Monday, September 08, 2014

Bear Radar

Style Underperformer:
  • Large-Cap Value -.60%
Sector Underperformers:
  • 1) Gold & Silver -2.82% 2) Oil Service -2.03% 3) Energy -1.91%
Stocks Falling on Unusual Volume:
  • WRLD, KERX, XCRA, HPTX, JOBS, TRUE, GSK, VNET, BTI, CPB, PBR, COUP, HMIN, CENX, SLCA, PBR, BP, CWEI, DISCK, UGLD, TASR, HIBB, SDRL, CRZO and DRQ
Stocks With Unusual Put Option Activity:
  • 1) XLV 2) JNK 3) XHB 4) DHI 5) BHI
Stocks With Most Negative News Mentions:
  • 1) AMZN 2) KMR 3) GPS 4) FCS 5) YELP
Charts:

Bull Radar

Style Outperformer:
  • Small-Cap Growth -.12%
Sector Outperformers:
  • 1) Alt Energy +1.59% 2) Hospitals +.98% 3) I-Banks +.56%
Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume:
  • MGAM, CMGE, AMBA, RAX, INFN, CSIQ, CMCM, ACHN, BDSI, SGMS, INFI, VRA, ACAD and FEYE
Stocks With Unusual Call Option Activity:
  • 1) DLTR 2) MYL 3) INFN 4) RSX 5) GNC
Stocks With Most Positive News Mentions:
  • 1) TWTR 2) BAC 3) ADBE 4) GOOG 5) BA
Charts:

Monday Watch

Weekend Headlines 
Bloomberg:
  • Ukrainian Deaths Test Truce as Both Sides Report Losses. A cease-fire intended to stem months of bloodshed in eastern Ukraine is being tested as both the government and the pro-Russian separatists its army has been fighting report violations and casualties. While Ukraine’s National Security Council said yesterday that there’s no talk of ending the truce, now in its third day, explosions continued in the evening in the combat zone’s biggest city, Donetsk. Earlier, Mariupol’s city council said a woman died and three people were hurt amid shelling in the Skhidny district. The rebels said Ukrainian troops killed one militant in the village of Makiyivka and several more in another town
  • Obama Plan for Islamic State Depends on Shaky Alliances. President Barack Obama will try to convince a war-weary American public this week that he can build a broad international coalition to defeat Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. “We’re going to need Sunni states to step up, not just Saudi Arabia, our partners like Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey,” Obama said in an interview broadcast today on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” previewing a plan he will present in a speech to the nation on Sept. 10. “They need to be involved. This is their neighborhood,” he said. The complex politics of that neighborhood mean it won’t be an easy sell, said Ramzy Mardini, an analyst with the Atlantic Council, a Washington policy group. “Obama doesn’t seem to get it,” Mardini said by e-mail. “No Arab leader wants to publicly join hands with the ‘Great Satan’ and ‘Crusaders’ in fighting a war in the Middle East.”
  • China Begins Crackdown on Spending at State-Owned Companies. Govt to crack down on spending by executives of state-owned companies on golf outings and memberships, receptions and excessive book purchase, according to a report by the Communist Party's discipline commission. Campaign also targets executives who fail to report overseas trips or holding of private passports. 
  • Fed’s Plosser Says Keeping Rates Low Is ‘Risky Strategy'. Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Charles Plosser said the economy has “moved much closer” to the Fed’s goals and keeping rates near zero until achieving them is a “risky strategy.” The central bank can’t be certain whether full employment has been reached, and waiting for the labor market to fully heal before raising the main rate risks a sharper increase in borrowing costs later, Plosser said in a speech today in Amelia Island, Florida. “I would prefer that we start to raise rates sooner rather than later,” Plosser said. “This may allow us to increase rates more gradually as the data improve rather than face the prospect of a more abrupt increase in rates to catch up with market forces, which could be the outcome of a prolonged delay in our willingness to act.”
  • Fed Economists: Low Rates Could Undermine Financial Stability. Monetary policy accommodation to help the economy may backfire by creating conditions that could undermine financial stability and cause sharp downturns, according to a report by two top Federal Reserve researchers. Central banks “should consider effects on both financial conditions and financial stability when setting monetary policy,” according to a preliminary paper by Tobias Adrian, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and Nellie Liang, director of the Fed’s Office of Financial Stability Policy and Research in Washington. “Accommodative monetary policy eases financial conditions, but may also contribute to the buildup of financial vulnerabilities and hence increase risks to financial stability,” Adrian and Liang write in a paper released Sept. 2.
  • Hedge Funds Cut Bullish Gas Bets as Volatility Slides. Hedge fund bulls accelerated their withdrawal from U.S. natural gas markets as volatility and prices declined on abundant supply. Speculators cut their net-long position across four benchmark contracts by 11 percent in the week ended Sept. 2, the most in three weeks, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. Bullish wagers have declined for six consecutive months, the most in data compiled by Bloomberg since 2010. Short positions rose to a nine-month high.
  • Pound Sinks on Scotland as Japanese Stocks Rise Amid Data. The pound slid to its weakest level since November after a poll showed the campaign for Scottish independence in front for the first time. Treasuries climbed with Tokyo stocks as investors weighed Japanese and U.S. economic data before a report on Chinese trade, and wheat rose. The British currency lost 0.6 percent to $1.6225 by 10:49 a.m. in Tokyo, extending last week’s 1.6 percent drop while FTSE 100 Index futures were little changed in early trade. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index (MXAP) swung between gains and losses as Japan’s Topix index added 0.4 percent.
  • CFTC Weighing Broader Commodities Hedge Exemptions Pushed by BP(BP). The main U.S. derivatives regulator is working to address energy and agricultural firms’ concerns that rules meant to curb speculation in commodities could harm their business, according to the agency’s chairman. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, preparing to complete rules for so-called position limits, is debating the scope of exemptions for firms that use swaps to hedge business risks, Timothy Massad said yesterday in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Peter Cook. Representatives for companies including Cargill Inc. and BP Plc (BP/) have pressed to broaden exemptions.
Wall Street Journal:
  • Ukraine Fighting Threatens Peace Deal. Reports Come Two Days After Kiev Agrees to Cease-Fire With Separatists. Fighting in at least two cities in eastern Ukraine called into question a cease-fire that Kiev and pro-Russia rebels agreed upon Friday, even as the pact brought a respite from weeks of deadly violence to many towns in the embattled Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
  • Obama's Immigration Cynicism. He'll still write a lawless deportation rule—but not until after November. So President Obama says he still plans to unilaterally rewrite immigration law—but not until after the election so he can spare Democrats in Congress from the wrath of voters for doing so. And he wonders why Americans are cynical about politics? White House leakers are saying that Mr. Obama wants to fulfill his June pledge to issue a lawless regulation limiting deportations for millions of illegal immigrants. But he has decided to bow to incumbent Democrats who fear a political backlash that could hand Republicans Senate...
Zero Hedge:
Business Insider:
CNN:
  • Respiratory Virus Hospitalizes Hundreds in Missouri. (video) A respiratory virus is sending hundreds of children to hospitals in Missouri and possibly throughout the Midwest and beyond, officials say. The unusually high number of hospitalizations reported now could be "just the tip of the iceberg in terms of severe cases," said Mark Pallansch, a virologist and director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Viral Diseases.
YouGov:
  • ‘Yes’ campaign lead at 2 in Scottish Referendum. With 12 days to go until the Scottish independence referendum, the ‘Yes’ campaign has taken a 2 point lead - which means a statistical dead heat at this late stage. The latest survey, conducted for The Sunday Times with less than two weeks to go until voting day, has YES at 51% and NO at 49% – the first lead for the independence camp registered by YouGov, or any polling company, since regular polling on September 18th’s referendum began.
Night Trading
  • Asian indices are -.25% to +.25% on average.
  • Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 89.50 -.5 basis point.
  • Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 62.0 -1.0 basis point.
  • FTSE-100 futures +.02%.
  • S&P 500 futures -.09%.
  • NASDAQ 100 futures -.05%.
Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note

Company/Estimate
  • (CPB)/.49
  • (PBY)/.15
  • (KFY)/.40
Economic Releases
3:00 pm EST
  • Consumer Credit for July is estimated to fall to $17.0B versus $17.255B in June.
Upcoming Splits
  • (UGI) 3-for2
  • (CPK) 3-for-2
  • (CLR) 2-for-1
Other Potential Market Movers
  • The Chinese Trade Data, German Export Data, Morgan Stanley Healthcare Conference, KeyBanc Basic Materials Conference, Barclays Financial Services Conference, Rodman and Renshaw Investment Conference, (SSYS) analyst day and the (MAR) analyst meeting could also impact trading today.
BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly higher, boosted by consumer and industrial shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly lower and to rally into the afternoon, finishing mixed. The Portfolio is 50% net long heading into the week.

Sunday, September 07, 2014

Weekly Outlook

Week Ahead  (audio) by Bloomberg. 
Wall St. Week Ahead by Reuters.
Stocks to Watch Monday by MarketWatch.
Weekly Economic Calendar by Briefing.com.

BOTTOM LINE: I expect US stocks to finish the week mixed as Russia-Ukraine/Mideast tensions, rising European/Emerging Markets debt angst and global growth worries offset global central bank hopes, short-covering and buyout speculation. My intermediate-term trading indicators are giving neutral signals and the Portfolio is 50% net long heading into the week.

Friday, September 05, 2014

Market Week in Review

  • S&P 500 2,007.71 +.55%*
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 The Weekly Wrap by Briefing.com.


*5-Day Change

Weekly Scoreboard*

Indices
  • S&P 500 2,007.71 +.55%
  • DJIA 17,137.30 +.34%
  • NASDAQ 4,582.90 +.55%
  • Russell 2000 1,170.13 +.36%
  • S&P 500 High Beta 34.14 +.50%
  • Wilshire 5000 20,968.20 +.54%
  • Russell 1000 Growth 937.05 +.47%
  • Russell 1000 Value 1,010.79 +.69%
  • S&P 500 Consumer Staples 467.61 +.94%
  • Solactive US Cyclical 137.91 +.53%
  • Morgan Stanley Technology 995.18 +.28%
  • Transports 8,601.80 +2.34%
  • Utilities 568.14 +1.43%
  • Bloomberg European Bank/Financial Services 111.61 +2.85%
  • MSCI Emerging Markets 45.56 +.94%
  • HFRX Equity Hedge 1,185.55 +.44%
  • HFRX Equity Market Neutral 975.71 +.26%
Sentiment/Internals
  • NYSE Cumulative A/D Line 232,404 -.27%
  • Bloomberg New Highs-Lows Index 271 +215
  • Bloomberg Crude Oil % Bulls 30.0 -20.72%
  • CFTC Oil Net Speculative Position 302,564 -4.77%
  • CFTC Oil Total Open Interest 1,559,353 +.59%
  • Total Put/Call 1.02 +7.37%
  • OEX Put/Call 2.43 -26.59%
  • ISE Sentiment 105.0 +15.38%
  • NYSE Arms .94 -22.95%
  • Volatility(VIX) 12.09 +.33%
  • S&P 500 Implied Correlation 47.09 -9.5%
  • G7 Currency Volatility (VXY) 6.57 +10.05%
  • Emerging Markets Currency Volatility (EM-VXY) 6.40 +.47%
  • Smart Money Flow Index 11,315.41 -.96%
  • ICI Money Mkt Mutual Fund Assets $2.586 Trillion -.34%
  • ICI US Equity Weekly Net New Cash Flow -$2.207 Billion
  • AAII % Bulls 44.7 -14.0%
  • AAII % Bears 24.0 +24.6%
Futures Spot Prices
  • CRB Index 288.02 -1.14%
  • Crude Oil 93.29 -1.36%
  • Reformulated Gasoline 258.34 -.38%
  • Natural Gas 3.79 -6.37%
  • Heating Oil 281.92 -.99%
  • Gold 1,266.30 -1.81%
  • Bloomberg Base Metals Index 204.50 -.27%
  • Copper 316.95 +1.33%
  • US No. 1 Heavy Melt Scrap Steel 356.67 USD/Ton unch.
  • China Iron Ore Spot 83.60 USD/Ton -4.89%
  • Lumber 332.10 -4.54%
  • UBS-Bloomberg Agriculture 1,261.50 -1.51%
Economy
  • ECRI Weekly Leading Economic Index Growth Rate 1.8% -50 basis points
  • Philly Fed ADS Real-Time Business Conditions Index -.0606 -2.02%
  • S&P 500 Blended Forward 12 Months Mean EPS Estimate 128.02 +.19%
  • Citi US Economic Surprise Index 37.90 +3.3 points
  • Citi Eurozone Economic Surprise Index -42.50 +2.6 points
  • Citi Emerging Markets Economic Surprise Index -13.40 -.7 point
  • Fed Fund Futures imply 36.0% chance of no change, 64.0% chance of 25 basis point cut on 9/17
  • US Dollar Index 83.74 +1.21%
  • Euro/Yen Carry Return Index 142.13 -.40%
  • Yield Curve 195.0 +10.0 basis points
  • 10-Year US Treasury Yield 2.46% +12.0 basis points
  • Federal Reserve's Balance Sheet $4.373 Trillion +.03%
  • U.S. Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 16.83 +6.29%
  • Illinois Municipal Debt Credit Default Swap 156.0 -2.35%
  • Western Europe Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap Index 26.32 -14.07%
  • Asia Pacific Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap Index 62.11 -4.35%
  • Emerging Markets Sovereign Debt CDS Index 204.67 -6.39%
  • Israel Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 82.50 +1.23%
  • Iraq Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 314.48 -4.82%
  • Russia Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 228.33 -11.44%
  • China Blended Corporate Spread Index 306.19 -1.53%
  • 10-Year TIPS Spread 2.16% +3.0 basis points
  • TED Spread 20.75 -.5 basis point
  • 2-Year Swap Spread 21.75 -.75 basis point
  • 3-Month EUR/USD Cross-Currency Basis Swap -19.5 -1.75 basis points
  • N. America Investment Grade Credit Default Swap Index 57.29 +.59%
  • European Financial Sector Credit Default Swap Index 55.83 -8.78%
  • Emerging Markets Credit Default Swap Index 225.87 -19.94%
  • CMBS AAA Super Senior 10-Year Treasury Spread  to Swaps 82.0 -.5 basis point
  • M1 Money Supply $2.800 Trillion +.25%
  • Commercial Paper Outstanding 1,047.60 +.80%
  • 4-Week Moving Average of Jobless Claims 302,750 +3,000
  • Continuing Claims Unemployment Rate 1.9% unch.
  • Average 30-Year Mortgage Rate 4.10% unch.
  • Weekly Mortgage Applications 352.70 +.20%
  • Bloomberg Consumer Comfort 37.7 +.4 point
  • Weekly Retail Sales +4.30% +10.0 basis points
  • Nationwide Gas $3.44/gallon unch.
  • Baltic Dry Index 1,147 unch.
  • China (Export) Containerized Freight Index 1,121.48 +1.34%
  • Oil Tanker Rate(Arabian Gulf to U.S. Gulf Coast) 25.0 unch.
  • Rail Freight Carloads 273,458 +2.90%
Best Performing Style
  • Mid-Cap Growth +.9%
Worst Performing Style
  • Small-Cap Growth +.3%
Leading Sectors
  • Alt Energy +2.6%
  • Road & Rail +2.6%
  • Airlines +2.0%
  • Software +1.8%
  • HMOs +1.7%
Lagging Sectors
  • Biotech -1.2% 
  • Oil Service -1.6%
  • Homebuilders -1.6%
  • Hospitals -3.0%
  • Gaming -5.0%
Weekly High-Volume Stock Gainers (15)
  • INFI, SPLK, UTHR, VEEV, MEI, CSLT, CPWR, RALY, ACAD, CBK, NCLH, GPRO, CNQR, BLOX and CORE
Weekly High-Volume Stock Losers (8)
  • SIX, SIR, TUBE, CLD, FNSR, MTRX, RPRX and CONN
Weekly Charts
ETFs
Stocks
*5-Day Change