March 14, 2017 Market Wrap Up

We saw some weakness in the market today, lead by declines seen in small caps. It’s worth mentioning that volumes were relatively low, as most of the northeast was dealing with the winter storm Stella.

All eyes will be on the FOMC tomorrow and their much anticipated announcement on key interest rates. As of now, the market is anticipating a rate hike, however; they would like to get greater clarity on how quickly they plan raising them.

The VIX closed higher today, at 12.30, a gain of 8.37%

ETF Performers: United States Oil Fund (USO) -0.88%, iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond (TLT) +0.48%, SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) -0.54%.

On the options front, we saw large call buying activity in Gerdau SA (GGB), which traded 2.3 times normal option volume. In addition, we saw heavy put buying in Zynerba Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ZYNE), which traded 2.0 times normal option volume.

Here is what is on tap for tomorrow and the rest of the week.

Key Economic Data:
15 March 2017- Consumer Price Index 8:30 AM ET; Retail Sales 8:30 AM ET; EIA Petroleum Status Report 10:30 AM ET; FOMC Meeting Announcement 2:00 PM ET; FOMC Forecasts 2:00 PM ET, Fed Chair Press Conference 2:30 PM ET
16 March 2017- Housing Starts 8:30 AM ET; Jobless Claims 8:30 AM ET; Philly Fed Business Outlook Survey 8:30 AM ET
17 March 2017- Industrial Production 9:15 AM ET

Key Earnings:
15 March 2017- AXAS, ALRM, EVOK, GES, ORCL, WSM, JBL
16 March 2017- INSY, ADBE, CATB, MNKD, XONE, VSLR
17 March 2017- TIF

Key Events:
13 March 2017- J.P. Morgan 2017 Aviation, Transportation & Industrials Conference, 3/13-3/15;
14 March 2017- Barclays Global Healthcare Conference, 3/14-3/16, in Miami, FL

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