Wall Street Greek

Editor's Picks | Energy | Market Outlook | Gold | Real Estate | Stocks | Politics
Wall Street, Greek

The Wall Street Greek blog is the sexy & syndicated financial securities markets publication of former Senior Equity Analyst Markos N. Kaminis. Our stock market blog reaches reputable publishers & private networks and is an unbiased, independent Wall Street research resource on the economy, stocks, gold & currency, energy & oil, real estate and more. Wall Street & Greece should be as honest, dependable and passionate as The Greek.



Wall Street, business & other videos updated regularly...

Seeking Alpha

Monday, November 25, 2013

Thanksgiving Week Business Schedule - Turkey Anyone?

Thanksgiving Day turkey
The week ahead will be an abbreviated one for Wall Street due to the Thanks- giving Day Holiday, but that only serves to pack in a week’s worth of economic data into a shorter time span. The stock market closes for Thursday’s events before reopening for a half-day session on Friday. For the life of me, I never understood why Friday is not a national holiday as well. Domestic economic data concludes the week on Wednesday and corporate earnings reports run only through Tuesday this week.

Turkey Anyone?


Index ETF
Week Ending Nov. 22
Year-to-Date
SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY)
+0.4%
+27.0%
SPDR Dow Jones (NYSE: DIA)
+0.7%
+22.9%
PowerShares QQQ (Nasdaq: QQQ)
+0.0%
+29.0%

The week that was had stocks just edging higher as Janet Yellen’s helpful words faded into history and investors began to again note important economic data. This week is likely to have investors playing cautiously, because nobody likes to carry risk over a long weekend these days. I certainly would not after the new nuke deal signed with Iran seems to have Israel poised to go it alone against its enemy.

Economic Events

THIS WEEK’S ECONOMIC REPORT SCHEDULE

Economic Data Point
Prior
Expected
Actual
MONDAY



-4.6%
+1.1%
-0.6%
3.6
5.0
1.9



Bankruptcy Court Hears Merger of American & US Airways



Argentine Markets Closed



TUESDAY



891K
905K

-Permits
918K
930K

0.9%
0.9%

0.3%
0.4%

71.2
72.9

0.1%


-Year-to-Year Pace
2.8%


3.5%


1
4

101.3


Portugal Votes on 2014 Austerity



WEDNESDAY



3.7%
-2.0%

-Ex-Transportation
-0.1%
0.4%

0.14
0.20

65.9
60.5

72.0
73.3

0.7%
0.1%

-33.9
-34.6

323K
330K

-2.3%





-Crude Oil Inventory
0.4 M


-Gasoline Inventory
-0.3 M


-45 Bcf


+0.5%


THANKSGIVING DAY



US Markets Closed






FRIDAY



US Equity Markets Close at 1PM



SIFMA Rec. Close 2PM



Black Friday Shopping Discounts





The economic report schedule is packed through Wednesday, as all the week’s data is piled up to free up Thursday and Friday for thankful thoughts, alms giving, feasting, TV and parade watching and shopping. My old crew gave up its turkey day football game tradition years ago unfortunately, so my brother and I will not be coming to dinner muddied up this year mom. It will be a messy Thanksgiving, thanks to a terrible storm that has the west covered in snow; that same storm will rain out the Northeast on the busiest travel day of the year this Wednesday. Fortunately for retailers, the storm will not affect Black Friday shopping.

We’ll get some early feedback from the stores over the course of the weekend, giving economists some signal as to the wherewithal of consumers. The week also provides two of the monthly measures of consumer sentiment, with the Conference Board and the Reuters/Michigan surveys due for publishing. Each is expected to show improvement.

Generally, a positive trend is expected for a good portion of the week’s economic data. Though, the week began with disappointment, as Monday’s news offered lower than expected housing starts and a softer Texas Manufacturing Survey. By the close of the week, things are also expected to deteriorate, with a softer Chicago PMI data point and a nearly negative Leading Economic Indicators figure. Who would go long into the long weekend with that sort of outlook?

Corporate Events

It’s a short EPS list this holiday week. See the full list below.

HIGHLIGHTED EPS REPORTS
Company
Ticker
MONDAY

Nuance Communications
Nasdaq: NUAN
Wet Seal
Nasdaq: WTSLA
Fifth Street Finance
Nasdaq: FSC
Analog Devices
Nasdaq: ADI
TUESDAY

LTX-Credence
Nasdaq: LTXC
Citi Trends
Nasdaq: CTRN
Zale
NYSE: ZLC
Chico’s FAS
NYSE: CHS
TiVo
Nasdaq: TIVO
Eaton Vance
NYSE: EV
Fred’s
Nasdaq: FRED
QAD Inc.
Nasdaq: QADB
WEDNESDAY

No Reports

THURSDAY

Thanksgiving Day

FRIDAY

No Reports

Saturday: Vista Gold
AMEX: VGZ

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.

pet dog supplies store

Labels: , , ,

free email financial newsletter Bookmark and Share

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Wednesday’s Market Summary – Fed’s Mixed Messages

Federal Reserve Bank Building Headquarters HQ
Say what you mean and mean what you say - is what seasoned investors would say to the Federal Reserve today. The FOMC meeting minutes release offered a different message than otherwise issued by the Fed through its FOMC Policy Statement and the speeches and testimonies by Fed Chairman Bernanke and VP Janet Yellen. Stocks suffered for it and the dollar gained, sending many commodities lower. Those of you working the late shift can look for Asia to turn sharply south this evening as well.

Wednesday’s Market Summary


Market ETF
November 20
Year-to-Date
SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY)
-0.3%
+25.3%
SPDR Dow Jones (NYSE: DIA)
-0.3%
+21.6%
PowerShares (Nasdaq: QQQ)
-0.2%
+27.0%

Stocks turned downward once the FOMC meeting minutes were released. Suddenly the message from the Fed changed and tapering become a near-term possibility once again. It was a different message than recently conveyed by policy statement and Janet Yellen’s testimony, so stocks suffered.

Economic Events

ECONOMIC REPORT SCHEDULE

Economic Data Point
Prior Period
Expected
Actual
WEDNESDAY



+0.2%
0.0%
-0.1%
-Core CPI
+0.1%
+0.2%
+0.1%



0.0% R
0.0%
+0.4%
-Less Auto & Gasoline
+0.3%
+0.3%
+0.3%
+0.4%
+0.3%
+0.6%
5.29 M
5.13 M
5.12 M
-1.8%

-2.3%



-Crude Oil Inventory
+2.6 M

+0.4 M
-Gasoline Inventory
-0.8 M

-0.3 M






 -R symbolizes “revised”

Economic data started the day as a positive catalyst for stocks, but turned sour at the 2:00 PM ET release of the FOMC Meeting Minutes. We warned in our weekly preview that the market would hang on the Fed’s words, and what it heard was not reassuring. The FOMC members discussed the potential importance of beginning tapering before economic data showed signs of further economic improvement. That was not something Ben Bernanke has suggested, as he has constantly reassured market participants that the Fed would be responsible and data dependent. FOMC members also explored tapering in more detailed fashion, discussing how they might best employ the financial maneuver. The fact that the Fed is discussing the issue in detail is a sign that it’s quite close to beginning the process, and that is also not something market participants were ready to hear today.

Stocks got a lift early Wednesday when Retail Sales came in stronger than expected at +0.4%. However, when excluding autos and gasoline, sales were equal to expectations at +0.3%. That was about equal to the rise of the prior month as well. Growth in sales is good news, especially when economic health and especially consumer spending is in question. Even so, Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), the nation’s retailer sank even before the 2 PM FOMC release, though the SPDR S&P Retail (NYSE: XRT) held ground until then. There was a negative bit of publicity about the holiday shopping season that hurt Wal-Mart shares more so that retailers generally.

The rest of the economic slate was solid enough. Consumer level prices showed no signs of inflation, with headline prices actually falling. The Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, increased just 0.1%, which was less than expected and equal to the prior month’s mild rise. Business level inventories rose by a sharp 0.6%, but business level sales only increased by 0.2%. Never fear though, as we are in the seasonal period within which the stocking of inventory makes perfect sense. Existing Home Sales slipped from the prior month rate, but met expectations. The stall in housing along with the FOMC release sent housing stocks lower today. The SPDR S&P Homebuilders (NYSE: XHB) fell fractionally.

Overseas Markets

EUROPE
CLOSE
ASIA/PACIFIC
CLOSE
EURO STOXX 50
-0.1%
NIKKEI 225
-0.3%
German DAX
+0.1%
Hang Seng
+0.2%
CAC 40
-0.1%
S&P/ASX 200
-0.8%
FTSE 100
-0.2%
Korean KOSPI
-0.7%
Bloomberg GCC 200 Mideast
-0.2%
BSE India SENSEX
-1.2%

The European Central Bank (ECB) was said to be discussing a negative deposit rate to ward off deflation. The mere fact that it sees need to ward off deflation is troubling, and so the practical Europeans reacted to that news rather than to the rate benefit for the economy and financial securities (like we would here). Geopolitical issues between Indonesia and Australia likely played a role in suppressing the performance of the S&P/ASX 200 today, though India and Korea both sold off in concert. Rising tensions about the Middle East are certainly playing a role in global securities markets, with bombs blowing up in Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan over the last two days. Also, it seems Israel is preparing to go it alone or alongside the Saudis against Iran, with the west looking for a way out of confrontation. If conflict is inevitable, we would be drawn in, and so securities markets face significant risk. Iran is a significant nation with important regional and global influence, and so something more severe than other Middle Eastern issues may result from such disturbance of it.

Commodity Markets (CLOSE)

WTI Crude
-0.0%
Brent Crude
+0.9%
NYMEX Natural Gas
+3.2%
RBOB Gasoline
+0.6%
Gold Spot
-2.5%
Silver Spot
-2.6%
COMEX Copper
-0.4%
CBOT Corn
-0.2%
CBOT Wheat
-0.6%
CBOT Soybeans
-0.2%
ICE Cocoa
+0.5%
ICE Sugar
-0.3%
ICE Orange Juice Conc.
+1.1%
CME Lumber
+0.2%
CME Live Cattle
+0.2%

The FOMC statements lifted the dollar and sent gold and silver lower. With cold overcoming the Northeast, natural gas gained ground.

Corporate Events

It was an especially light reporting day.

HIGHLIGHTED EPS REPORTS
Company
Ticker
WEDNESDAY

J.M. Smucker
NYSE: SJM
ADT Corp.
NYSE: ADT
Green Mountain Coffee
Nasdaq: GMCR

MOST ACTIVE STOCKS
BIGGEST GAINERS
% Gain
Unilife Corporation (Nasdaq: UNIS)
+43%
Zhone Technologies (Nasdaq: ZHNE)
+42%
Remark Media (Nasdaq: MARK)
+34%
Wireless Telecom (NYSE: WTT)
+21%
SGOCO Group (Nasdaq: SGOC)
+20%
China Recycling Energy (Nasdaq: CREG)
+23%
Vimicro Int’l (Nasdaq: VIMC)
+23%
Pointer Telocation (Nasdaq: PNTR)
+20%
ERBA Diagnostics (NYSE: ERB)
+19%
Cordia Bancorp (NYSE: BVA)
+18%
BIGGEST LOSERS
% Drop
Augusta Resource (NYSE: AZC)
-68%
Aeterna Zentaris (Nasdaq: AEZS)
-35%
Ashford Hospitality Trust (NYSE: AHT)
-34%
Voxeljet AG (Nasdaq: VJET)
-31%
China Housing & Land Development (Nasdaq: CHLN)
-32%
Northwest Biotherapeutics (Nasdaq: NWBO)
-26%
Mastech (NYSE: MHH)
-22%
Mediabistro (Nasdaq: MBIS)
-19%
InterCloud Systems (Nasdaq: ICLDW)
-19%
China Ming Yang Wind Power (NYSE: MY)
-18%

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.

Greece Advances to World Cup 2014 Brazil

Labels: ,

free email financial newsletter Bookmark and Share