Trading Recap and The Week Ahead

The S&P 500 closed the week on a 3 day losing streak, it opened the week at 2087.63 and closed on the first trading day of the year at 2058.20. However, volume was relatively anemic, as most traders were away from their desk’s. This coming week, marks the first 5-day week of the new year, hopefully we should see volume start to pick up.

Interestingly, the VIX hit a high of 20.14, on Friday, January 2, 2015. However, it closed the week at 17.79.

Moving forward, traders will be watching what happens in Greece, as their elections are coming up on January 25, 2015. In addition, eyes will be on the energy market, specifically, crude oil, which closed the week at $52.57 per barrel.

The week ahead looks relatively light, in respect to economic numbers.

Key Numbers to pay attention to are:

• Wednesday Jan 7: International Trade and FOMC Minutes
• Thursday Jan 8: Jobless Claims
• Friday Jan 9: Employment Situation

Will buyers step in next week or will we start to see some continued selling pressure in the stock market? At this point, it’s anyone’s guess. That’s why being nimble is a very important attribute to have. Right now, it seems like a market that is better suited for day traders versus swing traders.

We did see one interesting order in the options market on Friday, as one trader came in and sold 20,000 puts on the Feb 20 $14 strike in Lifelock Inc. (LOCK) for $0.40. In fact, the option volume in LOCK on Friday was 54 times usual options volume. The stock sold off over 14% and closed at $15.59. Judging by the order type, the trader is making a bet that the sell off in LOCK maybe overdone by placing this moderately bullish bet. 

We’ll be back on Wednesday, January 7, with a mid-week update.