Stock Market Blog -Aug 26th

The market finally got back up to the April high this week, then pulled back a bit. Next week will probably tell us where the market wants to go next, after the Fed meeting in Jackson Hole. It's also coming up on the end of the summer season, when supposedly Wall Street gets back to work in September. Meanwhile Oil prices are approaching $100 per barrel again, and Gold prices also popped this week. DELL and HPQ both dropped after reporting earnings.

The national debt is now approaching $16,000,000,000,000! (debt clock on the left)

New all time highs:   AMZN, CBS, DFS, FBHS, HAIN, ITW, KORS, KFT, RGLD, STZ, SJM, WPI
All time lows: ANGI, MCP
Pops: HAIN, LLY, SRZ, URBN, WSM
Drops:  ADSK, BBY, BIG, DELL, HPQ

Next week: Economic reports  

Earnings reports:   Among companies reporting next week are: CIEN, TIF
The Fed meeting in Jackson Hole late next week could be a market mover, as investors await word on QE3 stimulus.

Market Commentary

We pulled back from the 1422 high on the SPX just as I mentioned last week! Next week will probably be quiet until the Fed meeting. We could see a sharp pullback on missed expectations from the Fed (we've had a nice rally since the beginning of June). AAPL could also propel the market higher on Monday following their victory in the Samsung copyright case.

This week's charts:

Weekly Unemployment claims
S&P 500 -at the April high. Looks like a double top so far...
OptionsMakeSense -trade with low cost and high probabilities

Commodities/Futures (charts):
Crude Oil was up, closing near $97.45
Natural Gas was up, closing near $2.75
Gold rallied, closing near $1677
The 30 year Bond rallied, closing near $148.19
The US Dollar dropped, closing near 81.65

NEWS:
Stocks: Investors await Bernanke speech
Unemployment Claims Highest In 5 Weeks, Rise To 372,000
Sweeping Apple Win, but Samsung Set for Bounce-Back
Forget Apple, Forget Facebook: Here's The One Company That Actually Terrifies Google Execs
Serious Divergence: Dow, S&P Vs. EUR/USD

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