Weekly Newsletter March 3rd - March 9th

Current Events:  Though lackluster news has been plentiful of late, little has slowed down U.S. equity markets as indexes tease with record setting highs. The unemployment rate to be released on Friday will be the next scheduled test for the resilient market.

What to Look for This Week

A quite week is expected from an earnings perspective as the quarter approaches its end. Most of the pillars across all industries have reported this season and just a few key remaining announcements remain. Some popular household names reported this week include Internet favorite Pandora and grocery store chain Kroger.

News Affecting the Markets

Worries of a real-estate bubble in China has weighed very little on the U.S. stock markets as the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at its second-highest level ever on Monday. To combat China's bubble fears authorities late on Friday announced new property-buying restrictions, including higher down payments and mortgage rates on second homes in cities that have seen steep increases in property prices.

Smart Investing

Entering on Pullbacks:  Most of the time entry and exit points are derived from support or resistance levels in an individual stock that you are trading or, more broadly, in the market itself. Another approach to entering a position is to be patient and wait for a pullback in the market or the stock that is currently trending up. Inversely, if the market, or your stock, is trending down, wait for an adjustment. These corrections occur because the market and the stocks within it do not just go straight up or down. As a result, there are many insignificant pullbacks and adjustments that present good entry points. Therefore, determine if the situation in front of you is a pullback/adjustment, or has the trend simply come to an end.

Earnings for the Week

Monday: Boyd Gaming Corp (BYD), Transocean Ltd (RIG)

Tuesday:  Navistar International Corp (NAV), Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd (STP), VeriFone Systems Inc (PAY) {After the Close}

Wednesday: Big Lots Inc (BIG), DryShips Inc (DRYS) {After the Close}, Hovnanian Enterprises Inc (HOV), Williams-Sonoma Inc (WSM)

Thursday:  Ciena Corp (CIEN), H & R Block Inc (HRB) {After the Close}, Kroger Co (KR), Pandora Media Inc (P) {After the Close}, Smithfield Foods Inc (SFD)

Friday:  Ann Inc (ANN), Foot Locker Inc (FL)
* Earnings dates and times are subject to change

 Economic Data this Week

Monday

No announcements scheduled.

Tuesday

ISM Services @ 10:00 AM for February (Est. = 55.4 to 56.0, Prior = 55.2)

Wednesday

MBA Mortgage Index @ 7:00 AM for 03/02 (Est. = n/a, Prior = -3.8%)
ADP Employment Change @ 8:15 AM for February (Est. = 150K, Prior = 192K)
Factory Orders @ 10:00 AM for January (Est. = -2.2% to -3.0%, Prior = 1.8%)
Crude Inventories @ 10:30 AM for 03/02 (Est. = n/a, Prior = 1.130M)
Fed's Beige Book @ 2:00 PM for March

Thursday

Initial Claims @ 8:30 AM for 03/02 (Est. = 350K to 355K, Prior = 344K)
Continuing Claims @ 8:30 AM for 02/23 (Est. = 3100K, Prior = 3074K)
Natural Gas Inventories @ 10:30 AM for 03/02 (Est. = n/a, Prior = -171)
Consumer Credit @ 3:00 PM for January (Est. = $10.0B to $12.8B, Prior = $14.6B)

Friday

Non-farm Payrolls @ 8:30 AM for February (Est. = 165K to 170K, Prior = 157K)
Unemployment Rate @ 8:30 AM for February (Est. = 7.9%, Prior = 7.9%)
Wholesale Inventories @ 10:00 AM for January (Est. = 0.2%, Prior = -0.1%)