February 22, 2015 The Week Ahead

The S&P 500 closed at 2110.30, on Friday, up nearly 14 points (on a shortened week). For the most part, the focus has been on the Euro zone and whether or not there will be a resolution on how the Greek financial crisis will be handled. Talks continue next week, at the moment, there is a temporary agreement for a 4-month loan extension. However, the terms and conditions have not been ironed yet.

Given the optimism out of Europe, it’s not surprising to see the VIX continuing to sell off, closing at 14.30, down more than 6% on Friday.

Crude oil prices closed the week at $50.84 per barrel. We saw some rather large option activity in Haliburton (put buying) and American Airlines (call buying) on Friday. Typically, when we’ve seen this type of action, crude oil prices have sold off. We’ll see if that’s the case this week.

Notable earnings being released this week include:

23 February 2015– CTB, DISH
24 February 2015– CMCSA, VSI, TOL, WEN, MNKD, HD, DPZ, M, KATE
25 February 2015– CVC, CHK, ECA, DLTR, HFC, MWE, SODA, STRZA
26 February 2015– DDD, BUD, DANG, ESV, MBLY, SDRL, SHLD, TASR
27 February 2015– GDP, KERX, HZNP, HMSY

Reports that traders will be watching include:

23 February 2015– Existing Home Sales
25 February 2015– New Home Sales
26 February 2015– Consumer Price Index, Durable Goods Orders, Jobless Claims
27 February 2015– GDP

In addition, Fed President, Janet Yellen, will be speaking twice this week. Overall, these are some important economic numbers being released. Any surprises, could move the markets up or down big, depending if they are favorable or not.