Stock Market Blog -Apr 19th

We closed out this months Option expiration cycle on Friday with a big drop in the market -very unusual. Something to do with China and Greece supposedly. Regardless, the S&P500 has not been able surpass its recent highs in quite some time, and as I mentioned in previous posts, I think we are just forming a big rounded top. Earnings could be a catalyst for the downside in coming weeks.

Meanwhile Europe's woes continue. Oil prices continued to rise this week as the Dollar lost some ground.

NFLX soared after reporting earnings, AXP dropped

New all time highs:    NFLX ..  (short list this week)
All time lows:   
Pops & Drops:     NFLX up,  EWG down
Mergers/Deals:  Nokia to buy Alcatel-Lucent

Next week:  Economic reports,   Lots of earnings reports!

Earnings:     

M:  HAL, IBM, MS, 

T:   AMGN, CMG, DFS, VZ, TRV, UA, UTX, VMW, YHOO, YUM

W: BA, CTXS, EBAY, FB, KO, MCD, QCOM, T

T:   AMZN, CAT, FCX, GM, GOOGL, LLY, LUV, MMM, MSFT, MO, PEP, PG, SBUX, UNP,

F:   BIIB

This week's charts:

S&P 500 -watch earnings next...
10yr Interest Rates -remaining low?
Labor Force Participation Rate (10 year chart)

15 years of TASR!

Don't leave home without it!  AXP in a down trend (52 week low)...

Are we there yet? Brazil declining for several years!

Commodities/Futures (charts):

Natural Gas was up, closing at $2.64

Crude Oil was up quite a bit, closing near $56.14

Gold was unchanged, closing near $1203

The 30 year Bond was up, closing near 165.12

The US Dollar was down a bit, closing at 99.70 -heading back down?

NEWS:

Earnings gusher is next test for stocks after market wipeout
S&P to start its correction today, analyst warns
Start of correction? No, say experts
In online ads, it's Google, Facebook and then who?
GE posts first quarter loss of $13.6 billion
Amazon, Google and More Are Drawn to Home Services Market
The Apple Watch won't be available on April 24

U.S. economy isn't growing fast enough
Fannie and Freddie Restart Risky 'Affordable Housing' Programs
China's March exports shrink 15 percent year-on-year in shock fall
China makes big cut in bank reserve requirement to fight slowdown
Let's face reality, Greece is bankrupt: Marc Faber
We're coming up on another crunch week in the Greek bailout saga