4/6 Almanac

On Wednesday, April 6: Petroleum inventories. (Seriously, that's the top of the calendar.)

There are 10 days before April options expire, 45 the May and 73 the June.

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


Stats

Blue chip stocks (SPY) closed the latest regular session down 0.02% from the prior close. During the day SPY traversed 0.7% in a net move up of 0.2%.

The day's extremes: Open $133.00, high $133.83, low $132.94, close $133.24.

SPY traded above the DeMark pivots before closing within their range. The next DeMark pivots are $133.09-$133.98.

In total, 2.6 billion shares were traded on the three major U.S. stock exchanges, 6% more than on the prior trading day.

Five-year bond yields imply inflation at 2.83%, six basis points higher than the prior trading day.


Econ reports:

Not a day for major reports. Petroleum inventories are out at 10:30 a.m. Eastern -- sometimes a mover for the energy sector (which in turn can move everything else). Otherwise, the Mortgage Bankers report on purchase applications at 7 a.m. (a leading indicator for housing) and the Treasury reports on STRIPS (zero-coupon bonds) at 3 p.m.

Fedster: Atlanta Fed Pres. Dennis Lockhart give a speech.

Lockhart is an alternate member of monetary committee and lacks a vote on policy. He also took office under President Bush. His resume shows institutional ties to Citigroup (then called Citicorp/Citibank), Heller Financial and the private equity firm Zephyr Management L.P.

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 May vertical and calendar spreads, and June or later straddles, calls and puts. And of course, shares are good at any time.


Good trading!