EB Watch List Update Report

Dear Members: MARKET NOTE: The market is up slightly while the VIX is up over 4% as it remains above all key technical levels. That's very telling to me; the market is back to being on high alert. Though all of the major indexes are higher the Dow now looks stronger than the NASDAQ. That's a shift from the picture we saw the past few months where traders gravitated to tech stocks. Now there's more interest in avoiding riskier assets with blue chips looking more attractive. Don't get me wrong; it's not like the Dow is strong here. It's more that traders aren't as bold as they were during all of September and even a week ago. Some of the recent nervousness can be traced to the uncertainty of the upcoming election. We're also deep into earnings season, certainly a broad enough sampling for traders to decide if they've liked what they've seen; it appears as though the answer is...not really. If earnings as a whole had been strong some of the other issues affecting the market would not be so concerning. Instead the S&P is now much closer to key support near 2114 than the all time high of 2193. And it's also well below its 20 and 50 day moving averages. And unfortunately for the bulls, not one of the major indexes is close to being technically oversold. A few other things. First, today is the last trading day of the month so we could see some portfolio re-balancing by money managers. Next, the Fed will announce its interest rate decision on Wednesday. Then we'll get the monthly non-farm payroll report on Friday. Put it all together and volatility is likely to remain elevated. All of this leading to the necessity to lay low here so we can see what develops throughout the week. Nothing is screaming "buy, buy, buy". Instead it makes a lot of sense to keep some cash available in case selling does get overdone. And if we see the S&P get back above all key technical levels there will be plenty of time to get back on board. KEY EARNINGS REPORTS Companies reporting earnings today (October 31) include: AEGN, ALU.PA, AMKR, APC, CHKP, CNA, CTB, D, GGP, L, SO and WMB Companies reporting earnings tomorrow (November 1) include: Y, ADM, CERN, COH, CNX, CMI, DVN, DISCA, DNB, ETN, EA, GILD, HRS, HLF, ILMN, JCOM, K, MLM, TAP, MOS, OXY, OSK, PZZA, PFE, PBI, SBAC, SQ, SUI, DATA, TARO, TCO, TEX, TRI.TO, TRMB, X, WCG, WU and ZG ADDITIONS TO WATCH LISTS: Best to continue to watch market action to see if selling accelerates BRIEF COMMENTS ON SELECT WATCH LIST STOCKS: SHORTS: There are no shorts on the Watch List at this time LONGS: Large Cap Watch List None at this time Mid Cap Watch List None at this time Small Cap Watch List None at this time DELETIONS FROM OUR WATCH LISTS: None At your service, John Hopkins EarningsBeats