August 9, 2016 Market Wrap Up

The S&P 500 traded slightly higher today on below average volume, a theme over the last couple of weeks. The SPDR S&P 500 traded about 50 million shares, whereas on average it’s been trading around 76 million shares per day.

Stocks in play today include: Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX) +26%, Rackspace (RAX) + 6.7%, and Wayfair (W) -19.7%.

The VIX closed higher, still trading below 12 at 11.66.

Crude oil futures closed mildly lower, closing under $43 per barrel. Gold and Treasury bonds both caught a bid today, both gaining about .5%.

On the options front, we saw large call buying activity in Splunk (SPLK) at 2.5 times normal option volume. In addition, we saw heavy put buying in Phillips 66 at 2.2 times normal options volume.

This evening we got earnings out of Disney (DIS) -.5%, Yelp (YELP) +13.8%, Sunpower (SPWR) -22.7%, and Fossil (FOSL) +3.7%.

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

Key Economic Data:
10 Aug 2016- EIA Petroleum Status Report 10:30 AM ET
11 Aug 2016- Jobless Claims 8:30 AM ET
12 Aug 2016- Retail Sales 8:30 AM ET, PPI 8:30 AM ET

Key Earnings:
10 Aug 2016- JD, KORS, PRGO, RL, WEN, BUFF, SHAK
11 Aug 2016- BABA, EAT, FLO, CSAL, KSS, M, JWN, NVDA, RT
12 Aug 2016- JCP

Key Conferences:
Credit Suisse Transports Conference (runs till 8/10); Jefferies Industrials Conference (runs till 8/11); JPMorgan Auto Conference (runs till 8/10); Oppenheimer Tech, Internet, and Communications Conference (runs till 8/10); UBS Financial Services Conference (runs till 8/10)

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June 28, 2016 Market Wrap Up

The S&P 500 caught its first bounce after the Brexit announcement, as it closed up more than 35 points, a gain of nearly 1.8%. Not only that, but the VIX came under attack as it dropped more than 20% and closing below 19.

Stocks in play today include: comScore, Inc (SCOR) $23.83 (-18.96%), Dow Chemical Company (DOW) $48.50 (-2.04%), PayPal Holdings (PYPL) $35.24 (+3%), and Splunk, Inc. (SPLK) $53.34 (+4.65%).

Despite the anemic volume, the VIX actually grinded up, closing at 14.64.

Crude oil futures closed about %3 higher at $47.85.

On the options front, we saw large call buying activity in Travelport Worldwide Limited (TVPT), which traded 8.1 times normal volume. We also saw a ton of bearish bets being placed in Clovis Oncology Inc (CLVS), which traded 2.2 times usual volume.

Here’s what’s left for the rest of the week:

Key Economic Data:
29 June 2016- Personal Income and Outlays 8:30 AM ET, EIA Petroleum Status Report 10:30 AM ET
30 June 2016- Jobless Claims 8:30 AM ET
01 July 2016- ISM Mfg Index 10:00 AM ET

Key Earnings:
29 June 2016- GIS, MON, PIR
30 June 2016- CAG, DRI, LNN, STZ, MU, MKC

Key Events:
JPMorgan Media & Telecoms CEO Conference (runs till 6/29)