The Week Ahead: Home sales minutes, Jackson Hole

There are few reports this week; two flavors of home sales and minutes of the July 31 Federal Open Market Committee meeting exhaust the list.

Existing home sales, which track the greater part of the market, will be released at 10 a.m. New York time on Wednesday, and new home sales at 10 a.m. on Friday.

The FOMC minutes will be out Wednesday at 2 p.m.

Leading indicators (in descending order of importance):

The interest rate spread between 10-year Treasuries and the federal funds rate, reported continually during market hours.

The M2 money supply, at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.

The S&P 500 index, reported continually during market hours.

Average weekly initial jobless claims, at 8:30 a.m. Thursday.

Other reports of interest:

Wednesday: Petroleum inventories at 10:30 a.m.

Thursday: The Purchasing Managers manufacturing index flash report, just before 9 a.m. Eastern.

Fedsters

Federal Reserve Vice Chair Janet Yellen, on the short list to replace Ben Bernanke as chairman, leads a panel discussion on Friday at the Kansas City Fed's Economic Policy Symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the leading event of the social season for fedsters and their fans.

Analytical universe

This week I'll be analyzing new bull and bear signals among 2,309 stocks and exchange-traded funds that have some analyst interest. They are traded both on the major U.S. exchanges and over-the-counter. My universe is selected from mid-cap stocks and larger, defined as market capitalization of $1 billion and greater.

Trading calendar

By my rules, I'm trading September options for the short legs of covered calls and vertical and diagonal spreads, calendar and butterfly spreads, and iron condors, and December options for single calls and puts. Of course, shares are good at any time.

Good trading!