Midday Update: Market Pulls Back As Oil Back At Highs

Earnings season is a busy time for portfolio managers, and I have been inundated with conference calls lately. That is why I haven't been making as many posts to this blog as usual. But as earnings season is winding down, I plan to step it back up soon.

The market was up early this morning, but quickly faded. There were more solid earnings reports last night, and some good economic data this morning to boot.

Cisco (CSCO) reported better than expected earnings last night, but gave kind of muddled guidance. So the stock is flat today. Disney (DIS) reported great earnings, and that stock is nicely higher. Ditto for Foster Wheeler (FWLT), which I have been bullish on. And out of nowhere, Quanta Services (PWR) is spiking +12% on huge volume on its strong earnings report. Nice.

The productivity report this morning showed that Q1 productivity rose +2.2%, much stronger than estimates. And unit labor costs came in well below consensus also. So that is a good economic datapoint.

The dollar is up today vs. both the Yen and the Euro, another good sign. Although it simply can't keep oil down, which is making more record highs around $123. This seems to be weighing on the rest of the market, which is likely overdue for a pullback anyway.

Asian markets were mostly lower overnight, led by a -4.1% drop in Shanghai. The 10-year yield is higher at 3.91%. And the put/call is around average at 0.89.

long FWLT, PWR