August 6, 2018 The Week Ahead

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Despite fears of trade wars escalating, the U.S. stock market continues to march higher, as the S&P 500 has now closed higher for five consecutive weeks.

Apple became the first company to exceed a market cap of more than $1 trillion.

Stocks in play during the week included: AAPL +8.9%, PFE +5.55%, TSLA +17.1%, SHOP -11.4%, TSN -9.1%, and BABA -4.5%

Here are how some of the most widely traded index ETFs performed over the week:
Powershares QQQ ETF (QQQ) +1.38%, SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) +0.77%, SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA) +0.05%, iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) +0.68%

The VIX closed at 11.64 on Friday.

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Here are how some futures and commodity ETFs performed over the week: United States Oil Fund (USO) -0.35%, iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond (TLT) -0.20%, SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) -0.79%

Economic Releases:
8 Aug 2018- EIA Petroleum Status Report 10:30 AM ET

9 Aug 2018- Jobless Claims 8:30 AM ET; PPI-FD 8:30 AM ET

10 Aug 2018- Consumer Price Index 8:30 AM ET

Key Earnings:
6 Aug 2018- BID, CAH, CRNT, CTNB, JEC, SEAS, TSN, TWLO, ZG, WTW, THC, NPTN, FIVN, HTZ, MAR, ETSY

7 Aug 2018- DF, DISCA, EMR, EXPD, KMT, MNK, ODP, RDUS, ZBRA, AAOI, BOOT, ALRM, CYBR, DDD, DIS, HDP, LC, MTCH, NEWR, PXD, SNAP, TWNK, WEN, JAZZ, G, INFN

8 Aug 2018- ADT, CTL, DNB, EQIX, FOX, IAC, MNST, NUAN, ROKU, TIVO, YELP, CARS, CHH, CVS, EXTR, GOGO, KORS, MYL, SINA, TRI, VSI

9 Aug 2018- LNG, PRGO, VIAB, AXCM, AL, DBX, MCHP, OLED, SCOR, SNCR, TRNC, TRUE, TTD8

10 Aug 2018- JCP, AIT, RUTH

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July 31, 2016 The Week Ahead

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The S&P 500 closed the week relatively flat, which means it’s still near record highs. Earnings thus far have been taken positively. The FOMC meeting proved to be a non-event, as they continue to use the same rhetoric. We now have a situation where gold, stocks, and bonds are near their yearly highs. It will be interesting to see how long that relationship can keep up.

The VIX continued to decline during the week, closing on Friday at 12, at 11.87.

Crude oil futures prices fell more than 6% on the week. On Thursday, they hit a 3-month low, when the traded at 43.13. Crude futures prices are down 10% over the last two weeks and nearly 19% off their 3-month highs.

Moving on, gold futures prices gained more than 2%, closing above $1350 an ounce. Gold futures prices are creeping back to their yearly highs, and are now more than 20% higher than their 6-month lows.

In addition, T-bond futures prices gained more than 1.5%, as they too are near their yearly highs.

As mentioned earlier, earnings season continues to roll. We’ll be hearing from Tesla (TSLA), Pfizer (PFE), CVS Health Corp (CVS), Fitbit (FIT), and Procter & Gamble (PG) just to name a few.

Here is what is on tap for this upcoming week:

Key Economic Data:
1 August 2016- ISM Manufacturing Index 10:00 AM ET
2 August 2016- Personal Income and Outlays 8:30 AM ET
3 August 2016- EIA Petroleum Status Report 10:30 AM ET
4 August 2016- Jobless Claims 8:30 AM ET
5 August 2016- Employment Situation 8:30 AM ET, International Trade 8:30 AM ET

Key Earnings:
1 August 2016- FDC, MCY, SOHU, FTR, GGP, IDTI, TEX, THC, WMB, VNO
2 August 2016- AET, AVP, CAH, CMI, CVS, EMR, EXPD, H, MNK, MOS, ODP, PBI, PFE, PG, RDC, SABR, SODA, SHPG, STX, TAP, AIG, DATA, EA, DVN, FIT, FUEL, GLUU, JIVE, NFX, TX, ZEN
3 August 2016- AXA, D, DDD, ICE, KATE, OXY, TWX, ZTS, CF, FOXA, GDDY, HLF, HUBS, MET, NLY, TROX, TSLA, TSO, WU
4 August 2016- DUK, K, MGM, NOK, PCLN, SEAS, SSYS, TEVA, TIME, VIAB, ANET, ATVI, CSOD, FLR, FSLR, IMPV, KHC, LGF, LNKD, OLED, TRUE, TRIP, TTWO, ZG, ZNGA
5 August 2016- WY, WLTW, HSBC, CTSH, AES

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October 27, 2015 Market Wrap Up

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The S&P 500 closed the day relatively flat, it appears that the market is awaiting further news from the FOMC meeting tomorrow.

Earlier today we got earnings results from Pfizer (PFE) +2.4%, Merck (MRK) +1%, and Du Pont (DD) +2.7%.

This evening we got earnings out of Apple (AAPL) -1%, Gilead Sciences (GILD) flat, and Twitter (TWTR) -11%.

The VIX continues to show few signs of panic, as it closed the day at 15.43.

The energy sector was relatively weak; the United States Oil Fund (USO) was down more than 1% today.

On the options front, we saw bullish call buying in YRC Worldwide (YRCW). Options that saw bearish put buying in Chesapeake Energy (CHK).

In other news, Walgreens (WBA) announced that they are buying Rite Aid (RAD) for $9.41 billion.

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

Key Economic Data:
28 October 2015- FOMC Meeting Announcement 2:00 PM ET
29 October 2015- GDP 8:30 AM ET, Jobless Claims 8:30 AM ET
30 October 2015- Personal Income 8:30 AM ET

Key Earnings:
28 October 2015- GRMN, HLT, HOT, IMAX, IP, LVLT, MDLZ, NOV, TMUS, VLO, WBA, VW, AMGN, ATML, CRUS, FFIV, GPRO, LOCK, WMB, PYPL, NE, MUR, CAVM
29 October 2015- AET, CLF, COP, ESV, JAH, JCI, KERX, MO, NOK, MTH, TEVA, TWC, VALE, ZBH, BIDU, EA, LNKD, MOBL, SBUX, WU, SCTY
30 October 2015- ABBV, CVS, XOM, MYL, CVX, CL, ETN

October 6, 2015 Market Wrap Up

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October 6, 2015 Market Wrap Up

The S&P 500 finished the day slightly lower, after five straight days of upward action. Interestingly, that was the longest winning streak of the year (to-date).

The biotech continues to get hit; some politicians and media are expressing anger towards the way many of these companies are conducting business. For example, Pfizer (PFE) has raised prices on 133 drugs this year…and they are not the only ones. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology Index Fund (IBB) is down over 10% over the last month.

The VIX was up, closing at 19.40, the second closing below 20 this week.

The energy sector was up today; the United States Oil Fund (USO) was up nearly 5%.

On the options front, we saw bullish call buying in Immunomedics (IMMU). Options that saw bearish put buying were in Jabil Circuit (JBL).

Key Economic Data:
8 October 2015- Jobless Claims 8:30 AM ET, FOMC Minutes 2 PM ET

Key Earnings:
7 October 2015- MON, STZ
8 October 2015- DPZ, AA

Key Events:
6 October 2015 (runs till the 9th)- Amazon Services Invent Conference

September 1, 2015 Market Wrap Up

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September 1, 2015 Market Wrap Up

The S&P 500 got absolutely smoked today, down nearly 3 percent. The market was weak overnight because of poor data out of China, PMI was worse than expected. Interestingly, the SPY straddle going into Monday was implying a 2.6% move. With that said, not too many traders were expecting this kind of volatility heading into Labor Day.

The VIX closed at 31.40, up more than 10%. Not only that, but the VIX remains in backwardation. This is when near term futures are more expensive than farther dated futures.

VIX Futures Term Structure

The energy sector saw a big sell-off after seeing recent gains. The United States Oil Fund (USO) is down nearly 9%.

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