Week Ahead: Lazy Days or Liar’s Poker?

This week usher’s in summer, informally, after Monday’s Memorial Day launch. Volume usually eases through summer, though it’s a bit early to look for that now. In August, when everyone on Wall Street migrates to Long Island and beyond, volume surely drops. Obviously, it is vacation season for the entire nation, so traders coast to coast are taking it easy. However, that does not mean the action stops. In recent years, major events have called investment managers’ attention and sometimes their bodies back into the office in August.

This May week also brings with it a new flavor of relations between Russia and Ukraine, and potentially even higher heat between Russia and the West. Ukraine’s military got on the move just hours after its national election determined its new Prime Minister would be Petro Poroshenko. However, they were called into action because separatists in Donetsk got rowdy and took over the local airport. How the Ukrainian situation develops may matter significantly this summer. Russia’s Putin is reportedly ready to strike back if the West issues Russia further sanctions, so market shock may strike.

5-Day Chart at Yahoo Finance

Stocks got a little excited toward the close of the week last week, which was somewhat surprising given the Sunday/Monday Ukraine election schedule.

Security	2014	Last 12M
SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY)	+3.5%	+15.7%
SPDR Dow Jones (NYSE: DIA)	+0.5%	+8.9%
PowerShares QQQ (Nasdaq: QQQ)	+3.1%	+23.5%
SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD)	+5.0%	-8.8%
iPath S&P Crude Oil (NYSE: OIL)	+8.2%	+14.8%
PIMCO Total Return (Nasdaq: BOND)	+3.6%	-0.9%
PowerShares US $ Bull (NYSE: UUP)	-0.1%	-5.4%

The Week Ahead

The week ahead offers a good bit of important economic data packed into four trading days. We have GDP data, durable goods orders, home price data, measures of manufacturing and services, consumer confidence and spending. It’s a big week data-wise people, so don’t get too comfortable.

We’ll have our eye on consumer spending and pending home sales, as well as consumer confidence, to get a good bead on how the rest of the year will roll out. GDP is expected in the red, and could spoil the scene on Wall Street. Look for that news on Thursday.

THIS WEEK’S ECONOMIC REPORT SCHEDULE
Economic Data Point	Prior	Expected
MONDAY
Memorial Day Holiday
TUESDAY
Durable Goods Orders	+2.6%	-0.8%
-Ex-transportation	+2.0%	-0.1%
FHFA House Price Index	+0.6%	+0.5%
S&P Case Shiller 20-City Index	+0.8%	+0.7%
PMI Services Flash Index	54.2	55.4
Consumer Confidence	82.3	83.0
Investor Confidence	119.0
Richmond Fed Index	7	9
Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey	11.7	9.6
Lockhart Speaks
WEDNESDAY
Mortgage Activity	+0.9%
ICSC Weekly Store Sales	-1.3%
-Year-to-Year Pace	+2.4%
Redbook Store Sales	+3.9%
THURSDAY
GDP Report	+0.1%	-0.5%
Pending Home Sales	+3.4%	+1.0%
Weekly Jobless Claims	326K	317K
EIA Petroleum Status
-Crude Oil Inventory	-7.2 MB
-Gasoline Inventory	+1.0 MB
EIA Natural Gas Report	+106 Bcf
Pianalto Speaks
Mester Speaks
George Speaks
Bloomberg Consumer Comfort	34.1
FRIDAY
Chicago PMI	63.0	61.0
Consumer Sentiment	81.8	82.5
Personal Income	+0.5%	+0.4%
-Personal Outlays	+0.9%	+0.2%
-Core PCE	+0.2%	+0.2%
Lacker Speaks
Plosser Speaks
Farm Prices
Mester Speaks

It’s a light period for earnings, but some big names will report. The list follows here.

EPS REPORTS
Company	Ticker
TUESDAY
America’s Car-Mart	Nasdaq: CRMT
Autozone	NYSE: AZO
Berkshire Bancorp	Nasdaq: BERK
Environmental Tectonics	Nasdaq: ETCC
JinkoSolar	NYSE: JKS
KBR Inc.	NYSE: KBR
Qihoo 360 Technology	Nasdaq: QIHU
Saratoga Investment	NYSE: SAR
Ship Finance International	NYSE: SFL
Spectrum Group	Nasdaq: SPGZD
Speed Commerce	Nasdaq: SPDC
TravelCenters of America	NYSE: TA
Unigene Laboratories	Nasdaq: UGNEQ
Wet Seal	Nasdaq: WTSL
Workday	Nasdaq: WDAY
WEDNESDAY
Amerco	Nasdaq: UHAL
Brown Shoe Co.	NYSE: BWS
Chico’s FAS	NYSE: CHS
China Sunergy	Nasdaq: CSUN
Cracker Barrel	Nasdaq: CBRL
Daktronics	Nasdaq: DAKT
DSW Inc.	NYSE: DSW
EnerSys	NYSE: ENS
Golar LNG	Nasdaq: GLNG
Golar LNG Partners	Nasdaq: GMLP
Gordman’s Stores	Nasdaq: GMAN
Hawkins	Nasdaq: HWKN
KongZhong	Nasdaq: KONG
Michael Kors	Nasdaq: KORS
Palo Alto Networks	Nasdaq: PANW
Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen	Nasdaq: PLKI
RBC Bearnings	Nasdaq: ROLL
REX American Resources	NYSE: REX
Safe Bulkers	NYSE: SB
Seadrill	Nasdaq: SDRL
Seadrill Partners	Nasdaq: SDLP
Tilly’s	Nasdaq: TLYS
Toll Brothers	NYSE: TOL
THURSDAY
Abercrombie & Fitch	NYSE: ANF
Annie’s	Nasdaq: BNNY
Avago Technologies	Nasdaq: AVGO
CorVel	Nasdaq: CRVL
Costco Wholesale	Nasdaq: COST
dELiA’s Inc.	Nasdaq: DLIA
Envivio	Nasdaq: ENVI
Esterline Technologies	NYSE: ESL
Exa Corp.	NYES: EXA
Express	Nasdaq: EXPR
Fairway Group	NYSE: FWM
Fred’s Inc.	Nasdaq: FRED
Guess Inc.	NYSE: GES
Iao Kun Group	Nasdaq: IKGH
Infoblox	Nasdaq: BLOX
Lion’s Gate Entertainment	NYSE: LGF
Modine Manufacturing	NYSE: MOD
Nimble Storage	Nasdaq: NMBL
OmniVision Technologies	Nasdaq: OVTI
Pacific Sunwear	Nasdaq: PSUN
Pall Corp.	NYSE: PLL
QAD Inc.	Nasdaq: QADB
Quality Systems	Nasdaq: QSII
Sanderson Farms	Nasdaq: SAFM
Splunk	Nasdaq: SPLK
Tech Data	Nasdaq: TECD
Thermon Group	NYSE: THR
Veeva Systems	Nasdaq: VEEV
Violin Memory	Nasdaq: VMEM
FRIDAY
Ann Inc.	NYSE: ANN
Big Lots	NYSE: BIG
Graham	NYSE: GHM
Multi-Color Corp.	Nasdaq: LABL

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.