July 24, 2016 The Week Ahead

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The S&P 500 closed the week near record levels, making that the fourth straight week of positive gains. We now set up for one of the busiest earning weeks of the year, along with the FOMC meeting on Wednesday.

The VIX continued to decline during the week, closing on Friday at 12.02.

Crude oil futures prices fell about 4% on the week. On the other hand, gold futures prices dropped about 1%. T-bond futures prices closed relatively flat on the week.

As mentioned earlier, earnings season starts really pick up now. We’ll be hearing from Apple (AAPL), Coca-Cola (KO), Mcdonald’s (MCD), Amazon (AMZN), and ExxonMobil (XOM) just to name a few.

Here is what is on tap for this upcoming week:

Key Economic Data:
26 July 2016- New Home Sales 10:00 AM ET
27 July 2016- Durable Goods Orders 8:30 AM ET, EIA Petroleum Status Report 10:30 AM ET, FOMC Meeting Announcement 2:00 PM ET
28 July 2016- International Trade in Goods 8:30 AM ET, Jobless Claims 8:30 AM ET
29 July 2016- GDP 8:30 AM ET

Key Earnings:
25 July 2016- COL, DHR, KMB, S, CR, ESRX, GILD, LVS, TXN
26 July 2016- AKS, ALLY, BAX, BEAV, BP, CAT, CHKP, CVLT, DD, FCX, DD, HOT, JBLU, JNS, KEY, KKR, LLY, MAS, MBLY, MCD, UA, UTX, VLO, VZ, WAT, AAPL, AKAM, APC, ASH, BWLD, CAKE, CAVM, ILMN, IRBT, JNPR, LLTC, PNRA, TWTR, X, ZION
27 July 2016- ARMH, ANTM, CMCSA, DB, DPS, GLW, GRMN, HES, HLT, IR, KO, LVLT, MDLZ, MO, NDAQ, NOC, ROK, SIX, STT, SVU, STM, AF, CA, CAKE, CRUS, GRPN, INFN, LM, MCK, NOW, PXD, ORLY, VRTX, WFM, XLNX
28 July 2016- APD, AZN, BWA, BMY, CAB, CELG, CL, CLF, CME, COMM, COP, DOW, ESV, F, GRUB, HOG, HSY, IP, LEA, LLL, MA, MJN, NOV, PENN, POT, WWE, AMZN, CBS, BIDU, CY, DECK, ES, EXPE, GOOGL, HIG, INVN, N, RSG, STRZA, WDC
29 July 2016- ABBV, AN, BUD, CBOE, CPN, CVX, LYB, MRK, NWL, PSX, SAVE, UPS, WG, XOM

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February 8, 2016 Market Wrap Up

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The Chinese markets were closed today in celebration of their new year. With that said, many traders believed that volatility would come in during their holiday break. Well…that clearly wasn’t the case today. The S&P 500 sold off 1.4% and the NASDAQ was down more than 1.8%.

We continue to see weakness in Biotech, Technology, and the MLP sector. It probably doesn’t help that commodities are also weak. Most importantly, crude oil, which settled below $30 per barrel.

It’s not a real surprise to see the VIX trade above 25 today, finishing the day 11% higher and closing at 26.

On the options front, we saw large call buying activity in Penn National Gaming (PENN). In addition, we saw heavy put buying in Bloomin Brands (BLMN), about 58 times usual options volume.

Stocks in play included: Chesapeake Energy (CHK) -33%, Energy Transfer Equity (ETE), and Williams Companies (WMB) -35%.

We’ve got earnings from Coca-Cola (KO) and CVS Pharmacy (CVS) tomorrow, along with Disney (DIS). Overall, earnings have been pretty weak this quarter. Let’s see if that trend changes at all.

Here’s what’s on tap for the rest of the week:

Key Economic Data:
11 February 2016- Jobless Claims 8:30 AM ET
12 February 2016- Retail Sales 8:30 AM ET

Key Earnings:
9 February 2016- CVS, KO, MAS, VIAB, WYN, AKAM, DIS, NCR, NUAN, PNRA, WU
10 February 2016- ARMH, TWX, EXPE, IRBT, TWTR, WFM, ZNGA, MYL, LOCK, FNF
11 February 2016- AVP, BTU, BWA, CAG, GNC, K, MOS, NOK, PEP, RIO, SHPG, TAP, TIME, WWAV, AIG, ATVI, CBS, CYBR, FEYE, GRPN, INFN, P, QLIK, RSG

Key Conferences:
8 February 2016- Credit Suisse Financial Services Forum (runs till 2/10)
9 February 2016- Bank America Merrill Insurance Conference (runs till 2/11), Goldman Sachs Tech Conf (runs till 2/11), Goldman Sachs Insurance Conf (runs till 2/11)
10 February 2016- Leerink Healthcare Conference (runs till 2/11)
11 February 2016- KBW Financial Conference (runs till 2/12)