March 29, 2024

AAPL outshines BBRY buyout

Index & Sector performance 9/23/13

The Market:

The market picked up early Monday where it left off Friday gaping lower on the open and continuing lower until roughly 11:30 am EST when the S&P 500 was able to bottom and turn with unfortunately what seems to be not much support or enthusiasm from traders.

From the WSC Scoreboard, the largest drag on the Market today was the Financials (XLF) and leading them down was Regions Financial (RF) which closed down 2.27%.  RF closed right at the 150 day SMA and if it cannot find support there the upward sloping 200 day SMA comes in at $8.62 as of the close.  The leader was Utilities (XLU) with every name across the board up and lead by Edison (EIX) which closed up 2.24%.

In economic news we has Flash Manufacturing PMI come in slightly below expectations.  Tomorrow we have the Redbook Index reading, Case Shiller HPI, Consumer Confidence, Richmond Manufacturing and some Fed speak from Pianalto and George.

Story Stocks:

BlackBerry (BBRY) investors, those remaining, held their breath as BBRY was halted with news pending.  This was it…and it was….but not as they hoped.  BBRY signed a letter of intent to be taken private by a consortium led by Fairfax Financial Holdings.  Shareholders of BBRY will receive $9 per share.  The shares initially ppped higher than the $9 price but quickly abated and closed where it started the day at $8.82.

On the other side of the coin was Apple (AAPL) which gained over $23 closing nearly 5% higher for the day after announcing the sale of 9 million iPhone 5s and 5c units in its first weekend which tracks above consensus expectations.  If that wasn’t enough the company also announced expectations to come in toward the higher end of their previously announced 4th quarter revenue range.  Today was an AAPL day affecting other stocks including suppliers RF Micro Devices (RFMD) and Cirrus Logic (CRUS) both up over 5%.  On the negative side, AAPL’s iTunes Radio success with over 11 million unique listeners helped send Pandora (P) down over 10%.

The following noteworthy companies are scheduled to report earnings before tomorrow’s open: CCL, KMX, LEN, KBH, NEOG

Analyst Comments:

Upgrades 9/23/13

Downgrades 9/23/13

Initiations 09/23/13

Price Target Changes 09/23/13

The Game Plan:

Looking back at Wednesday night’s recap we noted:

….it feels hard to ignore, especially for shorter term traders, that this recent action is an opportunity to scale back on longs and look to add back later and hopefully lower prices.

We are now getting the pullback to lower prices and while we still keep aim at that target circle around the upward sloping 200 day SMA, it is likely a target that will be reached over much time and also at a different price than currently listed.  The overbought RSI and MACD downtrend line resistance have imposed their will and now we watch and wait to see how this pullback manifests to isolate the next opportunity…long or short.

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