Weekly Newsletter October 14th - October 20th

Current Events: The U.S. markets slid heavily last week recording one of the largest weekly losses in four months as the third quarter earnings season began. Confusion and uncertainty appears to be surrounding the financial markets as the upcoming presidential election, a controversial QE3, euro-zone debt concerns, and mixed economic reports all have caused investors to waiver. Bullish investors are seeking positive news from a busy earnings week as almost half of the Dow components are set to report over the next five business days.

What to Look for This Week

Monday begins the second week of earnings for the season and with that a slew of big names across most major sectors and industries. Financial giants Bank of America, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley are just some of the earning reports investors will keen in on this week. Other popular companies sure to vie for attention this week include Microsoft, IBM, and United Healthcare.

News Affecting the Markets

Last week's downsized earnings forecast from Chevron casted a negative shadow across the oil sector, reminding investors that weaker crude prices and a stronger dollar will likely be a bearish theme running through the third-quarter results of major production and exploration companies. Hurricane Isaac, which tore through the Gulf of Mexico, was highlighted as one of the main culprits for the reduced production levels by Chevron. Apache, Royal Dutch Shell, and BP each have reported similar deficiencies in production due to the high winds of Hurricane Isaac experienced in the Gulf of Mexico during the month of August.

Smart Investing

Importance of Financial Awareness: Whether young or old, it is essential to first invest in your financial awareness before pursuing any form of investments. Having good financial Awareness is not about saving tons of money or dumping them into mutual funds. It is developing a healthy relationship with money and building a wealth of assets that will generate you money. What does it take to develop your financial awareness? Well anyone is capable of creating wealth. When you take a old car and give it an overhaul, paint it with a new coat of paint, and change a few more parts to make it start running again, you could sell that car for more money than if it was just a beat up old car. You would have created wealth in the process. How about a land? If you turn a empty land into a country home, getaway resort, wouldn’t the value of the land increase? It is the same principle for chefs, programmers and craftsmen. The sum of the whole is greater than the parts. We are all capable of creating wealth even out of thin air and that is the first step to getting our creative juices flowing. Are you willing to step out of your comfort zone and pay the price for financial awareness or ignore the signs of the times and expect your boss, the government, and/or the bank to take care of you financially for the rest of your life, living below your means and never taking risks?

Earnings for the Week

Monday: Charles Schwab (SCHW), Citigroup (C), Gannett (GCI)

Tuesday: Apollo Group (APOL), The Coca-Cola Company (KO), Domino's Pizza (DPZ), Forest Labs (FRX), Fortinent (FTNT), IBM (IBM), Intel (INTC), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Linear Technology (LLTC), Mattel (MAT), Omnicom Group (OMC), PNC Financial (PNC), State Street Corporation (STT), United Rental (URI), United Healthcare (UNH), Wolverine World Wide (WWW)

Wednesday: Abbott Labs (ABT), American Express (AXP), Amphenol Corp (APH), Bank of New York Mellon (BK), Bank of America (BAC), Blackrock (BLK), Check Point Software (CHKP), Comerica (CMA), Dover Corp. (DOV), EBAY Inc. (EBAY), Halliburton (HAL), Knight Capital (KCG), Noble Corp. (NE), Pepsico (PEP), St. Jude Medical (STJ), Stanley Black & Decker (SWK), Textron Inc. (TXT)

Thursday: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Alliance Data Systems (ADS), Baxter International (BAX), BB&T Corp (BBT), Blackstone (BX), Boston Scientific (BSX), Capital One Financial (COF), Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG), Danaher (DHR), Diamond Offshore (DO), E*Trade Financial (ETFC), Genuine Parts Company (GPC), Google Inc. (GOOG), KeyCorp (KEY), Microsoft Corporation (MSFT), Morgan Stanley (MS), Nucor Corp. (NU), Phillip Morris International (PM), PPG Industries (PPG), Rambus (RMBS), Sandisk (SNDK), Southwest Airlines (LUV), Supervalu (SVU), Travlers (TRV), Union Pacific Corp. (UNP), USG Corp. (USG), Verizon Communications (VZ), Wesco International (WCC)

Friday: Cooper Industries (CBE), Honeywell International (HON), Ingersoll-Rand (IR), Kansas City Southern (KSU), Kinder Morgan (KMI), McDonald's (MCD), Patriot Coal (PCX), Schlumberger (SLB), Wynn Resorts (WYNN)
* Earnings dates and times are subject to change

Economic Data this Week

Monday
Retail Sales @ 8:30 AM for September (Est. = 0.7% to 1.0%, Prior = 0.9%)
Empire Manufacturing @ 8:30 AM for October (Est. = -2.0 to -2.8, Prior = -10.4)
Business Inventories @ 10:00 AM for August (Est. = 0.5%, Prior = 0.8%)

Tuesday
CPI @ 8:30 AM for 10/06 (Est. = 370K to 375K, Prior = 376K)
Industrial Production @ 9:15 AM for September (Est. = 0.0% to 0.2%, Prior = -1.2%)
Capacity Utilization @ 9:15 AM for September (Est. = 78.2% to 78.3%, Prior = 78.2%)
NAHB Housing Market Index @ 10:00 AM for October (Est. = 42, Prior = 40)

Wednesday
MBA Mortgage Index @ 7:00 AM for 10/13 (Est. = n/a, Prior = -1.2%)
Housing Starts @ 8:30 AM for September (Est. = 765K to 768K, Prior = 750K)
Building Permits @ 8:30 AM for September (Est. = 815K, Prior = 803K)
Crude Oil Inventories @ 10:30 AM for 10/13 (Est. = n/a, Prior = 1.672M)

Thursday
Initial Claims @ 8:30 AM for 10/13 (Est. = 360K to 370K, Prior = 339K)
Continuing Claims @ 8:30 AM for 10/06 (Est. = 3275K, Prior = 3273K)
Philadelphia Fed @ 10:00 AM for October (Est. = 0.0 to -0.1, Prior = -1.9)
Leading Indicators @ 10:00 AM for September (Est. = 0.1% to 0.2%, Prior = -0.1%)

Friday
Existing Homes Sales @ 10:00 AM for September (Est. = 4.70M to 4.90M, Prior = 4.82M)