The Trader's Path: 29 Nov 2012 AMC

29 Nov 2012

Market Summary

The market yesterday managed to rack up some gains... Seems that we're ending the week with some solid gains.. Now that the SPX has cross above the 200MA, and now above the 100MA, we're looking at some bullish market for now... Comes a good time especially the Santa Claus Rally is coming soon.

In other news

Lockheed Martin Corp., Marietta, Ga. (FA8525-13-D-0003), is being awarded a $56,688,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost-reimbursement- no-fee, firm-fixed-price, time and materials contract for the C-5 sustaining engineering and technical support services. The location of the performance is Marietta, Ga. Work is expected to be completed by Nov. 30, 2012. The contracting activity is AFLCMC/WLKB, Robins Air Force Base, Ga.

Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, Orlando, Fla. (FA8540-13-C-0008), is being awarded a $31,937,699 firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee, time and material contract for Sniper Advanced Targeting Pods for the Iraq Air Force. The location of the performance is Orlando, Fla. Work is expected to be completed by July 2015. The contracting activity is AFLCMC/WNKCB, Robins Air Force Base, Ga. Contract involves foreign military sales to Iraq.

Market Internals

The internals are showing bullish signs after thanksgiving.. Not that bad reaction at all...

Leaders and Laggards

Healthcare and materials led the market yesterday, but post only some modest gains.

Technical Updates

Now the moving averages are moving towards a bullish sign... Gonna be looking at some retracement on Friday so that the market can continue going up next week...

Commentaries

Stock Market Update

16:25 ET Dow +36.71 at 13021.82, Nasdaq +20.25 at 3012.03, S&P +6.02 at 1415.95 :[BRIEFING.COM] Today's session started on a positive note after yesterday's comments from House Speaker Boehner were viewed as supportive. However, the Speaker held another press conference today at which he said no "substantive progress" has been made. The S&P 500 responded to Mr. Boehner's remarks by falling back to its flat line. The weakness did not last long, and the benchmark average was able to regain its losses to close higher by 0.4%.

The materials sector was one of the top performers, and producers of building materials outperformed. The space was supported by the October pending home sales data which pointed to a 5.2% increase, well ahead of the 1.0% expected by the Briefing.com consensus. Headwaters (HW 7.64, +0.19), Martin Marietta Materials (MLM 90.79, +3.99), and Vulcan Materials (VMC 51.31, +1.62) all gained between 2.6% and 4.6%.

Steelmakers saw broad strength, and the Market Vectors Steel ETF (SLX 44.34, +0.65) settled higher by 1.5%. Though most major steelmakers registered gains, Cliffs NaturalResources (CLF 28.89, -0.72) was a notable underperformer, down 2.4%.

Tech shares also outperformed, and the SPDR Technology Select Sector ETF (XLK 29.16, +0.14) gained 0.5%. The largest tech component, Apple (AAPL 589.36, +6.42), advanced 1.1% as it attempted to regain its 200-day moving average near $600.

Elsewhere, Intel (INTC 19.53, -0.56) slipped 2.8% after Goldman Sachs lowered its price target for the stock to $16 from $20. Meanwhile, peer Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 2.04, +0.08) settled higher by 4.1% as the company sought to sell its campus in Austin, Texas.

Also of note, Research In Motion (RIMM 11.54, +0.44) spiked 4.0% after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to ‘buy' from ‘neutral.' The maker of Blackberry phones has been on a strong run recently, gaining nearly 60% since the start of November.

As the end of the month nears, retailers have begun to report their November same store sales. Out of the 16 companies which have already reported, only four have beaten their estimates. Of those four, Stein Mart (SMRT 8.56, +0.97) led the way with a 12.8% gain. Today's advance occurred after the company reported a 7.1% growth in same store sales on expectations of a 2.3% increase.

On the downside, Kohl's (KSS 45.02, -6.13) sank 12.0% after its same store sales declined by 5.6% on expectations of a 2.1% increase. Like many retailers which missed their estimates, Kohl's blamed the softness on the aftereffects of Superstorm Sandy. As a result of the disappointing data, the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 63.36, -0.46) shed 0.7%.

Overnight, India's Sensex gained 1.8% after Goldman Sachs upgraded Indian stocks. As a result, the iPath MSCI India Index ETN (INP 58.37, +1.90) was the best performing regional ETN, up 3.4%. Indian stocks listed in the U.S. reflected the strength as they registered broad gains. Among financials, HDFC Bank (HDB 42.85, +2.58) and ICICI Bank (IBN 41.54, +2.76) jumped 6.4% and 7.1%, respectively. Elsewhere, automakerTata Motors (TTM 25.60, +1.39) surged 5.7% and business technology consultantInfosys (INFY 44.66, +1.22) settled higher by 2.8%.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average added 0.6% as companies specializing in package delivery led the bellwether complex. Expeditors International of Washington(EXPD 37.35, +0.60), FedEx (FDX 90.80, +1.31), and UPS (UPS 73.56, +0.85) all gained between 1.2% and 1.6%. Earlier, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Expeditors International to ‘buy' from ‘hold.' In addition, morning reports indicated UPS may pursue a network sharing agreement with its rivals in order to save the TNT Express deal.

The latest weekly initial jobless claims count totaled 393,000, which was lower than the 395,000 that had been expected by the Briefing.com consensus. The tally was below the revised prior week count of 416,000. As for continuing claims, they fell to 3.287 million from 3.357 million.

The second estimate of third quarter GDP pointed to growth of 2.7%, up from the 2.0% observed in the preliminary reading. The upwardly revised increase is slightly lower than the 2.8% increase that economists polled by Briefing.com had expected. Also, the third quarter GDP Deflator was revised down, to 2.7%.

In Friday's economic data, October personal income and personal spending as well as core PCE prices will all be released at 8:30 ET. Lastly, November Chicago PMI will be reported at 9:45 ET. ..NYSE Adv/Dec 2173/846. ..NASDAQ Adv/Dec 1790/676.

After Hours

17:58 ET CBK +17.2%, MITL +9.4%, ZUMZ -6.8%, YUM -6.2% following earnings/guidance :

Today's session started on a positive note after yesterday's comments from House Speaker Boehner were viewed as supportive. However, the Speaker held another press conference today at which he said no "substantive progress" has been made. The S&P 500 responded to Mr. Boehner's remarks by falling back to its flat line. The weakness did not last long, and the benchmark average was able to regain its losses to close higher by 0.4%.

Today after the close the following companies are scheduled to report earnings: AVGO, FIVE, MENT, MITL, OVTI, PSUN, SPLK, ULTA, YOKU, ZUMZ

Futures are higher after hours: S&P 500 futures are +1.34 from fair value of 1414.36 and Nasdaq100 futures are +0.74 from fair value of 2679.26.

Tomorrow morning before the open three economic report is scheduled to be released: 1) Personal Income (Consensus 0.2%), 2) Personal Spending (Consensus 0.1%), and 3) PCE Prices - Core (Consensus 0.2%).

Tomorrow before the open the following companies are scheduled to report earnings: BKS, BECN, CBRL, FRO, GBDC, ISLE, KR, LQDT, LTXC, NJR, SFL, TIF

Commodities