Stock Market Blog -Jan 19th

The market was pretty much flat this week as the big banks reported earnings, and as we closed another cycle for monthly Options and 'leaps'. Bonds inched up in price, as did Gold.  With the jobs situation not really improving much, and with more layoff announcements, I don't expect much growth in the economy in the near term, and would expect the market to reflect that in some kind of pullback from this monster rally (we are near all time highs).

New all time highs:    ABT, ACN, AXP, CRM, GILD, GOOG, ILMN, INTU, V, SCTY, STX, WYNN...
All time lows:   --

Pops:    BEAM, TSLA      Drops:   BBY, COF, GME, HLF, LULU, NUS, SODA

Next week:  Economic reports, 

Best Buy shares tanked this week. So did LULU (look for more in the coming weeks maybe):

Earnings: 

Mon -

Tue - IBM, JNJ, TRV, VZ

Wed - NFLX, UTX

Thu - CELG, MCD, MSFT, SBUX

Fri - PG

Market Commentary

Next week we get another round of earnings reports (the market is closed on Monday, so it's a short week). The chart of the S&P500 could be forming a top at these lofty levels -watch for earnings to be the next catalyst for market direction. Also the VIX is near an all time low, another possible signal for a market reversal.

S&P500 vs. Gold for 2013

This week's charts:

S&P 500 -up-trend intact
10yr Interest Rates
Labor Force Participation Rate (10 year chart)

Commodities/Futures (charts):
Crude Oil dropped, closing at $94.37 -under $100
Natural Gas was up, closing  at $4.32
Gold was up a bit, closing at $1251
The 30 year Bond was up, closing at 131.31
The US Dollar was up, closing at 81.36

NEWS:

Week Ahead: Tech Earnings and Housing Data
Intel to reduce global workforce by five percent in 2014
Here's what tends to happen after a strong year
This bull market is not over, says Jeremy Siegel (vid)
What to expect from Apple, Microsoft and Facebook this year
Is Google more innovative than Apple (vid)?

Chinese Economic Growth Slows To Lowest Level Since 1999
Gold to tank in 2014: Goldman Sachs (vid)
Gold manages modest weekly gain; Ends near $1,252
Gold contrarians say it’s time to start buying