Tumultuous Turnaround as Poker Players Contemplate Next Week's GDP Data

Stocks experienced a tumultuous turnaround Friday, as enthusiastic momentum over- whelmed concern about what may come next week. Stocks were down big during the day Friday, but managed to close above water. My feeling is that the gains of the week came into question as investors contemplated a busy and bothersome economic schedule in the week ahead. For more on the week ahead, be sure to see our regular weekend review on that very topic at our stock market blog.

Playing Poker Ahead of GDP?

Market ETF	July 26, 2013	Year-to-Date
SPDR S&P 500 (SPY)	+0.2%	+18.7%
SPDR Dow Jones (DIA)	Unchanged	+18.8%
PowerShares (QQQ)	+0.4%	+15.7%

All week long, stocks were moved by themselves, on their own earnings news or the data published by industry peers. On Friday, however, investors seemed to begin to contemplate next week’s Q2 GDP report and the monthly Employment Situation Report, each of which could prove disruptive.

Economic Events

ECONOMIC REPORT SCHEDULE
Economic Data Point	Prior Period	Expected	Actual
FRIDAY
Reuters/Michigan Consumer Sentiment	83.9	84.0	85.1

The only economic news on the slate was the latest consumer sentiment reading from the University of Michigan. The report showed improvement in the consumer mood that exceeded economists’ modest assumption.

Overseas Markets

EUROPE	CLOSE	ASIA/PACIFIC	CLOSE
EURO STOXX 50	+0.1%	NIKKEI 225	-3.0%
German DAX	-0.6%	Hang Seng	+0.3%
CAC 40	+0.3%	S&P/ASX 200	+0.1%
FTSE 100	-0.5%	Korean KOSPI	+0.1%
Athens ASE	+2.6%	BSE India SENSEX	-0.3%

Greek stocks are a crap shoot these days; no, seriously, investing in Greek stocks is akin to a trip to Las Vegas. I suppose investing feeds a natural Greek urge to gamble and take risk for big payoff. Friday just happened to offer upside. Quietly, though, Europe is up large this past month; the iShares Europe 350 (NYSE: IEV) is up 7.9% month-to-date.

Commodity Markets (CLOSE)

WTI Crude	-0.8%
Brent Crude	-0.4%
NYMEX Natural Gas	-2.2%
RBOB Gasoline	+1.2%
Gold Spot	-0.4%
Silver Spot	-1.5%
COMEX Copper	-2.5%
CBOT Corn	-0.6%
CBOT Wheat	+0.1%
CBOT Soybeans	+0.4%
ICE Cocoa	-0.6%
ICE Sugar	+0.5%
ICE Orange Juice Conc.	-1.4%
CME Live Cattle	+0.4%

Favorites of late turned sour today, with gold and oil each giving back ground. Investors are seriously starting to see and bet on economic improvement and corporate earnings growth.

Corporate Events

Facebook (NYSE: FB) gave back a little ground Friday, but just a little, closing down 1% today after Thursday’s 30% climb. There are still some early investors that want to take profits here, so we might see the stock give back some more ground over the next few weeks. Over the longer term, I still love this stock.

REPORTING EARNINGS
Company	Ticker
FRIDAY
Choice Hotels	NYSE: CHH
Weyerhaeuser	NYSE: WY
KKR	NYSE: KKR
Newell Rubbermaid	NYSE: NWL
Helmerich & Payne	NYSE: HP
Dresser-Rand	NYSE: DRC
DTE Energy	NYSE: DTE
Donegal Group	Nasdaq: DGICA
Provident Financial	NYSE: PFS
Ventas	NYSE: VTR
NuStar Energy	NYSE: NSH
WABCO	NYSE: WBC
Oppenheimer Holdings	NYSE: OPY
First Financial	Nasdaq: FFCH
Stanley Black & Decker	NYSE: SWK
Viad	NYSE: VVI
Lear	NYSE: LEA
Sterling Bancorp	NYSE: STL
Digital Realty Trust	NYSE: DLR
Newmont Mining	NYSE: NEM
Sensient Technologies	NYSE: SXT
PAM Transportation	Nasdaq: PTSI
LifePoint Hospitals	Nasdaq: LPNT
Community Bankers Trust	NYSE: BTC
Beasley Broadcast Group	Nasdaq: BBGI
Forum Energy Technologies	NYSE: FET
National Presto	NYSE: NPK

MOST ACTIVE STOCKS
BIGGEST GAINERS	% Gain
Aktiebolaget Svensk (NYSE: EEH)	+58%
Gentium (Nasdaq: GENT)	+52%
Interphase (Nasdaq: INPH)	+49%
USEC Inc. (NYSE: USU)	+38%
Uranium Resources (Nasdaq: URRE)	+35%
Porter Bancorp (Nasdaq: PBIB)	+20%
EnteroMedics (Nasdaq: ETRM)	+19%
GW Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: GWPH)	+22%
TOP Ships (Nasdaq: TOPS)	+17%
SPS Commerce (Nasdaq: SPSC)	+18%
BIGGEST LOSERS	% Drop
Desarrolladora Homex (NYSE: HXM)	-31%
Hutchinson Technology (Nasdaq: HTCH)	-30%
Expedia (Nasdaq: EXPE)	-27%
Solarwinds (NYSE: SWI)	-23%
Intellipharmaceutics (Nasdaq: IPCI)	-21%
Cobra Electronics (Nasdaq: COBR)	-19%
ABAXIS (Nasdaq: ABAX)	-16%
Global-Tech Advanced Innovation (NYSE: GAI)	-19%
Crumbs Bake Shop (Nasdaq: CRMBU)	-16%
TeleCommunication Systems (Nasdaq: TSYS)	-15%

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