6/22 Almanac

On Wednesday, June 22: Money policy announcement, Bernanke news conference.

There are 24 trading days before the July options expire, 59 the August, 87 the September and 122 the October.

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



Stats

Blue chip stocks (SPY) closed the latest regular session up 1.4% from the prior close. During the day SPY traversed 1.5% in a net move up of 0.9%.

The day's extremes: Open $128.36, high $129.70, low $127.75, close $129.45.

SPY closed above the DeMark pivots after trading within their range. The next DeMark pivots are $128.60-$130.55.

In total, 2.7 billion shares were traded on the three major U.S. stock exchanges, 16% more than on the prior trading day.

Five-year bond yields imply inflation at 1.99%, two basis points higher than the prior trading day.


Econ reports:

The Federal Open Market Committee wraps up a two-day meeting on monetary policy with an announcement at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, and a news conference with Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke at 2:15 p.m.

The Federal Reserve maintains an archive, where it posts transcripts of speeches and testimony within a few days of the event.

Also out, petroleum inventories at 10:30 a.m., the Federal Housing Finance Agency house index at 10 a.m., and the weekly Mortgage Bankers purchase applications report at 7 a.m.


Trading Calendar:

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


Good trading!