|
|
|
Need to Know
MAY 22, 2013
7 gut checks before the stock
market's opening bell
By Shawn Langlois
Good
morning.
This week's opening Fed tandem helped push the market
to its 19th straight Tuesday of gains, and the gratuitous stock love-in is
set to continue today with, really, only Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke standing
in the way. It's doubtful he'll do much to ruin the
sappy mood, particularly considering investors' knack for manipulating
whatever he says into a buying signal.
In a perfectly bullish world, he'll say the economy is improving, but that
it ain't happening quickly enough. The dreaded tapering will have to wait a
while longer. Maybe, as an added bonus, he'll stick to his assessment that
stocks aren't overvalued. But until then, we'll be hovering around in pause
mode.
"There's not much point in watching any quotes between now and then,
because what comes out of those beard-shrouded lips is going to make or
break things," writes Tim Knight of the Slope of Hope blog
. Hard to bet against make at this point.
Key market gauges: Suffering Nikkei envy? Best move to the
next gut check, because this will hurt. The Japanese benchmark finished up
1.6%, closing at its highest level in five years
for the third consecutive session. The Nikkei is now up almost 40% in the
past three months, dwarfing U.S. stocks, which aren't exactly hurting,
either. Europe isn't faring as well, with stocks backing off from
multiyear highs. Read: Europe markets .
Futures on the Dow and the S&P are setting up for yet another positive session , after the blue
chips logged their 19th straight Tuesday of gains
yesterday. Gold is edging higher, bouncing back from Tuesday's
decline. Read: Gold investors lured to trade on charts only
.
The economy: Bernanke will take a seat before Congress at 10
a.m. Eastern, delivering his first testimony since late February. Investors
will, obviously, be looking for some more color on when any sort of
tapering of asset purchases might come into play. The Fed minutes might
help out on that front later in the day. In another key bit of data, sales
of existing homes are expected to have increased more than 10%, thanks in
large part to low interest rates. Read: Spotlight on the economy .
Earnings: Quarterly results from Lowe's , Staples
and Target offer a glimpse into the state of the retail sector
throughout the early morning while Hewlett-Packard is the lone
notable from the tech sector after the close. Read: H-P investors ignore dour view on Wall Street
.
Shares of Lowe's, Target and Staples are all fumbling around in the
premarket dumps after their reports failed to provide much of an early
spark.
The buzz: Microsoft is still one of the hottest topics
in cyberspace after the unveiling of its new Xbox, the hotly-anticipated
console that will go on sale this fall. But it was rival Sony that got the last laugh by the close of
trading, with its stock up more than 9%. Sony will be rolling out its
PlayStation 4 at around the same time. Meanwhile, Sony said it plans to take Dan Loeb's spinoff plan to
its board.
Saks looks to be one of the big winners in today's session. The stock
exploded for double-digit gains overnight on a report that the company hired Goldman Sachs to explore
a potential sale. Toll Brothers shares are also moving higher, but
not to the degree of Saks's. The company said its second-quarter profit soared 46% on a
healing housing market. Read: Stocks to watch .
The chart of the day: The S&P 500 and the gold/silver
ratio are starting to move in the same direction. We've seen this kind of
action before (in 1999 and 2007 -- yikes!) and it could spell trouble,
according to some pundits who have been chewing on this relationship this
week. HSBC's Charles Morris warns a "snap" in risk assets could hit
within six months while David Rosenberg from Gluskin Sheff says he's worried "the bull market
may well be in complacency." Here's MoneyWeek's take on the trend , using the inverted
gold/silver ratio to reach the same bearish conclusion.
The
call of the day: We can't let Japan and the U.S.
have all the fun. There's value to be had in the United Kingdom, even as
the FTSE has taken out 13-year highs, according to Credit Suisse. The
broker published a note this morning explaining why it's so bullish
on the region's equities. "The U.K. has the best policy
co-operation, after Japan, between the Treasury and the central bank,"
analyst Andrew Garthwaite writes. He said 85% of the sectors in the U.K.
trade below their global peer group. As for the FTSE, Credit Suisse is
targeting 7,000.
Random reads: Oh no he didn't. Sergio just
took the "fried chicken" route with Tiger,
who didn't find it funny at all. Neither did Samuel Jackson.
The comment that was made wasn't silly. It was wrong, hurtful and clearly
inappropriate...
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) May 22, 2013
Ohkaaay! Sergio's "Fried Chicken" comment. WTF?! Then, "Not
Racist"? REALLY??!! STFU! Apology Not Accepted!
— Samuel L. Jackson (@SamuelLJackson) May 22, 2013
Want to party with Bieber? That tweet could cost you $5 million .
"Don't pitch the b----!" and more techniques used by JTF brokers to
score clients.
Since when did Hollywood have a problem with cute girls in underwear ?
Are too many adults ruining your Facebook life? Then follow the teens to Twitter .
While the real Pope may have just performed an exorcism, a "slutty" version of the
Pontiff got naked and passed out condoms.
Two words: Marijuana bacon .
Need to Know starts early and is updated as needed until the opening
bell, but sign up here to get it delivered
once to your e-mail box. Be sure to check the Need to Know item. The
e-mailed version will be sent out at approximately 8:45 a.m. Eastern.
Follow @slangwise on Twitter.
MarketWatch
has sent you this newsletter because you signed up to receive it.
To ensure you receive this newsletter in the future, please add marketwatchmail.com
to your list of approved senders.
Sent to: alanrussell@princetoncap.com
Unsubscribe | Subscribe
Copyright
2013 MarketWatch, Inc. All rights reserved.
MarketWatch, the MarketWatch logo, and BigCharts are registered trademarks
of MarketWatch, Inc.
By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy (updated 6/26/07).
MarketWatch - Attn: Customer Service, 201 California St., San
Francisco, CA 94111
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment