chartThanks to earnings and positive economic indicators, the week ended on a positive note. Many were surprised by the earnings that beat expectations. A pair of stocks that were certainly a surprise were on Friday, Citigroup and Bank of American posted much higher than what anybody was expecting and for a while, these two were lifting the markets on Friday. With profit taking, both (C) and (BAC) did end lower but its evident that this coming will will start pulling both stocks higher.

General Electric was another stock that many were waiting to announce on Friday. As I called it months ago, the financial arm of (GE) hurt the companies bottom line which made the stock shed 6% on Friday. The stock should pull lower as many are expecting a lower overall market next week based on anticipation of fairly flat earnings. Unless a few of the big companies can surprise the investors, the gains we saw this week could be taken back.

A few things that could pull the stocks lower are the words of Fed chairman Bernake who will be talking about the exit strategy and government balance sheets which might get bigger before starting to shrink from further market intervention.

Besides that, markets are watching a few economic reports, including leading indicators Monday; FHFA home price data Wednesday, weekly jobless claims and existing home sales Thursday, and consumer sentiment Friday. All these will provide direction on the markets.

Friday my stock play was on the damaged company (CIT). Being on its last legs before falling towards bankruptcy, the stock popped at the open and I held a buy price at $0.50/share for 4500 shares which I did not expect to touch but with people selling, the price was met and I was lucky that a second wave came to lift the stock price upwards. I admit that I sold too early, but with this company being on life support, got out at $0.72/share.

Total profit on (CIT): $990

If you are looking for a stock that might still exist on Monday and could have some big swings like Friday, watch (CIT). Its a volatile and risky stock but could bring some potential income again. This company is essential to small business as its a key lender. So the failure of (CIT) will have a ripple effect on the markets.

Market Summary Video (WATCH FOR SOME STOCK SUGGESTIONS):

Earnings to Watch This Week:
Financials
Legg Mason, which reports Monday, while BlackRock, State Street, TD Ameritrade, Hudson City Bancorp and Sallie Mae report Tuesday. Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo report Wednesday, as do Bank of New York Mellon, Northern Trust, US Bancorp and E-Trade. Thursday’s reports include American Express, CME Group, Capital One, PNC and Federated Investors. CIT will report Thursday.

Technology
These will be watched by all this week: Texas Instruments reports Monday, while Advanced Micro Devices, Yahoo, Apple and Seagate report Tuesday. EBay reports Wednesday, and Microsoft, Amazon.com, Juniper Networks, Broadcom and EMC report Thursday.

Airlines:
Continental Airlines, UAL and Southwest Air report Tuesday, while Delta reports Wednesday and JetBlue reports Thursday.

Other Stocks (MUST WATCH)
Monday:
Halliburton, Eaton, Boston Scientific and Johnson Controls report.

Tuesday:
Coca-Cola, United Technologies, DuPont, Caterpillar, and Merck, Forest Labs, United Health, Schering-Plough, Starbucks, Lockheed Martin, Freeport McMoran, Peabody Energy and VF Corp.

Wednesday:
Pfizer, Boeing, Pepsi, Mosaic, Glaxo, Genzyme, Altria, St. Jude Medical, Whirlpool and Air Products.

Thursday:
McDonald’s, AT&T, 3M, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Ford, and Philip Morris. UPS, Union Pacific, Newmont Mining, Diamond Offshore, Wyeth, Celgene, New York Times, Kimberly-Clark, Raytheon, Starwood Hotels, Potash and Hershey.

Friday:
Ashland Oil, Black and Decker, Fortune Brands, Ericsson, Schlumberger and Ingersoll-Rand.

Keep these on your list to watch. I usually look at the momentum pre-earnings and research the potential numbers many expect and then come with my own plan. Its how I made my money last week on the markets. Bought before earnings and sold once they were announced. Find your level of risk and play safe!

Happy Investing!

Aman, MBA

No related posts.