEN | $4.52[+0.20]), gaining almost 5% in value.  Wendy’s 52-week range moves a little more than a point from 4.16 – 5.58 and hasn’t hit a high since mid August. Dish network Corporation (DISH | $30.13 [-0.89]) fell 2.87%. DISH’s 52-week range low and high is 22.61 and 35.64 respectively. Dish has been gaining ground since the financial crisis in 2008, averaging positive gains, but is down almost 20% since 2007.

US futures are down. DOW, S&P, and NASDAQ are all down 0.21%, 0.27%, and 0.33% respectively. Metals futures are down, silver down the highest percentage at 0.68%. Crude futures are down 0.26%.

Productivity and costs reports will be released in an hour. Productivity measures the growth of labor efficiency in producing the economy’s goods and services and unit labor costs reflect the labor costs of producing each unit of output. Since the beginning of the year, non-farm labor productivity has grown at an average of 0.75% from the previous quarter and unit labor costs are up an average of 1.5%. Consensus has both levels gaining at least 1% this quarter.

Alex Kalish has a masters in economics from Suffolk University.