Week Ahead – An Apple a Day Can’t Keep ISIS Away

Symbol ISIS makes Christians wear - means 'Nazarene'

The Apple announcement this week is bigger than anything on the broader macro-factor board. Tuesday’s announcement could energize the entire marketplace, or let it down. I’m looking for a boost and would buy into any weakness into the news day Tuesday. Otherwise, investors will want to keep an eye on the retail sales data at the close of the week for a peak in on how the consumer feels. We cannot take our eye off Russia, given its past propaganda about peace. Putin has broader plans for the former Soviet Union territories and beyond, and is already reacting aggressively to planned sanctions from the west. Finally, this week we remember 9/11, which was life altering for your favorite blogger here – see my eyewitness account of September 11th here. Given that this Islamic State menace threatens, and a slew of other Islamic extremist groups across the world have the U.S. in their crosshairs, I suggest investors take money off the table this week or hedge against an event. God bless everyone on Wall Street and Main Street; if you need me, I’ll be downtown to your aid like minutemen of times past. Please do visit the blog regularly for our daily updates of voice and video!

You may enjoy our report: Gold, Here We Sit Brokenhearted

5-Day Chart at Yahoo Finance

Choppy trading defined last week, and the confusion looks to continue this week. Several questions need to be answered about the economy and with regard to geopolitics. Is peace really breaking out in Ukraine? Is the economy not as strong as we thought? We may get some answers this week, or we may not.

Security	YTD	TTM
SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY)	+8.9%	+21.1%
SPDR Dow Jones (NYSE: DIA)	+3.5%	+14.9%
PowerShares QQQ (Nasdaq: QQQ)	+13.6%	+29.8%
SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD)	+5.1%	-9.0%
iPath S&P Crude Oil (NYSE: OIL)	-1.4%	-12.6%
PIMCO Total Return (Nasdaq: BOND)	+4.2%	+5.4%
PowerShares DB US $ Bullish (NYSE: UUP)	+3.6%	+0.5%
iPath S&P VIX ST Futures (NYSE: VXX)	-35.5%	-57.4%

Stocks managed to preserve gains through a turbulent year full of obstacles. I’m talking about the Russian aggression and the Fed rate outlook, but with both those issues possibly (stressing possibly) out of the way now, might the way be clear now for stocks? Oh, hold on, the latest economic reports are showing cause for concern…

The Week Ahead

Just when we thought the economy was booming, the latest data for August released last week seemed to say something different. This week’s data might offer some more clarity. The important data points include the monthly retail sales data for the back-to-school shopping season. Otherwise, I’m not too enthused about the week. Mood measures of small businessmen and investors could be insignificant here in my view. Investors are inherently positive, but small businessmen are now well understood to be unhappy about healthcare and regulations. The consumer sentiment read on Friday matters, so keep an eye on both key measures of consumers this week for longer term direction.

THIS WEEK’S ECONOMIC REPORT SCHEDULE
Economic Data Point	Prior	Expected
MONDAY
Consumer Credit	$17.3 B	$17.3 B
TD Ameritrade IMX	5.85
TUESDAY
Apple’s Big Announcement
ICSC Weekly Store Sales	0.0%
-Year-to-Year Pace	+4.8%
Redbook Store Sales	+4.9%
NFIB Small Biz Index	95.7	96.0
JOLTS – Job Openings	4.671 M	4.705 M
Tarullo Speaks
WEDNESDAY
Mortgage Activity	+0.2%
EIA Petroleum Status
-Crude Oil Inventory	-0.9 MB
-Gasoline Inventory	-2.3 MB
Wholesale Trade – Inventories	+0.3%	+0.5%
-Sales
THURSDAY
Weekly Jobless Claims	302K	300K
Bloomberg Consumer Comfort	37.7
EIA Natural Gas Report	79 bcf
Quarterly Services Survey
Treasury Budget	-$94.6 B	-$130 B
FRIDAY
Retail Sales	0.0%	+0.6%
-Less Autos & Gas	+0.1%	+0.4%
Export Prices	0.0%	-0.1%
-Import Prices	-0.2%	-1.0%
Business Inventories	+0.4%
Consumer Sentiment	82.5	83.4

The earnings schedule is obviously a light one as we approach the end of the third quarter. There are still some names you’ll recognize in the group here, like Darden Restaurants for instance. Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) has its big product announcement on Tuesday September 9, and offers the most important corporate data point of the week. I’m expecting BIG things and would buy on any weakness into the news.

HIGHLIGHTED EPS REPORTS
Company	Ticker
MONDAY
Aeroflex Holding	NYSE: ARX
Arsenal Holding	NYSE: AFC
Avid  Technology	Nasdaq: AVID
Campbell Soup	NYSE: CPB
Casey’s General Stores	Nasdaq: CASY
CHC Group	Nasdaq: HELI
Corinthian Colleges	Nasdaq: COCO
Fabrinet	NYSE: FN
FuelCell Energy	Nasdaq: FCEL
General Finance	NYSE: GFN
Global Geophysical	Nasdaq: GEGSQ
ITT Educational Services	NYSE: ESI
Ixia	Nasdaq: XXIA
Korn/Ferry Int’l	NYSE: KFY
Majesco Entertainment	Nasdaq: COOL
NCI Building Systems	NYSE: NCS
Optical Cable	NYSE: OCC
Peerless Systems	Nasdaq: PRLS
Rosetta Genomics	Nasdaq: ROSG
Sears Hometown & Outlet Stores	Nasdaq: SHOS
Triangle Petroleum	Nasdaq: TPLM
UniTek Global	Nasdaq: UNTK
Xcerra	Nasdaq: XCRA
TUESDAY
Barnes & Noble	NYSE: BKS
Burlington Stores	Nasdaq: BURL
Comverse	Nasdaq: CNSI
Farmer Bros.	Nasdaq: FARM
Francesca’s	Nasdaq: FRAN
HD Supply	NYSE: HDS
Investors Real Estate	Nasdaq: IRET
Krispy Kreme	NYSE: KKD
Layne Christensen	Nasdaq: LAYN
Leidos	Nasdaq: LDOS
Limoneira	Nasdaq: LMNR
Oxford Industries	NYSE: OXM
Palatin Technologies	NYSE: PTN
Palo Alto Networks	Nasdaq: PANW
Pep Boys	NYSE: PBY
Peregrine Pharmaceuticals	Nasdaq: PPHM
pSivida	Nasdaq: PSDV
Quanex Building Products	NYSE: NX
Science Applications	Nasdaq: SAIC
Titan Machinery	Nasdaq: TITN
Unilife	Nasdaq: UNIS
WEDNESDAY
AEP Industries	Nasdaq: AEPI
dELiA*s	Nasdaq: DLIA
Five Below	Nasdaq: FIVE
LifeVantage	Nasdaq: LFVN
Manchester United PLC	Nasdaq: MANU
Men’s Wearhouse	NYSE: MW
Miller Energy Resources	Nasdaq: MILL
Misonix	Nasdaq: MSON
PMFG	Nasdaq: PMFG
Restoration Hardware	NYSE: RH
Sigma Designs	Nasdaq: SIGM
Vera Bradley	NYSE: VRA
Wet Seal	Nasdaq: WTSL
THURSDAY
1-800-Flowers.com	Nasdaq: FLWS
Agria	NYSE: GRO
Brady	NYSE: BRC
Cherokee	Nasdaq: CHKE
Doral Financial	NYSE: DRL
Kroger	NYSE: KR
Lululemon Athletica	Nasdaq: LULU
Malibu Boats	Nasdaq: MBUU
Ulta Salon	Nasdaq: ULTA
FRIDAY
Darden Restaurants	NYSE: DRI
Volt Information Sciences	Nasdaq: VISI

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