Good morning. Premarket futures indicate a very strong start to this options expiration day. According to the Stock Trader's Almanac, April's expiration day has been up 9 and of the last 11 years. At this point, there's little reason to believe we won't see another positive day again this year.
A number of better than expected earnings reports from companies like Honeywell (HON), Caterpillar (CAT), Google (GOOG), Pmc-sierra (PMCS), Sandisk (SNDK), and Citigroup (C) have set a positive tone and offset some disappointments from companies like Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) and Schlumberger (SLB). Even if there was bad news this morning, I suspect that the market would ignore it.
In commodities, both oil and gold are being sold as the dollar gains ground on the Euro and the yen.
Premarket gainers: GOOG, TPX, ETFC, PMCS, OSTK, BIDU, C, SNDK, HON, CAT, IGTE, MF, WM, CRM, INFA, SINA, MELI, CSIQ, CRNT, PLCM, RIMM, COF, MAN, BPOP, SIRF, TLB, DOX, OMEX, and ELY.
Premarket losers: TOMO, GRRF, ZIGO, ATRM, ISRG, SLB, SCOR, USTR, VASC, CYN, HUBG, ESLR, LIHR, SCOR, PAAS, GOLD, and AAUK.
Other than the Weekly Leading Index by the ECRI, the economic calendar has nothing on it. The focus instead will be how far the market can climb given its current trading range. As you know, the highs set on 4/7 in the S&P at 1385 will be considered a key takeout level and will put pressure on anyone who is underinvested at this point. At the same time, we are going to move back into extreme overbought territory again in this move so if you're chasing the market, please consider narrowing those stops and taking some profits especially in extreme overbought situations and/or which have earnings risk next week.
Have a great Friday!
