Busy Work

Good morning. We have lots of news this morning to keep us very busy.

The headlines include a surprisingly high core rate in the PPI, rising oil prices, better than expected earnings reports, downgrades on closely watched companies like Yahoo (YHOO) before they report earnings, and news that the Chicago Mercantile (CME) will merge with the Chicago Board of Trade (BOT). On the geopolitical front, North Korea is apparently set to conduct another nuclear weapons test.

Stocks trading up so far include LMRA, ITMN, HOKU, LVLT, ICOS, BWNG, BOT, NDAQ, GGBM, CORS, ATHR, TRMS, ARRY, APPB, ACOR, CHDX, PEIX, and JBLU. Moving lower are APTM, SONO, SAPE, IFON, UFPI, UCTT, ELY, SWFT, AMLN, SIFY, GNBT, PPDI, BRCM, ANGN, ACGY, LRCX, and YHOO.

Premarket futures have a negative bias indicating that we're set for a weak open. The chatter I'm hearing is focused on overbought conditions, concern over "sell the news" earnings trades, and the fact that we've had 66 trading days without a drop of more than 1% on the S&P 500. All told, that sounds pretty scary but at the same time this bull has shown very few signs that it is ready to back down. Have a productive and profitable day!