August 21, 2016 The Week Ahead

The S&P 500 closed the week flat, holding on to near record high levels. With that said, a lot of the most anticipated earnings have now past and the market is grinding on below average volume.

When will the volatility pick up?

One could imagine as the presidential elections near, we’ll start to see some fear and uncertainty creep in. The VIX didn’t really change much from the previous Friday’s close, still trading below 12 at 11.34.

Crude oil futures prices gained nearly 9% on the week. OPEC is set to meet next month, as crude oil futures are about 5% off their 52-week highs.

Moving on, gold futures prices were relatively unchanged, up less than .5%. In addition, T-bond futures prices fell more than 1%, and are now about 3.5% off their 52-week highs.

Here is what else is on the schedule for the upcoming week:

Key Economic Data:
23 Aug 2016- New Home Sales 10:00 AM ET
24 Aug 2016- Existing Home Sales 10:00 AM ET, EIA Petroleum Status Report 10:30 AM
25 Aug 2016- Durable Goods Orders 8:30 AM ET, Jobless Claims 8:30 AM ET
26 Aug 2016- GDP 8:30 AM ET, International Trade in Goods 8:30 AM ET

Key Earnings:
22 Aug 2016- CTRP, QUNR, NQ, ZOES
23 Aug 2016- BBY, DY, INTU, SJM, LZB, NMBL, RGS, TOL
24 Aug 2016- EXPR, GES, HPQ, PVH, WSM, WDAY
25 Aug 2016- FLS, EPAY, BURL, BRCD, DG, DLTR, GME, GLNG, JKS, MDT, SAFM, SHLD, SFUN, SDRL, SPLK, ZAYO, ULTA, TIF
26 Aug 2016- BIG

Be sure to check out our Active Trading Masters Program | Online Courses