4/7 Almanac

On Thursday, April 7: Weekly jobless claims.

There are nine days before April options expire, 44 the May and 72 the June.

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 down of 0.2%.

The day's extremes: Open $133.88, high $134.00, low $133.12, close $133.66.

SPY traded above the DeMark pivots before closing within their range. The next DeMark pivots are $132.95-$133.83.

In total, 2.9 billion shares were traded on the three major U.S. stock exchanges, 10% more than on the prior trading day.

Five-year bond yields imply inflation at 2.82%, one basis point lower than the prior trading day.


Econ reports:

The weekly jobless claims report tops the econ charts for Thursday, with an 8:30 a.m. Eastern release. It has been a market-mover during the the depths of the recession; I'd argue that with everybody in the country already having been laid off, it's probably not quite as high profile anymore.

Chain stores will announce their sales throughout the day, and also look for the natural gas report at 10:30 a.m., consumer credit at 3 p.m., and Fed's weekly one-two punch: The balance sheet and the money supply, both out at 4:30 p.m.

Fedsters: Richmond Fed Pres. Jeffrey Lacker and Cleveland Fed Pres. Sandra Pianalto give speeches. Both are alternate members of the monetary committee and lack votes on policy. Both took office under President George W. Bush.

Lacker's resume shows his institutional ties are academic. Pianalto's shows institutional ties early on to the U.S. House Budget Committee. After that, she came up through the Fed system.

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!