7/19 Almanac

On Tuesday, July 19: Housing starts.

There are 32 trading days before the August options expire, 60 the September, 95 the October and 123 the November.

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



Stats

Blue chip stocks (SPY) closed the latest regular session down 0.8% from the prior close. During the day SPY traversed 1.3% in a net move down of 0.4%.

The day's extremes: Open $131.08, high $131.28, low $129.63, close $130.61.

SPY closed below the DeMark pivots after trading within their range. The next DeMark pivots are $129.30-$130.95.

In total, 2.5 billion shares were traded on the three major U.S. stock exchanges, 13% fewer than on the prior trading day.

Five-year bond yields imply inflation at 2.09%, unchanged from the prior trading day.


Econ reports:

The Commerce and the Housing and Urban Development committees report on housing starts at 8:30 a.m. Eastern.

Also out, two weekly retail reports: ICSC-Goldman at 7:45 a.m. and Redbook at 8:55 a.m.

Treasury auctions 4-week bills at 11:30 a.m.

Speaking: Kansas City Fed Pres. Tom Hoenig, an inflation über-hawk when he sat on the Federal Open Market Committee last year. He is no longer votes on monetary policy, but he still fascinates.

Hoenig is one of the most senior -- maybe the most -- among the Fed's top people. He took office under President George H.W. Bush after rising in his career within the Fed system. In other words, there's a lot of been-there-done-that knowledge lodged in his brain, and that makes him worth listening to.

The Federal Reserve maintains an archive of speeches and testimony.


Trading Calendar:

By my rules, at this point in the cycle I can trade August vertical, diagonal, calendar 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!