Earnings Calendar Heating Up — Here Are Some Names To Watch

Stock
index futures put in another solid week,
with the SP and Dow futures
closing higher for an 8th straight week. The highlight of the week was tech
bellwether Intel’s earnings report, with the company beating on a “smoke and
mirrors” basis. With the recent run-up, one had to be cautious of a “sell the
news” scenario, but the market did its best to “back and fill” the excess and in
the process, tear any aggressive shorts a new one. So far, there hasn’t been
anything that can break the bullish spirit and like the saying goes “If it ain’t
broke, then don’t try to fix it.” However, we do want to be aware of some
things that are shaping up that I’ve touched on below.

The March SP 500 futures closed
Friday’s session with a gain of +4.75 points, and finished out the week at
another new contract high with a gain of +18.00 points. Volume in the ES was
estimated at 574,000 contracts, which was behind Thursday’s pace, but still
above the daily average. On a monthly basis, the contract seems pretty
hell-bent on a mission to at least test its 50% retracement of the entire bear
market at 1,171. The cash SPX faces its 50% retracement at 1,159, and its
Stochs are at a level that we haven’t seen since 3/98, when the index was right
around the current level. The move was good for another 50 points or so before
the index corrected 250 points. I know, I know, “it’s different this time.”


Looking at the daily chart, the
contract’s 10-day MA continues to provide support at 1,127. On an intraday
basis, you don’t get much stronger (and simpler) trend lines than what we’re
seeing on the 60-min, 30-min, and 13-min charts. The VIX took another slide and
is ready to test its 7+ year low set on 12/18.


Next week is slow in the way of
economic reports with really no “market-movers” aside from the Weekly Jobless
Claims number on Thursday. The earnings calendar continues to heat up with many
of the big money-center banks reporting, as well as AMD and MOT on Tuesday, CA,
EBAY, QCOM, SYMC, and XLNX on Wednesday, and AMGN, KLAC, and MSFT on Thursday.

Go Pats and Carolina!


Please feel free to email me with any questions
you might have and have a great trading day on Tuesday!

Chris Curran

chrisc@tradingmarkets.com