Sunday, July 22, 2012

The Week Ahead: Durable goods, plus change

Durable goods orders dominate the week's econ reports. The report, out Thursday at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, tracks purchases of big-ticket items, from mini-fridges for your dorm room to Boeing 777 aircraft for your vacation flight to Asia.

Gross domestic product will be reported Friday at 8:30 a.m. But since it's the third time around for these 1st quarter numbers, I don't consider then to be significant to the market (barring a major revision, which is rare).

All in all, it's not a busy week. Durable goods, plus change.

Leading indicators out this week:

Thursday: Weekly unemployment compensation claims at 8:30 a.m.

Friday: The index of consumer expectations from the Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment report, at 9:55 a.m.

Traders should also keep an eye on these financial leading indicators: The M2 money supply, out Thursday at 4:30 p.m. from the Federal Reserve, and two reported continually during market hours: The S&P 500 index and the interest rate spread between 10-year Treasuries and the federal funds rate.


Also, I like to keep an eye on the Baltic dry index of world shipping, updated daily.

Other reports of interest:


Wednesday: New home sales (the smaller part of the market) at 10 a.m., and petroleum inventories at 10:30 a.m.

Thursday: Pending home sales (contracted, not closed) at 10 a.m.

Trading calendar

By my rules, as of Monday I can trade August vertical and butterfly spreads, the short legs of diagonal spreads, and iron condors, and October single options and straddles. Of course, shares are good at any time.

Good trading!

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