EB Watch List Update Report

Dear Members: First, please note that I posted a new Behavior Modification Case Study on my blog yesterday. MARKET NOTE: Here we go again. Overnight developments in other markets helped get the US market off to a rough start. Adding to the negative fuel (pun intended) oil is lower this morning as well. And how about government bond yields, with the ten year treasury note touching 1.56%, a level not seen since July, 2012, when the yield touched 1.39%. At the same time we've got Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen speaking before lawmakers with the market looking for any new information that would help clear up any remaining questions regarding possible rate increases. It's really an exercise in futility and in fact the market has already determined that the Fed won't be raising rates anytime soon. Instead the bigger question is, when might they take back the one rate increase made the end of last year? But all of this doesn't erase the fact that stocks are much lower today than they were yesterday with the S&P once again challenging key support and the NASDAQ moving below its most recent low. So nothing has happened over the past 24 hours to excite those traders who have remained steadfastly on the sidelines. In all fairness, one of the reasons the Dow is leading the market lower today is a breaking story that Boeing is being investigated by the SEC and accordingly, the stock is down almost 12%. Just adds even more fuel to the fire. On the other hand, Cisco is being rewarded nicely for better than expected earnings with the stock up almost 9%, showing the market will still heap praise on companies that show positive surprises. Now we've got the S&P touching its most recent low of 1812 leading to the big question; will it hold? And the answer is... maybe or maybe not! If it does hold it will show that traders feel enough discounting has already taken place. If it goes then we could be looking at heading to the mid 1700's. That would represent another 4% to the downside and put the decline in the S&P right around 18% from last year's high of 2134, just short of bear market territory. So that's it! Either the 1812 level holds or it doesn't. We know the first technical line of resistance is the 20 day moving average, now at 1894. And we know the next key level of support is near 1750. So we're pretty much in the middle right now, or no-man's land. This pretty much makes this an un-tradeable market with the reward to risk almost 1 to 1 and not worth risking capital. KEY EARNINGS REPORTS Companies reporting earnings today (February 11) AAP, AIG, BWA, CBS, CCE, COLM, DNB, FEYE, FLIR, K, KKR, LC, MFC.TO, TAP, MOS, NLSN, PAG, PEP, GLE.PA, SON, TRI.TO, TRIP, VRSN, GRA, WYNN and ZG Companies reporting earnings tomorrow (February 12) include: ITT ADDITIONS TO WATCH LISTS: Repeat from yesterday. As you can see we currently have no stocks on our Watch List as we are in ultra conservative mode. Said another way, our level of confidence in the overall market at this exact moment in time remains on the low end of the scale. We continue to scan the earnings universe and hope to be adding some long and short trading candidates later this week and will add stocks to the Watch List if we find something that we feel presents a high reward to risk opportunity. BRIEF COMMENTS ON SELECT WATCH LIST STOCKS: Large Cap Watch List There are no Large Cap stocks on the Watch List at this time. Mid Cap Watch List There are no Mid Cap stocks on the Watch List at this time. Small Cap Watch List There are no Small Cap stocks on the Watch List at this time. DELETIONS FROM OUR WATCH LISTS: No Watch List stocks at this time. At your service, John Hopkins, EarningsBeats