Friday, February 4, 2011

2/7-2/8 Almanac

The Almanac won't be posted on Monday as I shall be en route to Japan. Today's posting covers both Monday's and Tuesday's economic releases. See below for other changes to the daily posting schedule for the two week's that I'll be abroad.

There are no significant econ releases on Monday, Feb. 7 and Tuesday, Feb. 8.

Monday marks 15 days before the February options expire, 43 the March and 71 the April.

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


Stats

Blue chip stocks (SPY) closed the latest regular session up 0.3% from the prior close. During the day SPY traversed 0.7% in a net move up of 0.2%.

The day's extremes: Open $130.83, high $131.06, low $130.23, close $131.15.

SPY traded entirely within the DeMark pivots. The next DeMark pivots are $130.69-$131.66.

In total, 2.9 billion shares were traded on the three major U.S. stock exchange, 1% more than on the prior trading day.

Five-year bond yields imply inflation at 2.39%, four basis points more than the prior trading day.


Econ reports:

On Monday, consumer credit at 3 p.m. Eastern. Treasury will auction 3- and 6-month bills at 11:30 a.m.

On Tuesday, two weekly retail reports: ICSC-Goldman store sales at 7:45 a.m. and Redbook at 8:55 a.m. Treasury will auction 4- and 52-week bills at 11:30 a.m., and 3-year notes at 1 p.m.

Speeches on Tuesday by three Fedsters: Dallas Federal Reserve president Richard Fisher, a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee, which sets monetary policy, and two FOMC alternates: Fed presidents Jeffrey Lacker of Richmond and Dennis Lockhart of Atlanta.

The Federal Reserve often posts speech transcripts.

Later in the week, look for weekly jobless claims on Thursday and international trade numbers on Friday.


Trading Calendar:

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

Click here for stocks on my Watchlist.


Next Week's Posting Schedule

Beginning Tuesday, Feb. 8, I'll file the Almanac after the market close at 4 p.m. Eastern U.S. time, and follow that with the Morningline, Forex, Watchlist and Channels analysis based on the close.

This differs from my normal practice of filing the analytical pieces beginning about 15 minutes after the open.

Monday, Feb. 7, is a travel day and I shall not file at all.

My posting schedule will return to normal on Feb. 22.


Enjoy the weekend!

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