EB Watch List Update Report

Dear Members: MARKET NOTE: The S&P almost touched 1947 yesterday at its high. That's awful close to the 1950 level the bulls were aiming for and you can see now that it's a level the bears defended successfuly. Accordingly all of the major indexes are lower today. You can also see that any hints that the rally might be over starts making traders nervous, with the VIX up over 6% today as it heads back over 20. Not surprisingly, oil is lower today which in turn is affecting the overall market, a common theme for quite some time now. Also not helping; a much weaker than expected consumer confidence report that came out today at 92.2 compared to expectations of 97.3. That's quite a miss, especially considering it involves the consumer, the lifeblood of the economy. On a more positive note, existing home sales beat expectations but that is being given little attention today. The mixed picture comes ahead of Friday's second estimate of Q4 GDP with expectations now even lower at 0.4%. For some that is too close to no growth, making it difficult to get overly enthusiastic about the market. The bulls have been wondering if traders might have shifted from a sell on strength to buy on dips so we're faced with a perfect opportunity to see if that indeed is the case. So far we're certainly not seeing that today. But as usual we need to keep in perspective the big move off of the recent bottom of 1810 on the S&P. It's been mostly a straight up move so some profit taking is not really out of line. Instead we should watch to see if we do see some nibbling on the long side later in the day. If the selling does intensify we'll want to see if 1906 holds as it represents the 20 day moving average and the one technical level the bulls have managed to recapture. At the top of the range is the 50 day moving average, now at 1949, and we saw how tough it was to clear that level yesterday as the stakes are high. KEY EARNINGS REPORTS Companies reporting earnings today (February 23) Y, BMO.TO, CVC, CTB, DLTR, FSLR, HLS, HD, SJM, M, NA.TO, NCLH, ODP, PZA, TOL and WBMD Companies reporting earnings tomorrow (February 24) include: AES, CHK, CLR, CLGX, EV, IMAX, LB, LOW, NTES, CRM, SBGI, SUN, TGT and RIG ADDITIONS TO WATCH LISTS: We find ourselves pretty much in the middle of the current range on the S&P of 1906 to the downside and 1950 to the upside. Too tough to do much at the moment so we'll remain cautious here for the time being. Remember; cash IS a position. 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 RMD - As a reminder, we removed RMD from the Watch List yesterday at a price of $59.50 as it was struggling to clear key resistance. Small Cap Watch List There are no Small Cap stocks on the Watch List at this time. 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. John Hopkins, EarningsBeats