Sunday, December 19, 2004

Weekly Outlook

There are a number of economic reports and some significant corporate earnings reports scheduled for release this week. Economic reports include (Mon.)-Leading Indicators (Tues.)-None of note (Wed.)-Final 3Q GDP, Final 3Q Personal Consumption, Final 3Q Price Deflator (Thur.)-Personal Income, Personal Spending, PCE Deflator, Durable Goods Orders, Initial Jobless Claims, Final Univ. of Mich. Consumer Confidence, New Home Sales (Fri.)-Financial Market Closed. Leading Indicators, Personal Spending, Initial Jobless Claims and Consumer Confidence all have market-moving potential.

Tue.-Bear Stearns(BSC), General Mills(GIS), Morgan Stanley(MWD), Paychex(PAYX), Solectron Corp.(SLR) Wed.-Micron Technology(MU) are some of the more important companies that release quarterly earnings this week. The Fed's Lacker speaking Mon. could also impact trading.

Bottom Line: I expect U.S. stocks to finish the week higher on seasonal strength, strong economic reports, more optimism, a stabilizing US dollar and short-covering. My short-term trading indicators are still giving Buy signals and the Portfolio is 100% net long heading into the week.

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