July 31, 2016 The Week Ahead

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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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May 4, 2016 Market Wrap Up

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The S&P 500 sold off for the second consecutive day, and is now down more than .5% on the week so far. Some attribute this to some weak economic data, as we saw a drop in imports today.

Some of the highlights today included comments out the Sohn Investment Conference. A meeting of some of the sharpest minds on wall street, presenting their top picks for the year. With that said, we saw a decent amount of volatility in individual stocks mentioned; as traders and machine reading algos reacted to the conference.

Names mentioned included: Bank Of The Ozarks (OZRK) -4.2%. Solarcity (SCTY) -9.2%, and Depomed (DEPO) -1.1%

The VIX caught a bid, closing the day at 16.05, an increase of nearly 3%.

Crude Oil is down around 5% over the last 4 trading sessions. However, it did manage to bounce back from earlier lows, despite seeing a higher than expected build out the DOE report.

On the options front, we saw large call buying activity in BGC Partners (BGCP). In addition, we saw heavy put buying in Pattern Energy Group (PEGI), which saw 6.7 times usual options volume.

This evening we got earnings out of Tesla (TSLA) +0.5%, Whole Foods Market (WFM) +2.9%, and Fitbit (FIT) -11.7% to name a few.

Here’s what’s left for the rest of the week:

Key Economic Data:
5 May 2016– GDP 8:30 AM ET, Jobless Claims 8:30 AM ET
6 May 2016– Employment Situation 8:30 AM ET

Key Earnings:
5 May 2016– APO, AVP, BABA, CHK, DDD, DISCA, FIG, G, ITG, K, LXP, MGM, MRK, OA, REGN, SEAS, WFT, ANET, ATVI, DATA, DWA, ENDP, FEYE, GPRO, HLF, MDVN, OLED, POST, TRUE, UBNT, YELP
6 May 2016– AGN, WLTW, WY, EXC

January 5, 2016 Market Wrap Up

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The S&P 500 had its first up day of the new year, however; it’s still down more than 1% from yesterday’s sell off. A really shaky start, which makes tomorrow’s FOMC minutes a potential market changer.

In addition, the Consumer Electronics Show continues tomorrow. Companies are presenting their new products to this huge public forum. A good showing can boost stock prices higher. On the other hand, a poor showing can really drive stock prices lower, as witnessed with FitBit (FIT) today.

The VIX sold off slightly, closing the day slightly below 20.

Crude oil futures prices have not faired better, they’re down about 3% over the first two trading days of the year.

Stocks in play today included: Apple (AAPL) -2.5%, Fitbit -18.4%, and ManKind (MNKD) -48.4%

On the options front, we saw large call buying activity in Microchip Technology (MCHP). We also saw aggressive put buying in Cirrus Logic (CRUS) .

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

November 12, 2015 Market Wrap Up

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The S&P 500 saw some heavy selling pressure, closing the day down nearly 1.5%. Keep in mind, we had a very strong October, almost leading us back to the highs.

Will we break the highs, or did the market rally too fast too soon? These are questions traders are asking. In addition, eyes and ears are on Fed officials. We had six speak today on the economy and possible Fed actions.

Many believe there is a 50-50 chance that we will see a rate hike in December. However, it almost appears that opinions change almost every day.

Stocks in play today, included Fitbit (FIT) -7.3%, Sunedison (SUNE) -6.3%, and Allergran (AGN) -3%.

It should come to no surprise that the VIX surged; however, it was a pretty big move, up more than 2 points and closing at 18.37.

The energy sector was weak; the United States Oil Fund (USO) was down nearly .3% today.

On the options front, we saw large call buying activity in MPLX LP (MPLX). In addition, we saw bearish bets being placed in Shake Shack (SHAK).

Here’s what’s on tap tomorrow:

Key Economic Data:
13 November 2015- Retail Sales 8:30 AM ET, PPI 8:30 AM ET

Key Earnings:
12 November 2015- DSX, VIAB, AMAT, CSCO, IGT, KSS