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Need to Know
JUNE 14, 2013
6 gut checks before the stock market's
opening bell
By Shawn Langlois
Good
morning.
The Hindenburg Omen is so last week. It's all about the Hilsenrath Omen
this morning after the WSJ Fed whisperer's latest dispatch gave the S&P 500
a late-session boost toward its best day since January .
Yet, despite a rebound in Japan, futures in the U.S. are waffling in
premarket action. That could change if today's batch of economic data isn't
up to snuff, as analysts expect. In other words, it's time to revisit the
bad-news-is-good-news theme, once again. At least it simplifies things a
bit.
"Thankfully, there is no longer a need to know anything about
earnings, revenue, margins et al," writes Mark Hanna of the Market Montage blog . "You just
have to know what Ben is going to do or say."
Key market gauges: The Nikkei clawed back a chunk
of yesterday's nasty drop, briefly pulling the Japanese benchmark back out
of bear territory. Europe is mostly flat, while futures on the Dow
and the S&P are taking a breather after Thursday's strong
showing.
The economy:U.S. wholesale prices may have logged their first
gains in three months and the first-quarter current account deficit is
expected to have narrowed slightly. Both reports are due out at 8:30 a.m.
Eastern. After that, industrial production and consumer sentiment numbers
are slated to hit, with the latter poised for what could be its best
reading since July 2007. Read: Spotlight on the economy .
The buzz: Best Buy and Microsoft were both
thrust into the spotlight overnight after the two companies said Best Buy would open 600 in-store Windows Stores
to sell Microsoft products. They will be clearly set off from the rest of
Best Buy with wood floors and Microsoft signage.
U.S. Steel , on the back of a 5.5% rally, is grabbing more attention than
usual in the early going. Joining the steelmaker on the StockTwits trending
list are Himax Technologies (with this Seeking Alpha contributor blaming
its decline on a Google Glass teardown ), and Smith &
Wesson , whose shares are up early after the gun maker painted a rosy
picture of quarter and announced a buyback plan yesterday.
Apparently, gun sales are at record highs .
Americans are crazy! -- Smith & Wesson saw record $588 million in profits
over past year http://t.co/HNf0p3nRo0
— Atholl (@athollt) June 14, 2013
Restoration Hardware will be in play after the company posted a
better-than-expected profit after Thursday's close, while a quarterly
report from Smithfield Foods highlights a rather sleepy day in terms
of scheduled corporate news. Groupon is one of the biggest movers,
jumping 8% early after Deutsche Bank upgraded the stock and
raised its price target to $10 from $6.
The chart of the day: Greg Harmon of Dragonfly Capital says he's finally about
to pull the trigger on a VMWare short trade. He's been watching the
chart for a while and says that a close below $70 "seals the deal"
on a good short entry point. The stock is just above that level now. He
cites a descending triangle, bearish RSI and MACD readings and the fact
that "accumulation/distribution is rolling lower."
The
call of the day: The Macro Man isn't a big fan
of the Aussie dollar over the long term, but the anonymous blogger is
donning the Kevlar gloves and buying it versus the yen for a short-term
pop. It's a "brass balls call," according to one reader. The
Macro Man, in his Thursday post , said there's
nothing he likes "more than batting against a consensus,
especially one that has moved so far already."
Random reads: Chinese man jailed for "destructing
normal social order" for his alien-in-a-freezer hoax . I wouldn't
last a day in that country.
Can't find any toilet paper? There's an app for that .
Today's free reporter pro tip: Don't ask the Australian prime minister if her partner is gay just because he's a
hairdresser.
I almost got suspended for something like this in 8th grade. Now the girls
are flipping the script, and here in cheeky London, this "Yelp for men" app
"has everyone going nuts," according to Business Insider.
Wonder how a married, father-of-two, journalist-salary-making,
fortysomething rates among the ladies in South Kensington.
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