April 12, 2015 The Week Ahead

The S&P 500 closed the week on a 3-day winning streak. Will it spill over into this week? Well, we’ll see. There is a healthy amount of economic numbers coming out. Most importantly, there are a slew of earnings being released by financial institutions. The results of these earnings could play a major factor on the markets behave this week.

Given the recent market strength, it was no surprise to see the VIX lose it’s teenage status, closing at 12.58 on Friday.

In energy news, The United States Oil Fund ETF (USO) closed the week higher. It’s almost $3 off it’s 52 week low, trading at $18.41 per share.

Now, for those who are trading options, make sure to be aware of earnings release dates, as option volatility premium can explode and collapse before and after these events.

As mentioned, this is a busy week in respect to economic data and earnings releases.Here’s what’s on the schedule this week:

Key Economic Data:
14 April 2015- PPI 8:30 AM ET, Retail Sales 8:30 AM ET
15 April 2015- Industrial Production 9:15 AM ET
16 April 2015- Housing Starts 8:30 AM ET, Jobless Claims 8:30 AM ET, Philly Fed Business Outlook Survey 10:00 AM ET
17 April 2015- Consumer Price Index 8:30 AM ET

Key Earnings:
14 April 2015- FAST, JNJ, JPM, WFC, CSX, INTC, and LLTC
15 April 2015- ASML, BAC, DAL, NFLX, and SNDK
16 April 2015- BLK, GS, C, PM, PPG, TSM, AXP, MAT, and SLB
17 April 2015- HON, GE, and STX

Key Conferences:
13 April 2015- Wells Fargo 6th Annual Energy Fundamentals Forum
14 April 2015- Needham 14th Annual Healthcare Conference

We’ll be back on Tuesday with the daily market update.