7/29 Almanac

On Friday, July 29: GDP.

There are 22 trading days before the August options expire, 50 the September, 85 the October and 113 the November.

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



Stats

Blue chip stocks (SPY) closed the latest regular session down 0.3% from the prior close. During the day SPY traversed 1.3% in a net move down of 0.3%.

The day's extremes: Open $130.60, high $131.77, low $130.01, close $130.22.

SPY closed within the DeMark pivots after trading above their range. The next DeMark pivots are $129.24-$131.00.

In total, 3.1 billion shares were traded on the three major U.S. stock exchanges, 10% fewer than on the prior trading day.

Five-year bond yields imply inflation at 2.22%, five basis points higher than the prior trading day.


Econ reports:

The big guy of econ reports, the gross domestic product, will be released at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. The report gives the first look at the size of the economy in the 2nd quarter. Two reports following at monthly intervals will give increasingly high-confidence numbers for the same period.

Also out, the employment cost index at 8:30 a.m., the Institute of Supply Management's Chicago purchasing managers index at 9:45 a.m., the University of Michigan/Reuters consumer sentiment survey at 9:55 a.m., and farm prices at 3 p.m.

Fedsters gather at Jackson Hole, Wyo. for their annual economic summit. Many speeches, but where I wish I had a perch is at the bar. What do these folks talk about over a beer?

The Federal Reserve maintains an archive of speeches and testimony.

(But it doesn't include transcripts of bar talk.)


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 November or later straddles, strangles, calls and puts. And of course, shares are good at any time.


Good trading!