18 Dec 2012 AMC

18 Dec 2012

Market Summary 

Defence Contracts 

Lockheed Martin Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, (FA8611-08-C-2897, P00165) is being awarded a $613,276,500 contract modification for the continued sustainment support of the F-22 air vehicle as part of the follow-on agile sustainment to the Raptor program..  The location of the performance is Fort Worth, Tex.  Work is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2013.  The contracting activity is AFLCMC/WWUK, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.  

Market Internals

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Leaders and Laggards

Technical Updates

Briefing's Commentaries 

Stock Market Update 16:10 ET Dow +115.57 at 13350.96, Nasdaq +43.93 at 3054.53, S&P +16.43 at 1446.79 : [BRIEFING.COM] Stocks registered broad gains during today's session as comments from Washington lawmakers indicated the budget debate is intensifying. Though an agreement remains elusive, the markets welcomed the developments and spent the duration of the day in an upward climb. As a result, the S&P 500 advanced 1.2%. Apple (AAPL 533.90, +15.07), which has been in focus recently, supported the technology sector and finished higher by 2.9%. The SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF (XLF 16.57, +0.24) gained over 2.0% yesterday, and the financial sector proxy added another 1.5% today. The space was expected to show heightened sensitivity to hints of progress in the budget debate, and today's developments were received positively by the majors. Goldman Sachs(GS 127.77, +4.28) and Morgan Stanley (MS 19.12, +0.59) outperformed their peers as both saw gains over 3.0%. Energy stocks were supported by strength in crude oil and the SPDR Energy Select Sector ETF (XLE 73.19, +1.32) settled higher by 1.8%. Prior to the open, Baker Hughes Incorporated (BHI 41.93, +1.29) warned that fourth quarter North American revenue and profit margins will likely be lower than previously expected. Baker Hughes was down as much as 2.0% in pre-market trade, but has seen notable strength since. BHI finished with a gain of 3.2% and peers Halliburton (HAL 34.80, +1.26) and Schlumberger (SLB 71.35, +1.67) rallied 3.8% and 2.4%, respectively. In addition, coal stocks outperformed following comments from the International Energy Agency, which said it expects coal to eclipse oil as world's top energy source around 2017. CONSOL Energy (CNX 34.29, +0.62) and Walter Energy (BTU 27.37, +0.74) both gained near 2.0%. In M&A news, Arbitron (ARB 47.03, +8.99) surged 23.6% after agreeing to be acquired by Nielsen (NLSN 30.92, +1.30) for $48 per share. The transaction represents a premium of approximately 26% to Arbitron's closing price on December 17, 2012. Nielsen has secured a financing commitment for the total transaction amount, and the transaction has been approved by the boards of both companies. The NAHB Housing Market Index for December registered a reading of 47. That is up from the prior month's revised reading of 45, and in-line with expectations among economists polled by Briefing.com. Homebuilders benefitted from today's rally, and the SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF(XHB 26.89, +0.55) finished higher by 2.1%. The year-long strength in homebuilder stocks has lifted the ETF to its best level since July 2007. Among individual builder stocks, DR Horton (DHI 20.08, +0.39) and PulteGroup (PHM 18.61, +0.57) rose by 2.0% and 3.2%, respectively. The current account deficit for the third quarter totaled $107.5 billion, which was wider than the $104.2 billion deficit that had been broadly anticipated. This marks an improvement from the second quarter's $118.1 billion deficit. The major European averages ended the day on a positive note. France's CAC gained 0.3%, United Kingdom's FTSE rose by 0.4%, and Germany's DAX advanced 0.6%. In France, Alcatel-Lucent (ALU 1.38, +0.06) continued its recent strength. The producer of communication equipment surged 8.3% as it attempts to lift off all-time lows. The recent strength came after the company secured EUR1.6 billion in financing from Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs. On the downside, carmaker Renault lost 1.9%. United Kingdom's FTSE was supported by defense stocks as BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce Holdings finished with respective gains of 2.2% and 2.4%. Rolls-Royce outperformed following the announcement of a $1 billion agreement with Japan's Skymark Airlines. Germany's DAX outperformed the region partly due to strength in financials. Commerzbank gained 3.7% and Deutsche Bank (DB 44.23, +1.12) finished higher by 1.9%. In addition, insurer Muenchener Re rose by 1.7%. Meanwhile, Adidas lost 1.0% and was the biggest decliner. Tomorrow morning, FedEx (FDX 92.36, +1.34), General Mills (GIS 41.77, +0.04), andNavistar (NAV 22.85, +0.93) are all scheduled to report. Most notably, the Capital IQ consensus expects economic bellwether FedEx to announce earnings of $1.41 on $10.82 billion in revenue. Looking at tomorrow's economic data, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be reported at 7:00 ET. In addition, November housing starts and building permits will both be released at 8:30 ET. The U.S. Treasury will auction off $29 billion in 7-yr notes. ..NYSE Adv/Dec 2276/795. ..NASDAQ Adv/Dec 1795/708. After Hours 16:47 ET APOG +3.3%, ORCL +1.1%, HNT -4.7%, EGN -1.9% following earnings/guidance : Stocks registered broad gains during today's session as comments from Washington lawmakers indicated the budget debate is intensifying. Though an agreement remains elusive, the markets welcomed the developments and spent the duration of the day in an upward climb. As a result, the S&P 500 advanced 1.2%. Today after the close the following companies are scheduled to report earnings: AIR, APOG, HEI, ORCL Futures are lower after hours: S&P 500 futures are -0.12 from fair value of 1440.72 and Nasdaq100 futures are -1.28 from fair value of 2700.72. Tomorrow morning before the open three economic report are scheduled to be released: 1) MBA Mortgage Index, 2) Housing Starts (Consensus 875k), and 3) Building Permits (Consensus 876k). Tomorrow before the open the following companies are scheduled to report earnings: ATU, FDX, GIS, NAV

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Jason's Commentaries

whoa...Another day with more than 100 points gain... Without much data, Santa Claus is really coming to town! I'm expecting the market to gyrate to the sideways till the end of the week. Looking at the internals, having a very high volumes of the month,over a 800 million shares traded in the NYSE and the bulls are constantly outpacing the bears throughout the day. The bears are hibernating in the caves right now... Just waiting for the market to go down... For this Dec, we're very unlikely to end with a loss...

Right now, Energy, Financials and Tech are leading. I'm pretty sure that the Tech are not going to lead much... Rather I think that financials and the industrials are likely to lead the market through the night. While on the Consumer Discretionary is currently being held down by the Tobacco companies, which they are currently facing some legislation against them in Russia.

On the Technical Notes, it broke into a higher high and i'm expecting the 3rd candle to show some weakness, or perhaps reversal today before continuing going up heading to 13600. Right now the market has all hit my targets. Now i'm just waiting for a next retracement.

I doubt very much that the US presidential election has much effect on the market. Without a conclusive answer from the Congress, I doubt it will be much of a mover.

While there is still strength in the bull run, i believe that Wednesday will be a weak but up day. Assuming if the housing permit don't suck or improve tremendously. 

Market Call: UP

Date: 19 Dec 2012