Back In The Saddle

After a few days of fun and sun away from the office, I'm back in the saddle. I thought I was going to make some blog posts from the road, but alas, it didn't happen. My apologies.

The market is flattish in early trading, with no major market moving news. Intel (INTC) reports earnings tonight after the close, and that should be a big report. The semis have a nice window of profitability ahead of them, and supply and demand sets up nicely for firm margins, and that should show through in Intel's report.

In economic news, retail sales were weaker than expected coming in at -0.3% (vs. +0.5% consensus). But upward revisions to the November sales helped ease the sting of the report. Also, compared to December 2008, last month still showed strong yr/yr growth.

In terms of jobless claims, continuing claims fell to 4.60 million, which was below estimates and continues to move in the right direction.

In overseas news, the ECB left interest rates unchanged at 1.0%. Asian markets were mostly higher overnight, as fears of monetary tightening in China eased off.

The dollar is mixed today, and commodities are a touch weak. The 10-yr yield is lower to 3.75%; and the VIX is also lower to 17.75.

Trading comment: The market looks like it experienced a very mild pullback, market more by group rotation than overall selling. Tech (and materials) looks like the group that saw some profit taking, but money also flowed into defensive sectors like consumer staples, healthcare, and utilities.

With the news that it may pull out of China, Google (GOOG) has pulled back to its 50-day for the first time since last July. This could offer a good spot to add to the name. I also like AAPL ahead of earnings, PCLN on a test of its 50-day, and still like RIMM in general.

In terms of sectors, the financials look to be stabilizing, and may be attractive again. Among emerging markets, Russia and India look to be holding up better on a relative basis than China and Brazil.

long AAPL, GOOG, PCLN, RIMM, EWZ, FXI