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Need to Know
MARCH 20, 2013
6 gut checks before the stock
market's opening bell
By Shawn Langlois
Good
morning.
The U.K. just air-dropped a load of cash to fend off some potential
problems in Cyprus. Now it's Helicopter Ben's turn to do the same in the
U.S., or at least keep assuring us that it's a good idea.
Of course, the stock market has been guzzling from Ben's loose spigot for a
while, and should continue to do so. But the Fed chairman is still rankling
plenty of the skeptics with his approach to fixing the economy. You can
find one of his outspoken "Shalom for Brains" critics in our
"chart of the day" gut chuck below.
Things I learned today, aside from the fact that the Church of the
Latter-Day Dude has ordained more than 150,000 Dudeist priests:
Bernanke's middle name is Shalom.
In the meantime, "one of the most sentiment driven rallies
ever" abides.
Key market gauges: U.S. stocks paid their respects to Cyprus
with a mostly painless pause this week, but they're looking to get back to
their winning ways with futures on the Dow and S&P both
gaining ground. Read: Stock futures shake off Cyprus, look to Fed
.
Shanghai was the big winner in Asia, while the Nikkei was
closed for a Japanese holiday. Buyers are up and at it in Europe , with
broad gains bolstering every major index in the region.
The economy: All eyes will be on Bernanke when he holds
a presser at 2:30 p.m. Eastern after the two-day FOMC meeting. The
folks at the Fed are widely expected not to touch interest rates, so
attention turns to what they have to say about the economy. Read about why a brighter outlook might actually weigh on stocks
.
The buzz: Not good. Economic bellwether FedEx
just cut its outlook, and the stock is off more than 3% premarket.
Adobe shares are up 6% early and should help give techs a push during
the regular session after the company's first-quarter results surprised to the upside late Tuesday. So
long, Mr. Lynch , we hardly missed you.
Like Adobe, Walgreen Co. is also one of Google's top business stories
this morning. The shares rallied yesterday on second-quarter results and
word of a long term deal with AmerisourceBergen .
Trending on Market IQ, NPS Pharma shares jumped 9% yesterday and are poised
to extend gains today after regaining rights to its bowel drug Gattex,
while Electronic Arts and see-through pantmaker Lululemon are
still drawing plenty of clicks after their rough session on Tuesday.
Oracle will jump into the spotlight later today with its earnings
report. Here's why The Motley Fool's Richard Saintvilus says the
stock won't "remain discounted for very long."
Disclosure: I hope it doesn't. My wife has accrued a chunk of shares
in her 401k after a decade-plus with the company. Read our preview .
Lennar is trending on StockTwits, with shares getting a boost from an
upbeat first-quarter report. Others on the list include BlackBerry
and Amazon , which may have inked a $600 million deal with the CIA
. Shh.
The chart of the day: Short-term target (blue line) on the
Nasdaq-100 is 3,175, after that, it's next stop 2,925 (yellow line).
That's what the Slope of Hope blog's Tim Knight -- and
his 75 short positions -- is looking for as he muses about "how much
the powers-that-be might permit the indexes to sink before doing something
dramatic" in accordance with their "dual mandate" of 1)
pleasing Goldman Sachs , and 2) pleasing J.P. Morgan Chase .
The
call of the day: BlackRock CEO Laurence
Fink, he of the 100% equity exposure call last year,
doesn't give a flying gyro about Cyprus when it comes to his outlook for
the U.S. stock market. "It has some symbolism impact
on Europe, but it's not a really major economic issue," he told
Bloomberg this morning from Hong Kong. We could be in for a pause, or even
a 5% correction, but the U.S. recovery will keep chugging along
and that steady improvement will result in a 20% rise in equities by the
end of the year, Fink said. See the full story and interview .
Random reads: How can we possibly fret over what's
happening in Cyprus when men's privates are being snatched from
Africa to Asia?
Resourceful North Koreans beat sanctions with a quick trip to Beijing, where plasmas
screens are wide, refrigerators are cold and merchants don't discriminate.
The man who founded the "The Big Lebowski"-based religion
explains why his religion will never compete with Christianity .
Got a sinking feeling about the euro zone, here's a handy metaphorical PSA .
Hey Google Maps, not bad, but ping us when you get to the top .
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