What trading signals should we look for in the week ahead?

HoughtonAndAtkeson answered 4 months ago …

Now that most earnings and key economic reports have been released, it's likely to be a slow news week, but we always expect the unexpected.

As usual, we're keeping watch on the escalating tension in Iran and possible Israeli attacks and how it affects oil prices. We're also anticipating the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee meeting; the FOMC is expected to maintain the federal-funds at 2% on Tuesday.

We're also looking at the July same-store sales report and specifically Wal-Mart's (WMT) impact on it.

In terms of what the options markets are telling us, they are consistently indicating "buy” signals. There is sure to be more volatility ahead but the signals say the trend is up in the intermediate term (the next few weeks to a couple of months).