Coming Week Market Movers:  Earnings, Economic Realities, Overriding Stimulus Optimism

by Cliff Wachtel, The Sensible Guide to Forex

Last week markets remained within their tight trading ranges of the past month, the only difference being that they pulled back towards the lower end of that range, as exemplified by the bellwether S&P 500's over 2% drop.

While it's possible that last week's drop was just another gyration within that trading range, here are reasons we believe that next week is more likely to bring a more extended pullback.

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by Asif Suria

Insider buying more than doubled with insiders purchasing $24.21 million of their stock last week compared to $12.04 million in the week prior. Selling declined sharply with insiders selling $474.05 million worth of stock last week compared to $983.98 million in the week prior.

Sell/Buy Ratio: The insider Sell/Buy ratio is calculated by dividing the total insider sales in a given week by total insider purchases that week. The adjusted ratio for last week dropped to 19.58. In other words, insiders sold almost 20 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 81.72.

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Written by The Financial Tap

Cycles Analysis:  $US Cycle Counts

Click on table for larger images.

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Money Morning Article of the Week

by Shah Gilani, Capital Wave Strategist, Money Morning

Let me make this perfectly simple...

High-frequency trading is a scam. It should be outlawed.

Period.

Regulators, namely the pimps and panderers at the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the exchanges, all of them, are in on the game.

The game, known as HFT, isn't arbitrage, isn't fair, isn't consistent with the keeping of "fair and orderly markets," and so should be illegal.

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by Jeff Miller

Earnings season follows a familiar, four-step pattern:

1. Preliminary -- Analyst estimates are too optimistic, perhaps because they "go native."
2. Confession -- Adjustment and warnings as companies "pre-announce," usually when the report will be a disappointment.
3. Announcement -- Actual results with explanations and outlook for the future. There is an initial market reaction to the news.
4. Interpretation and Spin -- The company does a conference call where analysts either congratulate management or ask probing questions. The stock usually keeps trading during the conference call, and often provides a real-time interpretation of the management discussion.

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