This Week - Will Crimea Crush Stocks or What?

When I authored my article at Seeking Alpha, Why a Stock Market Crash is Imminent, the last thing I anticipated was a rally to start this week. It just goes to show you how greedy the investment community is. For traders to blow off what just happened in Crimea and to presume that what will come next will be meaningless is quite the reach. Those same traders would call my assessment of the situation a reach though. Mankind does exist in a sort of blind state, and simply reacts to whatever is before it moment to moment. Unfortunately, what I expect momentarily is dire and should shake stocks back up again. So please don’t get too comfortable here in your holdings, and please do visit the blog regularly for our daily updates of voice and video!

5-Day Chart at Yahoo Finance

Stocks sort of blew off what just happened in Crimea, where the referendum at gunpoint indicated that the Crimeans would in fact like Russian protection. Russia’s President Putin almost immediately signed legislation to annex Crimea, so you can expect Russian troops to walk in during daylight now, rather than overnight as I first intimated. The SPY rose by nearly a point Monday, and investors got some extra time to hedge risk. You had better get to that using the ProShares UltraShort S&P 500 (NYSE: SDS) and the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD).

Security	YTD	Last 12 Mos.
SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY)	+0.9%	+19.6%
SPDR Dow Jones (NYSE: DIA)	-1.9%	+12.1%
PowerShares QQQ (Nasdaq: QQQ)	+1.7%	+30.6%
SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD)	+13.4%	-14.5%
iPath S&P Crude Oil (NYSE: OIL)	-0.5%	+4.8%
PIMCO Total Return (Nasdaq: BOND)	+2.1%	-2.4%
PowerShares DB US$ Bull (NYSE: UUP)	-1.2%	-5.1%
iShares US Real Estate (NYSE: IYR)	+8.1%	-1.5%

This Week

Janet Yellen and the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting of this week would have headlined the wire if not for Russia’s invasion of Crimea. Looking forward, you already know what I expect to happen in Crimea. The Russians will move 150K occupying troops in and get things assimilated. The west will apply sanctions against the Russians and Russia will likely cut the gas off to Ukraine and Europe for a bit. I think Putin could go a step further and find other means to harm the euro and dollar, which would come as a surprise to the blind mice buying stocks today.

Otherwise, do we really have reason to celebrate? China’s economy is now officially slowing; previously it was just secretly falling apart while the government continued to report fantastic data. If China is overextended and there will be many bankruptcies, as the government recently forewarned, then should we be bidding up stocks? After all, we do sell to the middle class in China; we’re not just using them for their cheap labor any longer. And if Europe is about to be harmed by the Russians, it could be sent back into the dark ages, literally.

What’s Yellen going to do? She previously said this meeting would allow the Fed a better perspective of the economy ex-weather. It’s my view that the Fed is likely to keep to the path of tapering, and that’s more bad news for a deranged market to swallow. Though, I’m sure the market will make the best of it.

THIS WEEK’S ECONOMIC REPORT SCHEDULE
Economic Data Point	Prior	Expect	Actual
MONDAY
Empire State Mfg.	4.48	6.5	5.61
Industrial Production	-0.2%	+0.3%	+0.6%
Housing Market Index	46	50	47
TUESDAY
ICSC Weekly Store Sales	+1.3%
-Year-to-Year Pace	+2.1%
Redbook Store Sales	+2.5%
Consumer Price Index	+0.1%	+0.1%
-Core CPI	+0.1%	+0.1%
TIC – Foreign Demand LT US Sec.	-$45.9 B
Housing Starts	880K	910K
-Permits	937K	960K
FOMC Meeting Begins
WEDNESDAY
Mortgage Activity	-2.1%
FOMC Monetary Policy
EIA Petroleum Status
-Crude Oil Inventory	+6.2 MB
-Gasoline Inventory	-5.2 MB
Current Account	-$94.8 B	-$88.1 B
THURSDAY
Weekly Jobless Claims	315K	325K
Bloomberg Consumer Comfort	-27.6
EIA Natural Gas Report	-195 Bcf
Existing Home Sales	4.62 M	4.6 M
Philly Fed Index	-6.3	+3.0
Leading Economic Indicators	+0.3%	+0.3%
FRIDAY
St. Louis Fed Bullard Speaks
Fed Gov. Stein Speaks
Minneapolis Fed Kocherlakota
Atlanta Fed Biz Inflation Exp.

The earnings schedule is heavy Monday and as light as expected the rest of the week.

HIGHLIGHTED EPS REPORTS
Company	Ticker
MONDAY
Acorn Energy	Nasdaq: ACFN
Alimera Sciences	Nasdaq: ALIM
Alphatec	Nasdaq: ATEC
Ambient	Nasdaq: AMBT
American DG Energy	Nasdaq: ADGE
AngioDynamics	Nasdaq: ANGO
Apricus Biosciences	Nasdaq: APRI
Ares Commercial Real Estate	Nasdaq: ACRE
Arotech	Nasdaq: ARTX
BioTime	NYSE: BTX
Blount Int’l	NYSE: BLT
Chindex	Nasdaq: CHDX
Connecticut Water Service	Nasdaq: CTWS
CTI Industries	Nasdaq: CTIB
CTPartners Executive Search	NYSE: CTB
Cytomedix	Nasdaq: CMXI
Dataram	Nasdaq: DRAM
Dehaier Medical Systems	Nasdaq: DHRM
Dolan	Nasdaq: DOLN
Doral Financial	NYSE: DRL
DTS	Nasdaq: DTSI
EntreMed	Nasdaq: ENMD
First Bancorp	Nasdaq: FNLC
Flamel Technologies	Nasdaq: FLML
FutureFuel	NYSE: FF
Gaiam	Nasdaq: GAIA
Galena Biopharma	Nasdaq: GALE
Genie Energy	NYSE: GNE
Global Geophysical Services	NYSE: GGS
Global Partners	NYSE: GLP
Global Power Equipment	Nasdaq: GLPW
Gold Resource	Nasdaq: GORO
GTT Communications	NYSE: GTT
Gulf Resources	Nasdaq: GURE
Gyrodyne Co.	Nasdaq: GYRO
Harvest Natural Resources	NYSE: HNR
Hemispherx Biopharma	NYSE: HEB
Herman Miller	Nasdaq: MLHR
Heska	Nasdaq: HSKA
Highpower Int’l	NYSE: HPJ
Inovio Pharmaceuticals	NYSE: INO
Intelligent Systems	NYSE: INS
InterOil	NYSE: IOC
Intersections	Nasdaq: INTX
Isramco	Nasdaq: ISRL
Ixia	Nasdaq: XXIA
JA Solar	Nasdaq: JASO
James River Coal	Nasdaq: JRCC
Kandi Technologies	Nasdaq: KNDI
Kayne Anderson	NYSE: KYN
KiOR	Nasdaq: KIOR
KYTHERA Biopharmaceuticals	Nasdaq: KYTH
LMI Aerospace	Nasdaq: LMIA
Mast Therapeutics	Nasdaq: MSTX
MELA Sciences	Nasdaq: MELA
MRV Communications	Nasdaq: MRVC
Nature’s Sunshine	Nasdaq: NATR
Navigator	Nasdaq: NVGS
NeoPhotonics	Nasdaq: NPTN
Orient Paper	NYSE: ONP
ParkerVision	Nasdaq: PRKR
Pengrowth Energy	NYSE: PGH
Pernix Therapeutics	NYSE: PTX
Perry Ellis	Nasdaq: PERY
PICO Holdings	Nasdaq: PICO
Quicksilver Resources	NYSE: KWK
Rand Capital	Nasdaq: RAND
Reading Int’l	NYSE: RDI
Response Genetics	Nasdaq: RGDX
Sterling Construction	Nasdaq: STRL
Swisher Hygiene	Nasdaq: SWSH
Tech Data	Nasdaq: TECD
Tejon Ranch	NYSE: TRC
Towerstream	Nasdaq: TWER
Tsakos Energy Navigation	NYSE: TNP
United States Antimony	Nasdaq: UAMY
USEC	NYSE: USU
Velti PLC	Nasdaq: VELTF
Ventrus Biosciences	Nasdaq: VTUS
VisionChina Media	Nasdaq: VISN
Vista Gold	NYSE: VGZ
Waterstone Financial	Nasdaq: WSBF
Wave Systems	Nasdaq: WAVX
Yongye International	Nasdaq: YONG
TUESDAY
Adobe Systems	Nasdaq: ADBE
Astro-Med	Nasdaq: ALOT
DSW	NYSE: DSW
FactSet	NYSE: FDS
Global Brass & Copper	Nasdaq: BRSS
Hertz Global	NYSE: HTZ
Optibase	Nasdaq: OBAS
Oracle	Nasdaq: ORCL
Pacific Sunwear	Nasdaq: PSUN
Prosena	NYSE: RNA
Renren	Nasdaq: RENN
Rosetta Genomics	Nasdaq: ROSG
Saratoga Resources	Nasdaq: SARA
Tat Technologies	Nasdaq: TATT
Veracyte	Nasdaq: VCYT
WEDNESDAY
Actuant	NYSE: ATU
Bacterin Int’l	Nasdaq: BONE
Cintas	Nasdaq: CTAS
CLARCOR	NYSE: CLC
Exone	Nasdaq: XONE
FedEx	NYSE: FDX
General Mills	NYSE: GIS
Guess	NYSE: GES
Harris & Harris	Nasdaq: TINY
Jabil Circuit	NYSE: JBL
K.B. Home	NYSE: KBH
OCI Partners	Nasdaq: OCIP
Sinovac Biotech	NYSE: SVA
Tilly’s	Nasdaq: TLYS
Vera Bradley	NYSE: VRA
THURSDAY
AAR Corp.	NYSE: AIR
Adecoagro	Nasdaq: AGRO
BG Medicine	Nasdaq: BGMD
Burlington Stores	Nasdaq: BURL
Cato	Nasdaq: CATO
ConAgra Foods	NYSE: CAG
Constellium	Nasdaq: CSTM
dELiA*s	Nasdaq: DLIA
Envivio	Nasdaq: ENVI
Five Star Quality Care	NYSE: FVE
IHS	NYSE: IHS
Lennar	NYSE: LEN
New York & Co.	NYSE: NWY
Nike	NYSE: NKE
NTS	NYSE: NTS
Rally Software	Nasdaq: RALY
Scholastic	Nasdaq: SCHL
Shoe Carnival	Nasdaq: SCVL
The Marcus Corp.	NYSE: MCS
TIBCO Software	Nasdaq: TIBX
Wet Seal	Nasdaq: WTSL
FRIDAY
Darden Restaurants	NYSE: DRI
Mechanical Techology	Nasdaq: MKTY
Tiffany	NYSE: TIF

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.