Fed Poops on Stocks

It was not supposed to be the case, given the light economic report schedule this week, but markets moved in lockstep Tuesday on a broad reaching economic driver nonetheless. What we failed to account for in our weekly copy was the fact that all the Fed’s men would be speaking this week. Tuesday, Dennis Lockhart and Charles Evans spooked stocks when they indicated the Fed would probably begin tapering its asset purchase program in September. At least I was right about one thing though; the height of the summer season finally affected trading volume, with the last two days being two of the slowest trading days of the year. Visit our stock market blog daily for regular insight.

Fed Fizzle

Market ETF	August 6, 2013	Year-to-Date
SPDR S&P 500 (SPY)	-0.6%	+19.2%
SPDR Dow Jones (DIA)	-0.6%	+18.6%
PowerShares (QQQ)	-0.6%	+17.5%

Another factor that may be at play counter to stocks may be the global terror threat the government is chirping about. We here are not sure there’s any difference between the current issue versus all other times over the last decade and a half that high ranking (now dead) al Qaeda representatives have called for jihad against the west. Rather, I intimate that perhaps the guys in Washington want to remind America why they once approved of big brother’s watching eye.

Economic Events

ECONOMIC REPORT SCHEDULE
Economic Data Point	Prior Period	Expected	Actual
TUESDAY
International Trade (Balance)	-$44.1 B (R)	-$43.0 B	-$34.2 B
Gallup Economic Confidence	-8		-12
ICSC Store Sales	-1.6%		+0.3%
Job Openings (JOLTS Index)	3.907 M (R)	3.85 M	3.936 M
MONDAY
Gallup US Consumer Spending	$90		$89
ISM Non-Manufacturing Index	52.2	53.0	56.0
TD Ameritrade Investor Movement Index	5.15		4.87

 *R symbolizes “revised”

Besides the Fed speak, we saw the trade deficit narrow sharply, which increases the possibility of a Q2 GDP revision upward.

Overseas Markets

EUROPE	CLOSE	ASIA/PACIFIC	CLOSE
EURO STOXX 50	-0.6%	NIKKEI 225	+1.0%
German DAX	-1.2%	Hang Seng	-1.3%
CAC 40	-0.4%	S&P/ASX 200	-0.1%
FTSE 100	-0.2%	Korean KOSPI	-0.5%
Bloomberg GCC 200	+0.0%	BSE India SENSEX	-2.3%

Commodity Markets (CLOSE)

WTI Crude	+0.3%
Brent Crude	-0.5%
NYMEX Natural Gas	-0.7%
RBOB Gasoline	+0.1%
Gold Spot	-0.0%
Silver Spot	+0.0%
COMEX Copper	-0.1%
CBOT Corn	-0.3%
CBOT Wheat	+0.8%
CBOT Soybeans	-1.3%
ICE Cocoa	+0.4%
ICE Sugar	-0.1%
ICE Orange Juice Conc.	-1.5%
CME Live Cattle	+0.1%

Corporate Events

REPORTING EARNINGS
Company	Ticker
TUESDAY
CVS Caremark	NYSE: CVS
Louisiana-Pacific	NYSE: LPX
Archer Daniels Midland	NYSE: ADM
Checkpoint Systems	NYSE: CKP
Tenet Healthcare	NYSE: THC
DISH Network	Nasdaq: DISH
Zillow	NYSE: Z
Sotheby’s	NYSE: BID
First Solar	Nasdaq: FSLR
Walt Disney	NYSE: DIS
AmREIT	Nasdaq: AMRE
Apollo Residential Mortgage	Nasdaq: AMTG
Avis Budget Group	NYSE: CAR
Black Hills	NYSE: BKH
Box Ships	NYSE: TEU
Bridgepoint Education	NYSE: BPI
Calamos Asset Management	Nasdaq: CLMS
Coca Cola Bottling	Nasdaq: COKE
Credit Agricole	Paris: ACA.PA
DaVita HealthCare	NYSE: DVA
Diebold	NYSE: DBD
Dominion Resources	NYSE: D
El Paso Electric	NYSE: EE
GAMCO Investors	NYSE: GBL
Goodrich Petroleum	NYSE: GDP
Harman International	NYSE: HAR
Health Management Associates	NYSE: HMA
Henry Schein	Nasdaq: HSIC
Hospitality Properties	NYSE: HPT
Insmed	Nasdaq: INSM
Intercontinental Exchange	NYSE: ICE
Isis Pharmaceuticals	Nasdaq: ISIS
Jazz Pharmaceuticals	Nasdaq: JAZZ
Learning Tree International	Nasdaq: LTRE
Liberty Media	Nasdaq: LMCA
Marathon Oil	NYSE: MRO
Michael Kors	Nasdaq: KORS
Molson Coors Brewing	NYSE: TAP
OfficeMax	NYSE: OMX
Papa John’s International	Nasdaq: PZZA
Paragon Shipping	Nasdaq: PRGN
Plantronics	NYSE: PLT
Primerica	NYSE: PRI
Quicksilver Resources	NYSE: KWK
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals	Nasdaq: REGN
Standard Parking	Nasdaq: STAN
Synacor	Nasdaq: SYNC
Techne	Nasdaq: TECH
The Pantry	Nasdaq: PTRY
Tidewater	NYSE: TDW
Trex Co.	Nasdaq: TREX
Two Harbors Investment	NYSE: TWO

MOST ACTIVE STOCKS
BIGGEST GAINERS	% Gain
Dynatronics (Nasdaq: DYNT)	+92%
Helios and Matheson Analytics (Nasdaq: HMNY)	+86%
SGOCO Group (Nasdaq: SGOC)	+42%
B.O.S. Better Online Solutions (Nasdaq: BOSC)	+41%
Verenium (Nasdaq: VRNM)	+37%
Newtek Business Services (Nasdaq: NEWT)	+33%
Exceed Company (NYSE: EDS)	+25%
PCM, Inc. (Nasdaq: PCMI)	+22%
eFuture Information Technology (Nasdaq: EFUT)	+18%
Fossil Group (Nasdaq: FOSL)	+18%
BIGGEST LOSERS	% Drop
Furniture Brands (NYSE: FBN)	-38%
Superconductor Technologies (Nasdaq: SCON)	-35%
TravelCenters of America (NYSE: TA)	-28%
Allied Nevada Gold (NYSE: ANV)	-26%
Skilled Healthcare Group (NYSE: SKH)	-25%
China Advanced Construction (Nasdaq: CADC)	-25%
Nautilus (NYSE: NLS)	-23%
Parametric Sound (Nasdaq: PAMT)	-21%
McDermott International (NYSE: MDR)	-21%
Aecom Technology (NYSE: ACM)	-17%

Please see our disclosures at the Wall Street Greek website and author bio pages found there. This article and website in no way offers or represents financial or investment advice. Information is provided for entertainment purposes only.