February 19, 2017 The Week Ahead

Last week we wrote: “The markets keep rolling higher… seems like nearly every other day an all-time high is being made.” Well, not much has changed, as the all three averages posted gains of over 1% on the week.

Interestingly, the attention continues to stay more or less focused on politics than what’s going on in the financial markets. The VIX did gain on the week, moving from 10.85 to 11.49, however; that’s still relatively low given the political climate we’re in.

Moving on to gold and oil.

Crude oil futures closed the week lower, finishing down 0.76%. In precious metals, gold futures prices finished the week higher, gaining about .10%

Now, here is how some of the other closely followed ETFs did on the week: United States Oil Fund (USO) -0.96%, iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond (TLT) -0.36%, SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) +0.07%.

Some key earnings include: Tesla Motors, Wal-Mart, Hewlett Packard, Herbalife, and Home Depot.

Here is a list of some events that traders will be following:

Key Economic Data:
21 Feb 2017- PMI Manufacturing Index 9:45 AM ET
22 Feb 2017- Existing Home Sales 10:00 AM ET, FOMC Minutes 2:00 PM ET
23 Feb 2017- Jobless Claims 8:30 AM ET, EIA Petroleum Status Report 11:00 AM ET, New Home Sales 10:00 AM ET

Key Earnings:
21 Feb 2017- AAP, AER, BHP, CBRL, EXAS, EXPD, GPC, HD, HSBC, LL, M, MDR, MDT, PWR, WLK, WMT, EIX, CXO, FSLR, IRWD, LZB, NEM, PZZA, XPO
22 Feb 2017- DISH, GRMN, HFC, HST, LAMR, LYG, MBLY, NI, PNK, SBGI, SIX, TEX, TJX, TOL, WWW, CAKE, CLR, CLVS, ETE, ETP, EVHC, FIT, HPQ, LB, O, SQ, SUN, TROX, TSLA, TSRA
23 Feb 2017- BSFT, APA, CHK, CRZO, EME, IRM, KSS, PF, SAFM, SFM, STOR, VALE, VAC, DYN, GPS, HLF, IMAX, INTU, JWN, OLED, SWN, ZOES
24 Feb 2017- CLMT, DOC, FL, HSC, IAG, JCP, PEG, KBR, RLGY, STAR

Key Events:
20 Feb 2017- CAGNY Consumer Conference (runs till 2/24)
22 Feb 2017- Barclay’s Industrials Conference (runs till 2/23); RBC Healthcare Conference (runs till 2/23)

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