Market Direction Week of June 30, 2014

Market Direction: BULLISH alert issued 06/19/2014

Last Week Review: Violence in Iraq and the growing risk of broader Middle East turbulence weighed on financial markets. US Q1 GDP revised down to a 2.9% contraction. Investors appeared to dismiss the gross domestic product (GDP) report as backward-looking, and stocks rose after the report was released on Wednesday. Sales of new and used US homes jumped in May. The US Federal Reserve’s favored inflation barometer indicated that prices have risen by 1.8% over the past 12 months, approaching the Fed’s 2% target.

How the market finished last week, the Nasdaq rose 0.7%, The S&P 500 and the Dow trimmed 0.1% and 0.6%, respectively.

This Week: Independence Day will be shutting US markets down for a long weekend. US data is expected to show that the nation’s recovery is back on track with both jobs data and PMI data forecast to impress. Fed Chair Janet Yellen is set to speak at the International Monetary Fund on Wednesday, a talk that will be closely watched as investors look for clues about the bank’s policy tightening timeline.

The unemployment rate is expected to have remained constant at 6.3 percent while US employers likely added nearly 200,000 workers in June.

Economic Calendar: US ISM manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMI (7/1) (7/3), US Employment Report (7/3)

Some of the major earnings announcements on deck: STZ, PAYX, UNF.

$tockMarketDirection is in a BULLISH posture. We strongly encourage our many bloggers/followers to monitor positions closely, exercise proper money management strategies and to monitor $tockMarketDirection for ALERTS that we may issue advising of a change in our current posture. Cha-ching.