July 31, 2016 The Week Ahead

The S&P 500 closed the week relatively flat, which means it’s still near record highs. Earnings thus far have been taken positively. The FOMC meeting proved to be a non-event, as they continue to use the same rhetoric. We now have a situation where gold, stocks, and bonds are near their yearly highs. It will be interesting to see how long that relationship can keep up.

The VIX continued to decline during the week, closing on Friday at 12, at 11.87.

Crude oil futures prices fell more than 6% on the week. On Thursday, they hit a 3-month low, when the traded at 43.13. Crude futures prices are down 10% over the last two weeks and nearly 19% off their 3-month highs.

Moving on, gold futures prices gained more than 2%, closing above $1350 an ounce. Gold futures prices are creeping back to their yearly highs, and are now more than 20% higher than their 6-month lows.

In addition, T-bond futures prices gained more than 1.5%, as they too are near their yearly highs.

As mentioned earlier, earnings season continues to roll. We’ll be hearing from Tesla (TSLA), Pfizer (PFE), CVS Health Corp (CVS), Fitbit (FIT), and Procter & Gamble (PG) just to name a few.

Here is what is on tap for this upcoming week:

Key Economic Data:
1 August 2016- ISM Manufacturing Index 10:00 AM ET
2 August 2016- Personal Income and Outlays 8:30 AM ET
3 August 2016- EIA Petroleum Status Report 10:30 AM ET
4 August 2016- Jobless Claims 8:30 AM ET
5 August 2016- Employment Situation 8:30 AM ET, International Trade 8:30 AM ET

Key Earnings:
1 August 2016- FDC, MCY, SOHU, FTR, GGP, IDTI, TEX, THC, WMB, VNO
2 August 2016- AET, AVP, CAH, CMI, CVS, EMR, EXPD, H, MNK, MOS, ODP, PBI, PFE, PG, RDC, SABR, SODA, SHPG, STX, TAP, AIG, DATA, EA, DVN, FIT, FUEL, GLUU, JIVE, NFX, TX, ZEN
3 August 2016- AXA, D, DDD, ICE, KATE, OXY, TWX, ZTS, CF, FOXA, GDDY, HLF, HUBS, MET, NLY, TROX, TSLA, TSO, WU
4 August 2016- DUK, K, MGM, NOK, PCLN, SEAS, SSYS, TEVA, TIME, VIAB, ANET, ATVI, CSOD, FLR, FSLR, IMPV, KHC, LGF, LNKD, OLED, TRUE, TRIP, TTWO, ZG, ZNGA
5 August 2016- WY, WLTW, HSBC, CTSH, AES

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