Daily Wrap
DJIA -5.07 (-0.03%) to 14,968.89; S&P 500 +3.09 (+0.19%) to 1,617.51; NASDAQ +10.77 (+0.37%) to 2,955.36
Yawn, for the most part a boring day as the market essentially consolidated after Friday’s gap higher with the Dow closing slightly negative while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq slightly positive.. There was no major economic news for the day and frankly the week in general is relatively light. Some fed speak and Unemployment Claims Thursday but relatively light. To try and put into perspective the day, the entire range of the S&P 500 Index was roughly 5.5 points.
Merger Monday was again back and in affect with BMC Software (BMC) agreeing to be purchased by a private equity consortium including big names Bain Capital and Golden Gate Capital for $46.25 per share. BMC did not move much on the news today but this had been a wildly speculated/rumored takeover and BMC is up roughly 15% since the beginning of March.
An interesting move by the Standard & Poor’s after the close Friday where they announced Macerich (MAC) will replace Coventry Health Care (CVH), which is being acquired by Aetna (AET), in the S&P 500 index.
The Barron’s bounce was working the other way today as LINN Energy (LINE) and its spin-off LinnCo (LNCO) lost 7% and 7.8% respectively after being mentioned cautiously in the publication over the weekend.
The following noteworthy companies are scheduled to report earnings before tomorrow’s open: EMR, EOG, DTV, HCN, FE, PRGO, CHTR, HFC, OAK, NRG
In analyst notes today, Goldman Sachs went to a Buy rating on CBL & Associates (CBL) with a $27 price target. Bank of America/Merrill upgraded Dollar General (DG) to a Buy and Intel (INTC) received an upgrade to Outperform at RBC Capital with a $29 price target. On the downside there was not much I found too intriguing but some names on the list include Moody’s (MCO), PACCAR (PCAR) and Kimco Realty (KIM). Some of these and other upgrades and downgrades for the day can be found each morning when I post my 9 @ 9 in the Upgrades/Downgrades section.
Today’s action was boring but it was also pertinent for the Bulls to hold today after Friday’s large gap higher. Now we are looking somewhat extended on the shorter term charts and it is likely that some form of pullback or consolidation appears. How that acts should be very telling for the short term especially with a light data week. I would not be surprised to see a positive open tomorrow but I would be surprised to not see the optimism start to wane in early trading between the open and noon EST.