Tenor of the Market

The tenor of the market changed yet again last week.  Some market pundits started to characterize the two week drop at the beginning of April as “the market correction.”  Strong corporate earnings  led by Apple (AAPL) and AMZN) combined with Ben Bernanke’s stated plans to keep interest rates low led to across the board gains in the major indexes.  These overshadowed the continuing debt crisis in Europe, Britain’s officially entering recession with a quarterly decline in GDP, Spain’s credit rating being reduced, and a slowing in U.S. economic growth to 2.2% from 3% the previous quarter. The SPX ended the week up 24.83 points or  up 1.80%  at 1,403.36.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 13,228.31 – up 199.05 points or + 1.53%  The Russell 2000 (RUT) closed at 824.79, a gain of 22.44 points – up 2.80%.   The NASDAQ 100 (NDX) reflected strong upward moves by Apple and Amazon.  The NDX gained 65.30 or 2.44% to close at 2,741.34    The VIX reflected the sideways move  by closing at 17.44% – a loss of 10.79%.

Here is a capsule view of last week’s market behavior:

The coming week will be heavy on news which can move the market.  Earnings announcements will start to tail off on Thursday.  Spain and France will have debt auctions on Thursday.    Economic announcements will focus on jobs.  The focus will be on Friday’s April Jobs Report.  Any downside jobs surprise will force the markets lower.  The ECB (European Central Bank) announcement on Thursday will be watched very closely.  Special emphasis will be placed on any comments about the future of the continent’s economy by ECB President Mario Draghi.   Be nimble, be careful, be disciplined, and to not allow yourself to be caught unawares.

Remember:

“Chance favors the Prepared Mind.” – Louis Pasteur

This week’s economic news (All times are Eastern Time.  Dates and times are subject to change):

Monday April 30:

Economic:  Economic:  Personal Income and Outlays – 8:30, Chicago PMI – 9:45, Housing Vacancies – 10:00, Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey – 10:30, Farm Prices – 3:00.

Earnings :  BMO:  Armstrong World Industries (AWI0, Corn Products (CPO), Harman International (HAR), Holly Energy (HEP), Humana (HUM), Loews (L), Mercury General (MCY, Sohu.com (SOHU), Tenneco (TEN), Watson Pharmaceuticals(WPI);  AMC:  Andarko Petroleum (APC), General Cable (BGC), Sourcefire (FIRE), Flowserve (FLS), FMC (FMC), Jacobs Engineering (JEC), Luminex (LMNX), McKesson (MCK), Suncor (SU),  VIVUS (VVUS).

Other:  Dallas Federal Reserve Bank Pres. Richard Fisher participates in a Panel discussion at the 2012 Milken Institute Global Conference – 5:30.

Tuesday May 1:

Economic: Motor Vehicle Sales, ICSC-Goldman Sachs Weekly Retail Store Sales – 7:45,  Redbook – 8:55, ISM Manufacturing Index – 10:00, Construction Spending -10:00.

Earnings: BMO:  Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM), Automatic Data Processing (ADP), Arrow Electronics (ARW), Avon Products (AVP), Becton Dickinson (BDX), Biogen Idec (BIIB), BP (BP), Dominos Pizza (DPZ), Ecolab (ECL), Emerson Electric (EMR), FirstEnergy (FE), Harris Corp (HRS), Marsh & McLennan (MMC), Marathon Petroleum (MPC), PF Chang’s (PFCB), Pfizer (PFE), ProLogis (PLD), Techne (TECH), Teleflex (TFX), TRW Automotive (TRW), Valero Energy (VLO), Wisconsin Energy (WEC):  AMC:  Bi-Rad Laboratories (BIO), CBOE Holdings (CBOE), CBS (CBS), Cabot Corp. (CBT), Catalyst Health (CHSI), Chesapeake Energy (CHK), Curtiss-Wright (CW), DaVita (DVA), Jazz Pharmaceuticals (JAZZ), Motorola Mobility (MMI), Open Table (OPEN), Peet’s Coffee & Tea (PEET), Papa John’s (PZZA), Ralcorp (RAH), Sturm Ruger (RGR). .

Other:  Richmond Federal Reserve Bank Pres. Jeffrey Lacker speaks at the Bloomberg Washington Summit, San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank Pres. John Williams will speak to the Milken Institute 2012 Global Conference – 11:00, Chicago Federal Reserve Pres. Charles Evans and Atlanta Fed Pres. Dennis Lockhart participate on a panel discussion on “The Limits of U.S. Monetary Policy” at the Milken Institute 2012 Global Conference – 12:30 , Philadelphia Federal Reserve Pres. Charles Plosser speaks to the CFA Society of San Diego on the economic outlook – 2:00.

Wednesday May 2:

Economic:  MBA Purchase Applications – 7:00, Challenger Job Cut Report – 7:30, ADP Employment Report – 8:15, Treasury Refunding – 9:00, Factory Orders – 10:00, EIA Petroleum Status Report – 10:30.

Earnings:  Barrick Gold – (ABX), Allergan (AGN), Amerigroup (AGP), Franklin Resources (BEN), Clorox (CLX), Comcast (CMCSA), CVS Caremark (CVS), Devon Energy (DVN), Garmin (GRMN), Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), Mastercard (MA), MSCI (MSCI), SPX (SPX), Time Warner (TWX);  AMC:  Allstate ALL), Acme Packet (APKT), Concur Technologies (CNQR), Covance (CVD), Concho Resources (CXO), Gulfmark Offshore (GLF), Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR), Murphy Oil (MUR), Prudential Financial (PRU), Pioneer Natural Resource (PXD), Transocean (RIG), Boston Beer (SAM), Sunoco (SUN), Visa (V), Whole Foods (WFM), Zillow (Z).

Other: Federal Reserve Gov. Daniel Tarullo speaks to the Council on Foreign Relations, in New York, and will answer questions from the audience – 8:00,  Richmond Federal Reserve Bank Pres. Jeffrey Lacker speaks to the Economics Club of Hampton Roads Economic Conference on the “Economic Outlook, May 2012″ – 12:30.

Thursday May 3:

Economic:   Jobless Claims – 8:30, Q1 Productivity – 8:30, Bloomberg Consumer Confidence Index – 9:45, ISM non-Manufacturing Index- 10:00, EIA Natural Gas Status Report – 10:30.

Earnings:  BMO:  American Tower (AMT), Apache (APA), Airgas (ARG), Beam (BEAM), Cardinal Health (CAH), CIGNA (CI), Hyatt Hotels (H), Gartner (IT), Lear (LEA), Elizabeth Arden (RDEN), Royal Gold (RGLD), Sara Lee (SLE), Viacom (VIA); AMC:  American International Group (AIG), Air Methods (AIRM), CF Industries (CF), Dolby Labs (DLB), Dresser-Rand (DRC), Fluor (FLR), HeartWare (HTWR), Kraft Foods (KFT), Linkedin (LNKD), Mohawk (MHK), MicroStrategy (MSTR), Public Storage (PSA).

Other: European Central Bank Announcement – 8:30, Federal Reserve Bank Presidents Charles Plosser — Philadelphia, Dennis Lockhart — Atlanta and John Williams — San Francisco are among the presenters at the University of California at Santa Barbara Economic Forecast Project 2012.   Japanese Markets closed.

Friday May 4:

Economic: Monster Employment Index, April Non-Farm Payrolls, April Unemployment Rate – 8:30.

Earnings: BMO: Estee Lauder (EL), Exelon (EXC), ITT (ITT), Madison Square Garden (MSG), Northwest Natural Gas (NWN), US Cellular (USM).

Other: Japanese Markets closed.

Monday May 7:

Economic:  Consumer Credit – 3:00

Earnings:  BroadSoft (BSFT), Cinemark (CNK), Echostar (DISH); AMC:  Churchill Downs (CHDN), Dun & Bradstreet (DNB), Backspace Hosting (RAX), Salix Pharmaceuticals (SLXP), Tesoro (TSSL).

Other:  Runoff election for French President.  Greek Parliamentary elections.

Frank Fahey is a mentor with DiscoverOptions, the educational arm of OptionVue Systems.  Inquiries should call 847-816-6610 or email info@DiscoverOptions.com.

The market held steady following the worst week of the year.   There was a push and shove between better than expected corporate earnings, less than positive economic news, and the European financial crisis.  The performance of a number of high-flyers also dampened market sentiment.  Apple (AAPL) was down 5.3% (over 10% from its recent record high),  Priceline.com (PCLN) was down 3.4% and Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) was down 5%.  These stocks have led the way in the rally from  October’s lows.  The SPX ended the week down 8.27 points or  up 0.60%  at 1,378.53.  This is within 3% of a three year closing high.   The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 179367 points or + 1.40%  The Russell 2000 (RUT) closed at 802.35, a gain of 5.44 points – up 0.68%.   The NASDAQ 100 (NDX) reflected Apple’s downward move with a loss of 22.95 points or -0.85%,    The VIX reflected the sideways move  by closing at 17.44% – a loss of 10.79%.

Here is a capsule view of last week’s market behavior:

The coming week will be heavy on news which can move the market. The environment calls for increased awareness.   Earnings announcements will reach their peak for this quarter.  Spain and Italy will have debt auctions on Tuesday.    On Wednesday, the FOMC will release updated economic forecasts followed by a news conference by Ben Bernanke.  Both should give the markets more information about the possibility of QE3.  Trader expectations on the substance of these forecasts and news conference are potentially significant market movers.  Economic announcements will focus on jobs and housing.  The Commerce Department will release on Friday an advanced estimate of growth of gross domestic product for the first quarter.  Be nimble, be careful, be disciplined, and to not allow yourself to be caught unawares.

Remember:

“Chance favors the Prepared Mind.” – Louis Pasteur

This week’s economic news (All times are Eastern Time.  Dates and times are subject to change):

Monday April 23:

Economic:  No significant announcements.

Earnings:  BMO:  Check Point Software (CHKP), ConocoPhillips (COP), Eaton (ETN), Hasbro (HAS), Potlatch (PCH), Roper Ind (ROP), Sohu.com (SOHU), Tennant (TNC), Wolverine World Wide (WWW); AMC:  Ameriprise (AMP), Canadian National Railway (CNI), Crane (CR), IDEX (IEX), Netflix (NFLX), Rent-A-Center (RCII), Texas Instruments (TXN), United Stationers (USTR.)

Tuesday April 24:

Economic:  ICSC-Goldman Sachs Weekly Retail Store Sales – 7:45,  Redbook – 8:55, S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index  – 9:00, New Home Sales – 10:00, Conference Board Consumer Confidence – 10:00, Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index – 10:00, Sate Street Investor Confidence – 10:00.

Earnings: BMO:  Alexion Pharmaceuticals (ALXN), Ashland (ASH), Anixter (AXE), Baker Hughes (BHI), Celanese (CE), Cit Group (CIT), Coach (COH), Ceradyne (CRDN), Carlisle (CSL), Delphi Automotive (DLPH), Federal-Mogul (FDML), Hershey HSY), Illinois Tool Works (ITW), Lexmark (LXK), McGraw-Hill (MHP), #m (MMM), Novartis (NVS), OSI Systems (OSIS), Paccar PCAR), Parker-Hannifin (PH), Ryder System (R), Reynolds American (RAI), AT&T (T), T. Rowe Price (TROW), United Technologies (UTX), Westinghouse Air Brake (WAB), Waters (WAT),  United States Steel (X);  AMC:  Apple (AAPL)ACE (ACE), AFLAC (AFL), Amgen (AMGN), AmSurg (AMSG), HomeAway (AWAY). CR Bard (BCR), Baidu (BIDU), Buffalo  Wild Wings (BWLD), Chicago Bridge & Iron (CBI), DeVry (DV), Edwards Lifesciences (EW), FMC Technologies (FTI), iRobot (IRBT), ITC Holdings (ITC), Juniper Networks (JNPR), Norfolk Southern (NSC), Panera Bread (PNRA), Questcor Pharmaceuticals (QCOR), Rogers Communications (RCI), Robert Half (RHI).

Other:  FOMC Meeting begins.

Wednesday April 25:

Economic:   MBA Purchase Applications – 7:00, Durable Goods Shipments and Orders – 9:30, EIA Petroleum Status Report – 10:30.

Earnings: BMO:  AutoNation (AN), Allegheny Technologies (ATI), Avery Dennison (AVY), Boeing (BA), Caterpillar (CAT), Credit Suisse (CS), Delta Airlines (DAL), Diebold (DBD), Dr Pepper Snapple (DPS), General Dynamics (GD), Corning (GLW), GNC (GNC), WR Grace (GRA), GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Hess (HES), Human Genome (HGSI), Harley-Davidson (HOG), Eli Lilly (LLY), Lorillard (LO), Molex (MOLX)<Motorola Solutions MSI), NASDAQ (NDAQ), Nielsen (NLSN), Northrop Grumman (NOC), NuStar Energy (NS), Penske Automotive (PAG), Praxair (PX), Rockwell Automation (ROK), Sprint Nextel (S), SAP (SAP), Siemens (SI), Six Flags (SIX), Southern Co. (SO), Teledyne (TDY), Timken (TKR), Tupperware (TUP), WellPoint (WLP),  Zipcar (ZIP);  AMC:  Allegiant Travel (ALGT), Cheesecake Factory (CAKE), Crown Castle (CCI), Cirrus Logic (CRUS), CROCS (CROX), Citrix Systems (CTXS), Equifax (EFX), Graco (GGG), InterDigital (IDCC), Kaiser Aluminum (KALU), KBR (KBR), Kirby (KEX), Las Vegas Sands (LVS), Morningstar (MORN), NewMarket (NEU), Netgear (NTGR), O’Reilly Automotive (ORLY), Stericycle (SRCL), Tractor Supply (TSCO), Varian Medical (VAR), Williams Companies (WMB), Xilinx (XLNX).

Other: FOMC Meeting Announcement – 12:30, FOMC Forecasts – 2:00, FOMC Chairman Press Conference – 2:15.

Thursday April 26:

Economic:   Jobless Claims – 8:30, Chicago Fed National Activity Index – 8:30, Bloomberg Consumer Confidence Index – 9:45, Pending Home Sales Index – 10:00, EIA Natural Gas Status Report – 10:30, Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Index – 11:00.

Earnings:  BMO: Aetna (AET), AmeriGas (APU), Avnet (AVT), AstraZeneca (AZN), Brunswick (BC), Bunge (BG), Briggs-Stratton (BGG), Ball Corporation (BLL), Bemis (BMS), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Borg-Warner (BWA), Cabela’s (CAB), Celgene (CELG), Colgate-Palmolive (CL), CME Group (CME), Carters (CRI), Carbo Ceramics (CBR), Deutsche Bank (DB), Dow Chemical (DOW), Entergy (ETR), GATX (GMT), Goodrich (GR), Chart (GTLS), Starwood Hotels (HOT), Kellogg (K), L-3 Communications (LLL), Mead Johnson Nutrition (MJN), Noble Energy (NBL), Nu Skin (NUS), Omnicare (OCR), Old Dominion Freight (ODFL), Occidental Petroleum (OXY), Pepsico (PEP), Potash (POT), Reliance Steel (RS), Raytheon (RTN), Safeway (SWY), Time Warner Cable (TWC), Tyco (TYC), United Parcel (UPS), United Therapeutics (UTHR), Vulcan Materials (VMC), Whirlpool (WHR), Waste Management (WM), Exxon Mobil (XOM):  AMC:  Amazon.com (AMZN), Bally Technologies (BYI), Cerner (CERN), Seacor (CKH), Columbia Sportswear (COLM), Coinstar (CSTR), Deckers Outdoor (DECK), Dun & Bradstreet (DNB), Eastman Chemical (EMN), Expedia (EXPE), Gilead Sciences (GILD), Olin (OLN), PerkinElmer (PKI), Starbucks (SBUX), Synaptics (SYNA), Western Digital (WDC), Wynn Resorts (WYNN)

Friday April 27:

Economic: GDP – 8:30, Employment Cost Index – 8:30, University of Michigan/Reuters Consumer Sentiment – 9:55, ECRI Weekly Leading Index – 10:30.

Earnings: BMO: Autoliv (ALV), Covidien (COV), Chevron (CVX), DTE Energy (DTE), Honda M0otor (HMC), International Paper (IP), Merck (MRK), Novo Nordisk (NVO), Procter & Gamble (PG), Simon Property (SPG), Total SA (TOT),  VF Corp (VFC), Weyerhauser (WY), Zebra Technologies (ZBRA).

Monday April 30:

Economic:  Personal Income and Outlays – 8:30, Chicago PMI – 9:45, Housing Vacancies – 10:00, Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey – 10:30, Farm Prices – 3:00.

Earnings :  BMO:  Armstrong World Industries (AWI0, Corn Products (CPO), Harman Internation (HAR), Holly Energy (HEP), Humana (HUM), Loews (L), Mercury General (MCY, Sohu.com (Sohu), Tenneco (TEN), Watson Pharmaceuticals(WPI);  AMC:  Andarko Petroleum (APC), General Cable (BGC), Sourcefire (FIRE), Flowserve (FLS), FMC (FMC), Jacobs Engineering (JEC), Luminex (LMNX), McKesson (MCK), Suncor (SU),  VIVUS (VVUS).

Frank Fahey is a mentor with DiscoverOptions, the educational arm of OptionVue Systems.  Inquiries should call 847-816-6610 or email info@DiscoverOptions.com.

"Chance favors the prepared mind."-- Louis Pasteur

Fear casting made a reappearance this weekend.  As my wife and I were driving the byways of “Pure Michigan,” a political pundit greeted us with the news the past week was the worst week since 2011.  My initial reaction was that I had tuned into Onion Radio.  However, this radio personality was serious and sounding an alarm for investors.  As I listened, it became apparent this market commentary and accompanying forecast were based on political wish lists and goals rather than actual market performance.   It is very important for the Prepared Mind to discern the real from the imagined.

The markets gave us our third consecutive sideways week.  The SPX ended the week down 10.39 points or 0.74% at 1,398.08.  This was 18 points of the previous Monday’s three year closing high.   The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 151.9 points or – 1.15%.  The Russell 2000 (RUT) closed at 818.18 down 11.80 points or -1.39%.   The NASDAQ 100 (NDX) closed up for the eighth week in a row at 2,755.27 – up 7.23 points or + 0.26%.  The VIX confirmed the sideways sentiment by closing at 16.70 -  up 7.74%.

The preceding numbers are based on the close on Thursday April 5.  The equity markets were closed on Friday in observance of Good Friday.   The government released a weaker than expected March jobs report.  Other markets were open on Friday.  The futures on the S&P 500 traded down over 1% on Friday April 6 in response to the jobs report.  The prices below are based on a close prior to the release of the jobs report.

Here is a capsule view of last week’s market behavior:

Monday’s opening will be the first opportunity for the equity markets to respond to Friday’s jobs report. The initial response was a 1% sell-off in futures on the S&P 500 and the Russell 2000.  Traders and investors will have 3 days to digest the impact and importance of these numbers.  Some are conjecturing the weakness will provide impetus for QE3.  Stay tuned.

The new earnings season starts at the end of the week with Tuesday’s announcement from Alcoa(AA).  JP Morgan Chase (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC) will announce earnings on Friday.  The following week will provide multiple earnings announcements. Economic announcements will focus on the Consumer and Producer Price Indexes and China’s announcement of first quarter GDP.  All eyes are once again on Europe.  Sovereign debt concern is the gift which keeps on giving.  Be careful, be disciplined, and to not allow yourself to be caught unaware.

Remember:

“Chance favors the Prepared Mind.” – Louis Pasteur

This week’s  economic news (All times are Eastern Time.  Dates and times are subject to change):

Monday April 9:

Economic:  None announced.

Earnings:  BMO:  Greenbrier Companies (GBX), Zep (ZEP).

Other:  Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke speaks at an Atlanta Fed conference on markets.  Australia, Germany, Hong Kong and the U.K. Markets closed.  Dyngus Day in

Tuesday April 10:

Economic:  NFIB Small Business Optimism Index – 7:30, ICSC-Goldman Sachs Weekly Retail Store Sales – 7:45, Redbook – 8:55, Wholesale Trade – 10:00.

Earnings: BMO:  SUPERVALU (SVU), Alcoa (AA),:  AMC: ADTRAN (ADTN), Healthcare Services (HCSG), Standard Microsystems (SMSC).

Other: Richard Fisher, president of the Dallas Fed , speaks about the Dallas Fed’s view of too big to fail.

Wednesday April 11:

Economic:   MBA Purchase Applications – 7:00, Import and Export Prices- 8:30, EIA Petroleum Status Report – 10:30.

Earnings: BMO: Progressive Corp. (PGR), Titan Machinery (TITN); AMC: Apogee (APOG), Richardson Electronics (RELL), Roundys (RNDY).

Other:  Fed Vice Chairman Janet Yellenspeaks about monetary policy to the Money Marketeers of New York University.

Thursday April 12:

Economic:   International Trade – 8:30, Jobless Claims – 8:30, Producer Price Index – 8:30, Bloomberg Consumer Confidence Index – 9:45.  EIA Natural Gas Status Report – 10:30, Beige Book – 2:00, Treasury Budget -2:00.

Earnings:  BMO: Commerce Bancshares (CBSH), Fastenal (FAST), Fairchild Semiconductor (FCS), Layne Christensen (LAYN), Washington Federal (WAFD); AMC:  Google (GOOG), Independent Bank (INDB), JB Hunt Transport (JBHT), Bank of the Ozarks (OZRK).

Friday April 13:

Economic:  Consumer Price Index – 8:30, University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment – 9:55.

Earnings: BMO: iGate (IGTE), Infosys (INFY), JP Morgan Chase (JPM), Patni Computer (PTI), Shaw Communications (SJR), Wells Fargo (WFC).

Other:    China reports first-quarter GDP.

Monday April 16:

Economic:  Retail Sales – 8:30, Empire State Mfg Survey – 8:30, Treasury International Capital – 9:00, Business Inventories – 10:)), Housing Market Index -10:00

Earnings:  BMO:  Citigroup (C) , Gannett (GCI), Knoll (KNL), LG Philips (LPL), Mattel (MAT), McMoRan Exploration (MMR), Charles Schwab (SCHW);  AMC:  Brown and Brown (BRO), Equity Lifestyles Property (ELS), ICU Medical (ICUI), Lincare Holdings (LNCR), Packaging Corp. Of America (PKG).

Frank Fahey is a mentor with DiscoverOptions, the educational arm of OptionVue Systems.  Inquiries should call 847-816-6610 or email info@DiscoverOptions.com.

"Chance favors the prepared mind."-- Louis Pasteur

The quarter ended with the most impressive gain in nearly fifteen years.  It was the sixth straight month equities have finished higher.  Performance was led by the NASDAQ 100 which was up nearly 21% for the quarter.  This reflected the heavy weighting of Apple (AAPL) in determining the NDX price.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 994 points or 8.1%, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and the Russell 2000 were each up 12% for the quarter.

However, the markets gave us our second consecutive sideways week. All the major indexes moved up 1% or less.  The S&P 500 (SPX) closed on Monday at its highest level since May 19, 2008.  The SPX ended the week up 11.36 points or + 0.81% at 1,408.47.  This was 8 points off Monday’s close.   The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 131.31 points or + 1.00%.  The Russell 2000 (RUT) closed at 830.03, up 0.27% points or + 0.03%.   The NASDAQ 100 (NDX) closed up for the seventh week in a row at 2,755, up 26.72 points or 0.98%.  The VIX confirmed the sideways sentiment by closing at 15.50, down 4.59%.  Last Monday, the VIX closed at 14.26%, which was its lowest daily close since 2007.

Here is a capsule view of last week’s market behavior:

This will be a short trading week.  There is a dearth of earnings announcements.  Market movement will be influenced by domestic and international announcements.  The ECB will make an interest rate announcement on Wednesday.  Traders will parse the words accompanying the announcement in order to divine the impact of Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian debt on the European economy.   The U.S. focus will be on jobs and consumer confidence. Market technicians are once again talking about the possibility of a correction in the second quarter.  They continue to focus on 50 day moving averages as support in the indexes.  Current 50-day moving averages are: NDX – 2,600, SPX – 1,361. and RUT – 815.81.  Be aware of these numbers. A large number of stocks go ex-dividend this week.  Check your covered call positions for the risk of early assignment for the dividend.  Be careful, be disciplined, and to not allow yourself to be caught unaware.

Remember:

“Chance favors the Prepared Mind.” – Louis Pasteur

This week’s economic news (All times are Eastern Time.  Dates and times are subject to change):

Monday April 2:

Economic:  Dow Jones Economic Sentiment Indicator – 9:45,  ISM Manufacturing Index – 10:00, Construction Spending – 10:00.

Earnings:  No optionable stocks with earnings.

Other:  The St. Louis Fed releases James Bullard’s March 28 remarks a monetary policy conference at Tsinghua University in Beijing – 10:00,  Cleveland Fed President Sandra Pianalto speaks to the Economic Roundtable of the Ohio Valley – 12:35.

Tuesday April 3:

Economic:  Car Sales, ICSC-Goldman Sachs Weekly Retail Store Sales – 7:45, Redbook – 8:55, Factory Orders – 10:00, FOMC March 13 minutes – 2:00.

Earnings: BMO:  Comverse Technology (CMVT),  Conns (CONN), International Speedway (ISCA); AMC:  Mitcham Industries (MIND), Team Inc (TISI).

Other: John Williams, San Francisco Fed President, participates in San Francisco University Symposium simulating an FOMC meeting – 4:05.

Wednesday April 4:

Economic:   MBA Purchase Applications – 7:00, Challenger Job Cut Report – 7:30, ECB (European Central Bank) interest rate announcement – 7:45, ADP Employment Report – 8:15, ISM non-manufacturing Index – 10:00 , EIA Petroleum Status Report – 10:30.

Earnings: BMO: Acuity Brands AYI), Monsanto (MON), MSC Industrial Direct (MSM);  AMC:  Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY), Global Payments (GPN), Harry Winston Diamonds (HWD), Pep Boys (PBY), PriceSmart (PSMT), A. Schulman (SHLM)

Other: San Francisco Fed President John Williams speaks to San Francisco Planning and Urban Research business breakfast – 11:00.  Markets closed in Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela for Maundy Thursday.

Thursday April 5:

Economic:   Jobless Claims – 8:30, , Bloomberg Consumer Confidence Index – 9:45.  EIA Natural Gas Status Report – 10:30,

Earnings:  BMO: CarMax (KMX), Pier ! (PIR), RPM International (RPM), Schnitzer Steel (SCHN), Constellation Brand (STZ);  AMC:  AZZ (AZZ), WD-40 (WDFC), Howard Hughes Corp. (HHC).

Other: St. Louis Fed President James Bullard speaks to the 13th Annual InvestMidwest Venture Capital Forum, on “The U.S. Economy and Monetary Policy,” in St. Louis.

Friday April 6:

Economic:  Monster Employment Index, Employment Situation – 8:30, ECRI Future Inflation Gauge – (;40, ECRI Weekly Leading Index – 10:30, Consumer Credit – 3:00.

Earnings: BMO: No optionable stocks with earnings.

Other:  U.S. Equity Markets Closed – Exchange Holiday. Most World Equity Markets Closed.

Monday April 9:

Economic:  None announced.

Earnings:  BMO:  Greebrier Companies (GBX), Zep (ZEP).

Frank Fahey is a mentor with DiscoverOptions, the educational arm of OptionVue Systems.  Inquiries should call 847-816-6610 or email info@DiscoverOptions.com.