Curve Ball

Traders,

I love it when you hit those switches

A curve ball’s what my pitch is
So here we here we comeLike dum ditty dum
— Beastie Boys “The Negotiation Lymerick File”

Our current position:

BUYERS’ EDGE INTACT

In this week’s edition you will find:

  • Where We Are
  • What Was Important About Last Week
  • What We Are Watching For This Week
  • A Word On Discipline

The following sections are on our home site:

Where We Are:

Taking a look at the broader market:

Last week’s theme of well-bid Technology shares gives us further confirmation of the strength of this bull market – but as usual, the market gave us a curve ball with Thursday’s heavy distribution, which threatens the institutional sponsorship for this environment.

The Naz’s cup-and-handle breakout into new highs represents an important hurdle for broad market advancement.

But as Cyclicals and Transportation stand next in line to make similar moves, the strength of buyers is on the cusp of cracking.

With many key sectors now drifting lower to the support of their 50-day averages, how well they handle the key zones will likely give us a new hand in leaders and lagers to sort through..

We’re also keeping an eye on Energy, which is forming what could be the beginning of a new handle for a base to launch from.

Biotech is also trading in new high territory, but its Healthcare and Drug cousins have been banged up after two heavy days of selling.

Technically speaking:

The Dow Industrial Average
($INDU), 1.0%, formed its third week in a tight trading range.

The S&P 500
($SPX), 1.2%, also put in its third week in a tight range.

Nasdaq
($COMPQ), 2.5%, broke out to new highs for the year.

Russell 2000
($RUT), 2.2%,

Volume indications continues to favor buyers.

Key chart action for the week:

Charts courtesy of Stockcharts.com

The top 10 industry groups from the 6 month RS screen are:

  1. REIT HEALTHCARE FACILI
  2. TOYS GAMES
  3. MOVIE PRODUCTION THEAT
  4. MEDICAL LABS RESEARCH
  5. REIT – DIVERSIFIED
  6. PERSONAL SERVICES
  7. CATV SYSTEMS
  8. PACKAGING CONTAINERS
  9. GAS UTILITIES
  10. HOSPITALS

What Was Important About Last Week

STOCKS:

  • Kohl’s (KSS) reported Q3 revenues up 16.6% from a year ago, beating estimates by .04 with 0.68 per share reported.
  • Walt Disney (DIS) reported fourth quarter earnings of $0.36 per share, $0.03 better than the Reuters estimates consensus of $0.33.
  • Cisco (CSCO) beat Reuters estimates by 0.02 at 0.31 per share. Revenues up 24.9% from a year ago.
  • Priceline (PCLN) bet earnings by 0.05 at 0.72 per share. Revenues up 21.1% from a year ago.
  • Wynn Resorts (WYNN) fell short of Reuters estimates by 0.07 with a loss of 0.07 per share. Revenues were up 26.5% from a year ago.
  • Fluor Corp. (FLR) posted revenue down 1.6% from a year ago with earnings of 0.31 per share.

ECONOMY:

  • Import prices fell 2% in October.
  • Export prices fell 0.4% in October
  • The ISM Index increases to 57.1 in October for the strongest reading in 5 months.

What We’re Looking For This Week

Key earnings releases:

  • MONDAY: Tyson Foods (TSN)
  • TUESDAY: Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (ANF), American Eagle Outfitters Inc (AEOS), Goldcorp (GG), Home Depot Inc (HD), Ross Stores, Inc. (ROST), Staples, Inc. (SPLS), Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT)
  • WEDNESDAY: Applied Materials (AMAT), Hot Topic (HOTT), Limited Brands (LTD), Men’s Wearhouse (MW), Tyco International (TYC)
  • THURSDAY: Dell, Inc. (DELL), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (MRVL), Sears Holdings Corp (SHLD), Williams-Sonoma (WSM)
  • FRIDAY: AnnTaylor Stores (ANN), Foot Locker, Inc. (FL)

On the economic front we have potential market movers with:

  • MONDAY: Treasury Budget
  • TUESDAY: Business Inventories, Core PPI, PPI, Retail Sales, Retail Sales ex-auto
  • WEDNESDAY: NY Empire State Index, Crude Inventories, FOMC Minutes,
  • THURSDAY: Core CPI, CPI, Initial Claims, Net Foreign Purchases, Capacity Utilization, Industrial Production, iladelphia Fed
  • FRIDAY: Building Permits, Housing Starts, Building Permits, Mich Sentiment-Prel.

The Following Sections Are On Our Home Site:

This Week’s Word On Discipline:

“Success isn’t measured by money or power or social rank. Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace.” – Mike Ditka