There are a number of important economic reports and significant corporate earnings reports scheduled for release this week. Economic reports include Trade Balance, Import Price Index, Initial Jobless Claims, Monthly Budget Statement, Producer Price Index, Advance Retail Sales, Empire Manufacturing, Industrial Production, Capacity Utilization, U. of Mich. Consumer Confidence and Business Inventories. Producer Price Index, Advance Retail Sales, Industrial Production and Consumer Confidence all have market-moving potential.
Tractor Supply(TSCO), JB Hunt Transport(JBHT), Fastenal(FAST), Gannett Co.(GCI), Intel Corp.(INTC), Johnson & Johnson(JNJ), Merrill Lynch(MER), Apple Computer(AAPL), Yahoo!(YHOO), Harley-Davidson(HDI), Lam Research(LRCX), Bank of America(BAC), Citigroup(C), General Motors(GM), Juniper Networks(JNPR), Southwest Airlines(LUV), UnitedHealth Group(UNH) and Veritas Software(VRTS) are some of the more important companies that release quarterly earnings this week. There are also some other events that have market-moving potential. The Advanced Energy and Fuel Cell Conference, Fed's Bernanke speaking, Fed's Geithner speaking and Fed's Kohn speaking could also impact trading this week.
Bottom Line: I expect U.S. stocks to finish the week mixed-to-lower as worries over earnings and profit-taking offset better economic reports. A further rise by Senator Kerry in the polls or another move higher in oil prices would likely send stocks lower for the week. I continue to believe the major indices are consolidating recent gains before another more significant move higher, beginning in the later part of the month. My short-term trading indicators are still giving Buy signals and the Portfolio is 75% net long heading into the week.
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