EB Watch List Update Report

Dear Members: MARKET NOTE: Traders are so conditioned these days to sell on any mini bounces that they can't see any positives. For example, between yesterday and today we learned that the Fed won't be raising rates anytime soon, that oil appears to have found a near term bottom, that some very important companies have handily beat earnings expectations and that the world is not coming to an end. The market response? Eh! That's what we're facing at the moment. Just yesterday the S&P touched 1917. Today the S&P is hanging out closer to 1880. So now traders are back to asking if the market will hold here or if we need to revisit some recent lower numbers. So we're seeing the type of action that is evident in a bear market. Whether or not this is a near term or longer term bear is on the mind of most traders. But for our purposes, we have to deal with the here and now. So to the downside we need to see if 1870 holds on further selling and to the upside we now know that 1917 is near term resistance. We will be getting the first look at Q4 GDP tomorrow and traders now have to decide what will be better for the market; a better than expected number that shows the economy is in better shape than thought or a weak number to keep the Fed at bay. In other words, do traders root for strength or root for weakness? From my perspective I would like to see a stronger economy than expected. But what I think doesn't matter. All that matters is how the market reacts to the news. It's always been like that and will be like that forever. KEY EARNINGS REPORTS Companies reporting earnings today (January 28) include: FLWS, ABT, MO, AMZN, AMGN, AN, BHI, BLL, BX, BMY, CAT, CELG, EA, LLY, FICO, FLEX, F, GNTX, HOG, HAR, HSY, JBLU, JCI, KLAC, LLL, LEA, MKC, MSFT, NDAQ, NOC, NUE, POT.TO, PHM, QLGC, RTN, SHW, SWKS, SWK, TROW, TCB, TWC, UA, UIS, VLO and V. Companies reporting earnings tomorrow (January 29) include: AAL, CVX, CL, HON, MA, PSX, STX, TZOO, TYC, WHR and XRX. ADDITIONS TO WATCH LISTS: We've now seen hundreds of companies report their earnings and we'll see a bunch more next week. So we'll soon start scanning for those companies that beat earnings as well as those that missed and start adding them to our Candidate Tracker. In the meantime we'll hold tight here and not add anymore and get through tomorrow's GDP report to see how the market responds. BRIEF COMMENTS ON SELECT WATCH LIST STOCKS: We are going to remain cautious and start taking profits that come along quickly. Also going to get more defensive on stops as reflected below and until there are signs that the market is improving. Large Cap Watch List BSX - Stock closed below slightly our stop loss of $17.25 yesterday so is being removed from the Watch List. Mid Cap Watch List There are no Mid Cap stocks on the Watch List at this time. Small Cap Watch List STMP - Stock is flat today and a close back above $98.11 would be bullish. As a reminder we raised our stop to a close below $91 in case the market resumes its move lower. DELETIONS FROM OUR WATCH LISTS: There are no deletions from the Watch List today unless a Watch List stock closes below the stop loss provided. At your service, John Hopkins, EarningsBeats