3/18 Almanac

On Friday, March 18: Quadruple Witching Day. Better than Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

This is the last day March options are traded. There are 30 days before April options expire, 64 the May and 92 the June.

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



Stats

Blue chip stocks (SPY) closed the latest regular session up 1.3% from the prior close. During the day SPY traversed 1.0% in a net move down of 0.1%.

The day's extremes: Open $128.00, high $128.39, low $127.10, close $127.85.

SPY closed above the DeMark pivots after trading within their range. The next DeMark pivots are $126.83-$128.12.

In total, 2.8 billion shares were traded on the three major U.S. stock exchange, 29% fewer than on the prior trading day.

Five-year bond yields imply inflation at 2.67%, 10 basis points higher than on the prior trading day.


Econ reports:

On Quadruple Witching Day, stock index futures and options, stock options and stock futures all expire. It can make for an unsettled market.

It's usually a bare and dismal sort of day -- no econ reports, no Treasury auctions, no Fed speeches. Just the four witches, like Macbeth plus one.

No Fedsters are speaking, but if they were...

The Federal Reserve often posts transcripts of speeches and testimony within a few days of the event.


Trading Calendar:

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


Good trading!