Monday, January 24, 2011

1/25 Almanac

On Tuesday, Jan. 25: Consumer confidence, metro-area housing markets.

There are 25 days before the February options expire, 53 the March and 81 the April.

On the jump, market stats, econ reports, and the trading calendar . . .



Stats

Blue chip stocks (SPY) closed the latest regular session up 0.6% from the prior close. During the day SPY traversed 0.8% in a net move up of 0.6%.

The day's extremes: Open $128.29, high $129.25, low $128.23, close $129.10.

SPY closed above the DeMark pivots. The next DeMark pivots are $127.86-$128.77.

In total, 2.9 billion shares were traded on the three major U.S. stock exchange, 8% fewer than on the prior trading day.

Five-year bond yields imply inflation at 2.23%, up three basis points from the prior trading day.


Econ reports:

The Conference Board releases its consumer confidence survey at 10 a.m. Eastern, probing whether Americans are willing to shop till they drop or, rather, prefer to sit on their cash. A potential market-mover.

Standard & Poor's releases the Case-Shiller study of housing markets in 20 metro areas at 9 a.m. Since all real-estate markets are local, this is a key report in understanding what's really going on in housing.

Also, look for a pair of weekly retail reports -- ICSC-Goldman at 7:45 a.m. and Redbook at 8:55 a.m. -- and the Federal Housing Finance Agency report on single-family homes at 10 a.m.

Treasury auctions 4-week bills at 11:30 a.m. and 2-week notes at 1 p.m.


Trading Calendar:

By my rules, at this point in the cycle I can trade February vertical, calendar, diagonal and butterfly spreads, iron condors and covered calls. Also, April or later straddles, calls and puts. And of course, shares are good at any time.


What I'm looking for:
  • Clarity in the markets following Thursday morning's barrage of bear signals.

Click here for stocks on my Watchlist.


Good trading!

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