Stock Market Blog -JUL 20TH

The market was mostly flat, and actually rallied on Friday, in spite of the global events taking place. I'm guessing that Options expiration on Friday had something to do with the rally. Gold dropped, and Oil rallied back above $100. MSFT announced 18,000 job cuts, and rallied on the news.

New all time highs:   
All time lows:   -

Pops:    MSFT,    Drops:  AMD, SNDK, YUM

Next week:  Economic reports,  

Earnings:     
MON  - CMG, HAL, NFLX, TXN

TUE  -ARMH, AAPL, DD, MSFT, VZ, KO, UTX, MCD

WED  -BA, BIIB, FB, MO, PEP, QCOM, GILD, T

THU  -AMZN, BIDU, SBUX, F, CAT, CELG, GM, MMM, V

FRI -

Market Commentary

Next week earnings season continues, with more Tech companies reporting. Again, we could see this market begin to show signs of topping.

Implied Volatility in the Options market is trend higher. If you are an Options trader, Credit Spreads begin to look more attractive here, especially with earnings events.

This week's charts:

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

Commodities/Futures (charts):
Crude Oil closed around $103 -holding above $100

Natural Gas dropped, closing near 3.86
Gold dropped, closing at $1309 -holding above $1300

The 30 year Bond was up, closing near 138.10

The US Dollar was up a bit, closing near 80.60

NEWS:

Microsoft to cut 18,000 jobs this year as it chops Nokia

Ukraine says Malaysian airliner shot down, 295 dead: agency