TUESDAY'S MARKET: Burning Witches & Hiring Sorcerers

Stocks in the U.S. are up today, though global shares declined amid concerns about the American central bank’s position and the chaos unfolding in Egypt. There was no economic data capable of moving the market today, so American issues are holding ground post their recent discounting. It’s a sell the rumor buy the news story today for American shares. It will be interesting to see how Janet Yellen handles the big stage later this week, and what the market reads into it, though my bet for the next Fed Chief has always been Larry Summers. Though, that’s not because I like him, but because the President does. For more in-depth analysis and research visit our stock market blog.

Witches & Sorcerers

Market ETF	August 20, 2013	Year-to-Date
SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY)	+0.6%	+16.3%
SPDR Dow Jones (NYSE: DIA)	+0.3%	+15.0%
PowerShares (Nasdaq: QQQ)	+0.6%	+16.3%

Much of the year’s gains have been taken away by the latest summer sell-off, and I suggest investors continue to take profits here. Upcoming months will mostly bring further reason to worry as the Fed follows through on its promise to taper its asset purchase program. Meanwhile, the geopolitical issues of the past are reborn, and the most important of those is growing in the womb (read Iran). Sell here and walk away, except for special issues and particular stocks and securities – we’ll look for some gems in the rough for you. Gold continues to interest us, but the SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD) will only work for you for a period until which people really start looking for the physical commodity behind the paper – Shhh… it may not be there.

Economic Events

ECONOMIC REPORT SCHEDULE
Economic Data Point	Prior Period	Expected	Actual
TUESDAY
Chicago Fed National Activity Index	-0.23 (R)	NA	-0.15
-3 Month Moving Ave	-0.24 (R)	NA	-0.15
ICSC Weekly Store Sales	-0.2%	NA	-1.9%
-Year-to-Year Pace	+2.6%	NA	+2.2%

There’s not much to report really today as far as economic data goes. The weekly sales data showed a steep drop-off from the prior week period, which is interesting given the lack of seasonal holiday factor. This could be the lull before the back-to-school storm blows in.

Overseas Markets

EUROPE	10:37 AM	ASIA/PACIFIC	CLOSE
EURO STOXX 50	-1.5%	NIKKEI 225	-2.6%
German DAX	-0.9%	Hang Seng	-2.2%
CAC 40	-1.6%	S&P/ASX 200	-0.7%
FTSE 100	-0.5%	Korean KOSPI	-1.5%
Bloomberg GCC 200 (ME)	-0.1%	BSE India SENSEX	-0.3%

International markets are following the lead of the U.S. and missing its latest gains. Why? The latest headline moving capital today is the warning that emerging markets have finally fallen. As a result, capital is moving back into developed markets and out of emerging markets, so sell the BRICS or be caught in the backflow.

Commodity Markets (10:22 AM ET)

WTI Crude	-1.2%
Brent Crude	-0.6%
NYMEX Natural Gas	+0.8%
RBOB Gasoline	-0.6%
Gold Spot	+0.7%
Silver Spot	+0.3%
COMEX Copper	+0.0%
CBOT Corn	-1.1%
CBOT Wheat	+0.2%
CBOT Soybeans	-0.6%
ICE Cocoa	+1.3%
ICE Sugar	+0.1%
ICE Orange Juice Conc.	-1.0%
CME Lumber	-1.0%
CME Live Cattle	+0.0%

It’s interesting that crude is lower today despite the intensifying chaos in the Middle East, and its spread. A business owner friend of mine in Turkey tells me trouble will resurface there once the holiday season passes and people return to their complaints. So expect the renewal of issues and the intensification of them starting in September and into the fall.

It’s interesting that there is a clearly defined line between two parties across the Middle East, the religious and the progressive types. You would expect the two to be the least likely to become violent, but that’s not the history of religion unfortunately. Progression is most successful when it is driven by peaceful movement, but the situation may be difficult to calm at this point. The two parties could coexist if the Middle East could adopt the separation of church and state model that exists in the West. It simply may be too soon for the region, which is still in a state of existence reminiscent of the American Puritan days. In other words, they are still burning witches, and they have social media and the Web to help them do it on a large scale today.

Corporate Events

It’s late in the earnings season, and that means retailers are reporting. Today’s wire brings Best Buy, J.C. Penney, Home Depot and more.

REPORTING EARNINGS
Company	Ticker
TUESDAY
Barnes & Noble	NYSE: BKS
Best Buy	NYSE: BBY
BHP Billiton	NYSE: BHP
China Digital	NYSE: STV
Dick’s Sporting Goods	NYSE: DKS
Home Depot	NYSE: HD
Intuit	Nasdaq: INTU
J.C. Penney	NYSE: JCP
Medtronic	NYSE: MDT
TJX Companies	NYSE: TJX
American Homes 4 Rent	NYSE: AMH
American Woodmark	Nasdaq: AMWD
Analog Devices	NYSE: ADI
21Vianet	Nasdaq: VNET
Bottom Line Technologies	Nasdaq: EPAY
China Distance Education	NYSE: DL
China Information Technology	Nasdaq: CNIT
China Techfaith Wireless	Nasdaq: CNTF
CNinsure	Nasdaq: CISG
Daktronics	Nasdaq: DAKT
Daxor	NYSE: DXR
GasLog	Nasdaq: GLOG
Hancock Fabrics	Nasdaq: HKFI
Inteliquent	Nasdaq: IQNT
La-Z-Boy	NYSE: LZB
Navios Maritime Acquisition	NYSE: NNA
Optibase	Nasdaq: OBAS
Qualstar	Nasdaq: QBAK
SED International	NYSE: SED
Shiloh Industries	Nasdaq: SHLO
StealthGas	Nasdaq: GASS
Tat Technologies	Nasdaq: TATT
Trimedyne	Nasdaq: TMED
Trina Solar	NYSE: TSL
Tuesday Morning	Nasdaq: TUES
Urologix	Nasdaq: ULGX
Velti PLC	Nasdaq: VELT

MOST ACTIVE STOCKS
BIGGEST GAINERS	% Gain
Crumbs Bake Shop (Nasdaq: CRMBU)	+61%
NF Energy Saving (Nasdaq: NFEC)	+20%
Eltek (Nasdaq: ELTK)	+21%
Corinthian Colleges (Nasdaq: COCO)	+14%
Superconductor Technologies (Nasdaq: SCON)	+16%
RigNet (Nasdaq: RNET)	+15%
Owens Realty Mortgage (NYSE: ORM)	+14%
eFuture Information Technology (Nasdaq: EFUT)	+16%
XOMA Corporation (Nasdaq: XOMA)	+9%
Pacific Sunwear (Nasdaq: PSUN)	+11%
BIGGEST LOSERS	% Drop
LightintheBox Holding (Nasdaq: LITB)	-39%
Alvarion (Nasdaq: ALVR)	-15%
Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS)	-16%
StealthGas (Nasdaq: GASS)	-14%
Micronet Enertec Technologies (Nasdaq: MICTW)	-12%
Aegean Marine Petroleum (NYSE: ANW)	-10%
Paulson Capital (Nasdaq: PLCC)	-12%
IntriCon (NYSE: IIN)	-13%
China TechFaith Wireless (Nasdaq: CNTF)	-11%
Galectin Therapeutics (Nasdaq: GALTW)	-8%

Please see our disclosures at the Wall Street Greek website and author bio pages found there. This article and website in no way offers or represents financial or investment advice. Information is provided for entertainment purposes only.