April 19, 2016 Market Wrap Up

April 19, 2016 tvcuser Education, Trading CAH, Crude Oil, Data, DE, Dow Jones, Earnings, Economic, IBM, NFLX, S&P 500, SDRL, VIX

The market was relatively mixed today, with the Dow Jones Industrials, S&P 500 trading higher, while, the Nasdaq closed lower due to some poor earnings results in some heavily weighted companies like Netflix.

The VIX sold off a little bit, closing the day at 13.24. This the fourth straight close under 14, and the second lowest closing print of the year.

Crude Oil has had a nice bounce off Sunday’s lows, following an unproductive Doha meeting. WTI Crude closed the day above 41, at 41.08.

On the options front, we saw large call buying activity in Deere & Co. (DE). In addition, we saw heavy put buying in Cardinal Health (CAH), which saw 6.2 times usual options volume.

Stocks in play included: IBM (IBM) -5.6%, Netflix (NFLX) -12.9%, and SeaDrill (SDRL) +12.9%

Here’s what’s left this week:

Key Economic Data:
20 April 2016- Existing Home Sales 10:00 AM ET, EIA Petroleum Status Report 10:30 AM ET
21 April 2016- Jobless Claims 8:30 AM ET, Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook Survey 8:30 AM ET

Key Earnings:
20 April 2016- ABT, ARMH, ASML, CHKP, EMC, CP, KO, HBAN, ITW, SAP, TUP, USB, AXP, CCK, CTXS, FFIV, MAT, NEM, QCOM, SYK, YUM, VMI
21 April 2016- ALK, BBT, BIIB, BK, CFG, DGX, DHI, FCS, FITB, GM, KCG, KEY, LUV, PPG, PHM, SHW, UA, UNP, VZ, AMD, GOOGL, MSFT, SBUX, SWN, V, SLB
22 April 2016- CAT, GE, KMB, MCD, SYF, STI

January 3, 2016 The Week Ahead

January 3, 2016 tvcuser Education, Trading Conferences, Crude Oil, Data, Dow Jones, Earnings, Economic, education, FOMC, NASDAQ, S&P 500, VIX

The S&P 500 closed the year slightly negative, snapping a four year streak of positive returns. Unfortunately, the Dow Jones Industrial Average also suffered the same fate. On the other hand, the NASDAQ was able to post modest gains on the year.

The VIX actually closed the week higher, finishing 2015, above 18.

Crude oil futures prices dropped significantly again for the second straight year. The futures prices are currently trading well below $40 per barrel. Gold futures prices finished the year relatively flat.

We should get a sneak peek of what 2016 will be like on Wednesday, as the FOMC releases the minutes from their last meeting. With that said, volumes should slowly start picking back up.

Here’s what is on tap this coming week:

Key Economic Data:
4 January 2016- ISM Manufacturing Index 10:00 AM ET
6 January 2016- International Trade 8:30 AM ET, FOMC Minutes 2:00 PM ET
7 January 2016- Jobless Claims 8:30 AM ET

Key Earnings:
6 January 2016- MON
7 January 2016- FINL, KBH, STZ, WBA, BBBY, HELE, SNX, TCS

Conferences:
5 January 2016- Citigroup Internet, Media & Telecom Conference (runs till 1/7), Goldman Sachs Healthcare Conference
6 January 2016- Consumer Electronics Show (runs till 1/9), Goldman Sachs Energy Conference (runs till 1/7)

December 29, 2015 Market Wrap Up

December 29, 2015 tvcuser Education, Trading AMZN, Data, Dow Jones, Economic, education, NASDAQ, NWL, S&P 500, SUNE, trading, UPL, USO, VIX

The S&P 500 is up over 1% over the last two days on relatively low volume. With that said, we’ve got just two more trading days till the year is over. Will all three major indices finish positive? At the moment, NASDAQ and the S&P 500 are both positive. However, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) is still down slightly.

The VIX continues to see a big sell off, it’s now trading around 16 and was down about 5% on the day.

Oil names caught a small bounce, the United States Oil Fund (USO) was up nearly 2% after the API Inventory numbers came out in the after hours.

Stocks in play today included: Sunedison (SUNE) -9%, FXCM +26%, and Amazon (AMZN) +2.8%.

On the options front, we saw large call buying activity in Newell Rubbermaid Inc. (NWL). We also saw aggressive put buying in Ultra Petroleum Corp (UPL).

As mentioned earlier this week, there isn’t much going on data wise.

Key Economic Data:
31 December 2015- Jobless Claims 8:30 AM ET

August 9, 2015 The Week Ahead

August 9, 2015 tvcuser Education, Trading Conferences, Data, Dow Jones, Earnings, Economic, education, S&P 500, Shanghai, trading, VIX

August 9, 2015 The Week Ahead

The S&P 500 ended Friday’s action down for the fourth time in the last five trading sessions. Even worse, the Dow Jones Industrials has suffered its seventh straight losing session.

In respect to risk, market participants will be watching the Shanghai Composite, along with earnings.
Thus far, earnings have not been good enough to push the market to new highs.

Despite the uncertainty, the VIX barely climbed, closing the week at 13.39. With that said, many market technicians believe that the market is having a hard time holding major support levels. However, we are in the dull days of summer, which could explain the low volatility readings.