6 Gut checks before open

	Need to Know AUGUST 29, 2013 6 gut checks before the stock market's opening bell By Shawn Langlois   Getty Images Good morning. Investors needed an excuse to knock this market down a peg or two, and they got one earlier this week -- well, they actually got several, but those scheming media companies conspired to pin it all on Syria. It could have just as easily been something about the debt ceiling, a potential Larry Summers "black swan" event , an economic misfire or an exchange glitch. But, no, loggerheads with this guy was more than enough for sellers to dump, so that's what they did. But it's over now, right? Out of the panic room and back to our winning ways? From a technical perspective, don't be so sure (see "chart of the day"). What's more, we all know that we're limping into the bleakest time of year, historically, for stocks. The telling illustration below from Statistical Ideas lays out the worst 1% of all the days since the Dow first traded -- a total of 294 of them -- along with when they took place. January can't come quickly enough. Statistical Ideas Key market gauges: Oil futures  are giving back some of their Syria-induced gains. So is gold . In that light, it makes sense that Asian stocks  followed Wall Street's bounce into green territory, with the Nikkei  putting an end to a three-day losing streak. European stocks are also showing some signs of life while futures on the Dow  and the S&P  are showing that buyers are still at the table ahead of the upcoming three-day weekend. The economy: The Commerce Department revised up gross domestic product for the April-to-June period to 2.5% from expectations for 2.3%.  Still, by just about any historical metric, the U.S. continues to expand at its slowest rate in decades. At the same time, the number of people applying for unemployment benefits fell 6,000 to 331,000 in the week ended Aug. 24 from 336,000 in the prior week. Read: Spotlight on the economy . The buzz: Fresh Market  shares are down premarket after a disappointing earnings report  that came out late Wednesday. In the plus column, Guess  is setting up for some gains in the wake of its quarterly numbers . A fast-food strike could be about to paralyze a nation of obese people Thursday, with workers planning to walk off the job to push McDonald's  and Wendy's  into paying more. How much more? How about $15 an hour? That's more than double the federal minimum wage. Say goodbye to 99-cent burgers. A lineup of advancers are trending on StockTwits, including BlackBerry , JA Solar  and Cirrus Logic . The chart of the day: The dastardly head-and-shoulders pattern could be about to tear this market a new one, according to the Charts Etc. blog. To complete the right shoulder, the S&P would need to rise up to about 1,670. At that point, it could get ugly . Investor reaction to Syria developments only makes the situation all the more troubling, asset manager Edward Miller wrote. "I continue to let holdings dictate when they should be sold via stop-loss targets and relative performance," Miller said, "and I'm not reallocating proceeds back into equities but rather building some cash, awaiting better clarity on this mixed picture." The call of the day: Saying Tesla  is a "screaming sell" is hardly audacious "call of the day" material, considering the stock's nosebleed levels. But when the guy saying it is a huge Tesla bull who describes his Model S as "by far the best car I've ever owned," well, that's worth some page space. "This is a company with a $20 billion market cap that's projected to sell a total of 25 thousand cars this year," said Slope of Hope blogger Tim Knight. "The trading volume alone should tell you this is just a stock-buying orgy and not anchored in reality." Random reads: Some people don't return their ex's phone calls. Others, particularly of the North Korean variety, have her executed using machine guns . Some 40 years ago, Isaac Asimov nailed the future . Aaron Hernandez and the myths surrounding Angel Dust . "I'm getting annoyed with PPI phone calls when I'm trying to watch Coronation Street so I'd rather make 10p a minute." Read why this guy likes to keep cold callers talking . Her bipolar disorder and his catching you know what from you know where would be tough for any power couple to overcome. The Onion takes a thoughtful look back at "I have a dream" , creating this informative cloud graphic to give life to "the words and phrases used in King's speech weighted by the frequency with which they appeared." The Onion 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. Get the latest news on our mobile site: http://www.marketwatch.com/m 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