Ryan Barnes submits:The weak dollar trade is back on today, as the USD is down against most major currencies. This has pushed gold, copper, and other hard commodities up to or near their highest levels of the month. Days like this are generally good for the Secular Trends Portfolio, and in early morning trade the model has picked up a quick 2 percentage points on the strength of Las Vegas Sands ((LVS) - up 12%), Petrobras ((PBR) - up 4%), Alcoa ((AA) - up 3.5%), and Peabody ((BTU) - up 4%). Caterpillar a Key Earnings Report Tomorrow Caterpillar (CAT) is seeing strong early buying today ahead of Tuesday’s earnings report. CAT shares are up 6% this morning in advance of what is - for these eyes - the most anticipated earnings call of the season. The folks at the local “home office” paper in Peoria, IL did a nice preview piece Sunday that talks about the difficulties in estimating what kind of numbers Caterpillar will report. Sales are sure to remain down year-over-year in a big way (35-40%), but the recent weakness of the dollar is a strength to this company that does more than half its business overseas. And after taking big charges in the first quarter to curtail production and lay off workers, how much more was needed in Q2?Complete Story »
