July 12, 2016 Market Wrap Up

The S&P 500 is now at record levels, as earnings season is freshly upon us. Not only that, but the Russell 2000 is up around 10% over the last ten days, as we’re seeing investors gain a stronger appetite for risk.

Stocks in play today include: American Airlines Group (AAL) +11.26%, Amazon (AMZN) -.89%, Stone Energy (SGY) +23.45%, and Netsuite (N) +10.7%.

Despite all major indices advancing, the VIX actually didn’t move much…closing the day at 13.55.

Crude oil futures gained more than 4% today closing slightly below $47 per barrel. With that said, crude oil is about 9% off its year to date hights.

On the options front, we saw large call buying activity in Etsy (ETSY), which traded 63.2 times normal volume. We also saw a ton of bearish bets being placed in Cracker Barrel (CBRL), which traded 5.8 times usual volume.

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

Key Economic Data:
13 July 2016- EIA Petroleum Status Report 10:30 AM ET
14 July 2016- Jobless Claims 8:30 AM ET, PPI-FD 8:30 AM ET
15 July 2016- Consumer Price Index 8:30 AM ET, Retail Sales 8:30 ET, Industrial Production 9:15 AM ET

Key Earnings:
13 July 2016- CSX, YUM
14 July 2016- BLK, JPM, PGR, AMD
15 July 2016- C, WFC, USB, FBR, PNC

September 21, 2015 The Week Ahead

September 21, 2015 The Week Ahead

The S&P 500 ended the day higher, however; volume was very light. With that said, we did get some form of relief after Friday’s sell off.

Despite the lackluster volume, the VIX sold off rather harshly, ending the day down nearly 10% at 20.14

Crude Oil futures were relatively strong, the United States Oil Fund (USO) was up nearly 3 percent.

On the options front, we saw bullish call buying take place in Etsy Inc. (ETSY). The bears were out in Valeant Pharmaceuticals International (VRX). In fact, the pharmaceutical space as a whole took a hit today after Presidential hopeful, Hillary Clinton, made some comments that were taken negatively amongst the sector.

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