19 Feb 2013 AMC

19 Feb 2013

Market Summary 

Market Internals

Leaders and Laggards

Technical Updates

Briefing's Commentaries 

Stock Market Update 16:15 ET Dow +53.91 at 14035.67, Nasdaq +21.56 at 3213.59, S&P +11.15 at 1530.94 : [BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 settled higher by 0.7% after spending the duration of the day in a steady upward climb. Equities got off to an upbeat start supported in part by bullish European trade. In addition, merger speculation helped support the markets at the open.  Reports out over the weekend indicated Office Depot (ODP 5.02, +0.43) and OfficeMax(OMX 13.00, +2.25) have discussed a stock-for-stock merger. As a result, shares of the two ended with respective gains of 9.4% and 20.9%. In addition, Staples (SPLS 14.65, +1.70) surged 13.1% as the company stands to benefit from more rationalized competition. The outperformance from the three names helped the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 68.69, +1.22) gain 1.8%.  While some areas of the discretionary sector saw strength, homebuilders lagged notably. The iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 23.33, -0.17) shed 0.7% after seeing intraday losses in excess of 2.0%. The space underperformed after the February NAHB Housing Market Index slipped to 46 from its previous reading of 47. The index turned out to be a disappointment as the Briefing.com consensus had expected an uptick to 48.  Health care stocks were in the news this morning when the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposed lower 2014 Medicare co-payments. The news carried a negative impact for health care providers as Humana (HUM 73.01, -4.98) andUnitedHealth Group (UNH 56.66, -0.66) lost 6.4% and 1.2% respectively.  On the downside, the materials sector was the weakest performer. The space lagged as industrial metals traded broadly lower. Aluminum, nickel, and copper all lost between 1.5% and 1.7%. In addition, Chinese authorities are expected to unveil measures aimed at curbing the rapid rise in home prices. With such limits, lower construction demand should translate into lower material prices.  Glancing at the S&P 500 sector performance, energy (+1.2%), consumer staples (+1.0%), and utilities (+0.9%) were among the top performers. On the downside, materials (-0.4%) and consumer discretionary (+0.4%) stocks lagged.  Today's volume was right in-line with its average as 735 million shares changed hands on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.  The busy part of the fourth quarter earnings season is nearing its end as more than 400 S&P 500 components have already reported their results. Of the 402 companies, 67% have exceeded bottom line estimates. However, revenue beats were more common this quarter (67%) than in the past two (40% each) quarters.  Looking forward, first quarter earnings are expected to be flat year-over-year. This is down from the initial expectations of 3.0% growth. In addition, first quarter revenue growth is not expected to exceed 1.0%.  In tomorrow's economic data, weekly MBA Mortgage index will be reported at 7:00 ET. At 8:30 ET, January housing starts, building permits, PPI, and core PPI will all be announced. Lastly, the Federal Reserve will release the minutes from its latest meeting at 14:00 ET. In earnings, DISH Network (DISH 36.09, -0.84) and Toll Brothers (TOL 36.90, -0.18) are scheduled to report their results ahead of the open. ..NYSE Adv/Dec 2085/931. ..NASDAQ Adv/Dec 1677/815.

After Hours

18:25 ET DMD +14.8%, LZB +10.6%, RMBS +9.3%, MM -26.0%, TEX -6.4% following earnings/guidance :

The S&P 500 settled higher by 0.7% after spending the duration of the day in a steady upward climb. Equities got off to an upbeat start supported in part by bullish European trade. In addition, merger speculation helped support the markets at the open.

Other notable after hours movers on earnings: DMD +14.8%, LZB +10.6%, RMBS +9.3%, SINA +6.3%, MDRX +5.7%, UCTT +4.5%, LOPE +4.1%, CLDT +3.5%, FNF +3.4%, NVMI +3.2%, TXRH +3.1%, UAM +0.5%, DELL +0.2%, MM -26.0%, ZIXI -6.7%, TEX -6.4%, ARSD -3.7%, ANAD -2.9%, BJRI -2.6%, KONA -1.4%, NBR -1.4%, ICAD -1.4%, ADI -0.9%, MAR -0.8%, POST -0.5%, CF -0.3%, OIS -0.2%

Today after the close the following companies reported earnings: MAR, UCTT, NBR, NFX, ZIXI, KALU, TEX, BAS, BJRI, CLUB, ANAD, HLF, PSB, CNL, QEP, WTS, NVMI, OIS, DX, LLNW, LOPE, SHO, SLTM, TXRH, UAM, CCO, HY, CF, DMD, FNF, KONA, MM, ROG, AMRS, CLDT, FNGN, PRA, MDRX, DELL, SINA, BOBE, ADI, LZB

Futures are mixed after hours: S&P 500 futures are -0.28 from fair value of 1528.48 and Nasdaq100 futures are +0.82 from fair value of 2782.18.

Tomorrow morning before the open five economic reports are scheduled to be released: 1) MBA Mortgage Index, 2) Housing Starts (Consensus 914K), 3) Building Permits (Consensus 918k), 4) PPI (Consensus 0.3%) and 5) Core PPI (0.1%).

Tomorrow before the open the following companies are scheduled to report earnings: SAH, DTE, LAD, LL, MDCO, NOR, OC, PVR, SIX, VTNC, XRAY, EXAS, GOV, GRMN, GTN, MGM, DW, ICON, VNTV, ZINC, AVA, CNK, CRIS, DISH, SATS, TX, AER, CLH, DVN, LEAP, SODA, AEE, DXYN, EV, TOL

Commodities

Treasuries

Next Day In View 




Jason's Commentaries

Definitely a strong day to start the week after President's Day in the US last night. S&P500 broke into higher highs yesterday while the DOW visited its high again last night. While looking at the internals, it was moderately bullish last night, except the UVOL did not outpace the DVOL as much. Volumes were healthy and will be expecting the trend to continue in the near term. VIX started the day higher however closed at 12.31. Which further reaffirmed the bullishness in the market. 

A bulk of the of the housing stocks faced heavy intraday losses last night, of up to 2% within the housing sector. Most of the housing stocks closed in the red last night. As for the Healthcare sectors, the HMOs were heavy hit by a not so good proposal against the Medicare industry. Humana, United HealthCare where down as much as 9% at the start of the day which subsequently fought back up to close the day with lesser losses. 

While looking at the data coming out on Wednesday, I'm expected the market to gyrate quite a bit when the FOMC minutes is out, before that,the market is likely to open higher but flatter in observance of the FOMC minutes.  
 

Market Call: FLAT to downside

Date: 20 Feb 2013