Month: April 2015

Market Summary – 4/12/2015

The market was up all across the board this past week. The Dow was up 301.85 to close at 18,057.65. The S&P 500 increased by 37.19 and ended at 2,102.06. The VIX was down and closed Friday at 12.58. The NASDAQ gained 140.04 and ended the week at 4995.98.

The SPDR sectors were also up across the board this past week. XLY (Consumer Discretionary) increased by 1.29% to end Friday at 76.67. XLP(Consumer Staples) gained 0.96% to close at 49.60. XLE (Energy) powered through the week and increased by 3.11% to close at 80.14. XLF (Financial) was up 0.12% to close at 24.24. XLV (Health Care) closed Friday at 74.06 after a 2.88% increase of the week. XLI (Industrials) had a nice week in which it gained 2.78% to close at 56.97. XLB (Materials) bounced back this week. lt increased by 1.49% to close at 49.70. XLK (Technology) increased by 1.72% to close the week at 42.08. And XLU (Utilities) had a subpar week as it only gained 0.25% to close at 44.66.

Major Commodities:

  • Gold:  $1,204.60/ troy ounce
  • Oil: $51.64/barrel
  • Silver: $16.38/ troy ounce

Major Currency Exchange Rates:

  • USD/EUR: 0.9446
  • USD/RUB: 53.85
  • USD/JPY: 120.18
  • USD/CNY: 6.20
  • USD/CAD: 1.26

Major Upcoming Earnings Reports (via NASDAQ):

  • Bank of the Ozarks (OZRK)
    • Monday, April 13 (After Hours)
    • Consensus EPS: $0.45
  • J P Morgan Chase & Co (JPM)
    • Tuesday, April 14 (Pre-Market)
    • Consensus EPS: $1.38
  • Wells Fargo & Company (WFC)
    • Tuesday, April 14 (Pre-Market)
    • Consensus EPS: $0.97
  • Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)
    • Tuesday, April 14 (Pre-Market)
    • Consensus EPS: $1.52
  • Intel Corporation (INTC)
    • Tuesday, April 14 (After Hours)
    • Consensus EPS: $0.4
  • Bank of America Corporation (BAC)
    • Wednesday, April 15 (Pre-Market)
    • Consensus EPS: $0.29
  • Progressive Corporation (PGR)
    • Wednesday, April 15 (Pre-Market)
    • Consensus EPS: $0.43
  • U.S. Bancorp (USB)
    • Wednesday, April 15 (Pre-Market)
    • Consensus EPS: $0.76
  • PNC Financial Services Group, INC (PNC)
    • Wednesday, April 15 (Pre-Market)
    • Consensus EPS: $1.7
  • Delta Air Lines, INC (DAL)
    • Wednesday, April 15 (Pre-Market)
    • Consensus EPS: $0.29
  • Netflix, INC (NFLX)
    • Wednesday, April 15 (After Hours)
    • Consensus EPS: $0.68
  • American Express Company (AXP)
    • Thursday, April 16 (After Hours)
    • Consensus EPS: $1.37
  • Citigroup, INC (C)
    • Thursday, April 16 (Pre-Market)
    • Consensus EPS: $1.4
  • Goldman Sachs Group, INC (GS)
    • Thursday, April 16 (Pre-Market)
    • Consensus EPS: $4.14
  • Mattel, INC (MAT)
    • Thursday, April 16 (After Hours)
    • Consensus EPS: -$0.09
  • Philip Morris International INC (PM)
    • Thursday, April 16 (Pre-Market)
    • Consensus EPS: $1.01
  • Sherwin-Williams Company (SHW)
    • Thursday, April 16 (Pre-Market)
    • Consensus EPS: $1.43
  • General Electric Company (GE)
    • Friday, April 17 (Pre-Market)
    • Consensus EPS: $0.3

Quote of the Week: “Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” ~Warren Buffet

Bid, Ask, and Mark

Hello members,

Nolan Laplante brings you the following, his first blog.

Bid, ask, and mark are some of the fundamental terms used when discussing orders. A bid is the price an investor is willing to purchase the security. If an investor offers to buy 500 shares for $16.45 and there is a seller in the market that wants to sell at that price then the transaction is completed. An ask is the price a seller is willing to sell for. It is basically the opposite of a bid. Another fundamental term is the bid-ask spread. The bid ask-spread is virtually the same as the range found in mathematics for charts: the difference in price between the highest price that a buyer is willing to pay for an asset and the lowest price a seller is willing to sell for. For example if the bid price is $6 and the ask is $8 then the bid-ask spread is $2. Finally, the mark is the average of the bid and the ask. In our experience, orders placed at the mark are usually filled in a timely manner.

The President’s addendum follows.

Exercise (answers to be emailed to President.):

  1. If I wanted to buy the underlying right now, would I be buying at the bid or the ask?
  2. If I wanted to sell, would I sell the bid or the ask?
  3. What would happen if the bids and asks at different exchanges are different?

Research what is arbitrage, and what middlemen and market makers are. There is no task with this research.

– Nolan Laplante and Michael Trehan

Market Summary – 4/5/2015

The Finance Club hopes you enjoyed Good Friday and Easter.

To start off this week’s market update, let’s review the major indices.

The market made slight gains across the board this past week. Last Friday was Good Friday, so the market ended Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average started the week off at 17,727.48 and finished the following Monday at 17,880.85. The S&P 500 started off at 2,064.11 on Monday, and increased to end the week at 2,080.62. However, the NASDAQ ended the week at 4,917.32 after starting Monday off at 4,921.78. The VIX ended at 14.74 today. The major indices were actually down to begin last week, but rallied through Wednesday, Thursday, and Monday for a strong finish.

After a horrendous week, the major SPDR sectors, for the most part, bounced back this past week. XLY (Consumer Discretionary) increased by 1.56% to end the week at 76.05. XLP (Consumer Staples) was up 1.49% to finish at 49.52. XLE (Energy) also fared well, increasing by 0.90% to end the week off at 79.12. XLF (Financial) increased by 1.04% this past week to end today at 24.25. XLV (Health Care) had a bad week as continued to plunge. It dropped by  0.73% to finish off at 72.10. XLI (Industrials) increased by 0.16% to end at 55.85. XLB (Materials) gained 0.70% and ended the week at 46.36. XLK (Technology) experienced a 0.07% gain to end the week at 41.77. Finally, XLU (Utilities) did the best this past week. It increased by 2.13% to finish at 45.17 on the week.

Major Foreign Exchange Rates (as of 4/6/15):

    • USD/EUR: 0.911
    • USD/JPY: 119.36
    • USD/CNY: 6.17
    • USD/DEM: 1.79

Major Commodities (as of 4/6/15):

    • Gold: $1,218.60/troy ounce
    • Oil (light crude): $52.14/barrel
    • Silver: $17.11/troy ounce
    • Platinum: $1,180.40/troy ounce
    • Corn: $3.85/bushel
    • Sugar: $0.1674/pound

Here are some major upcoming earnings reports (via NASDAQ):

  • Dave & Buster’s Entertainment, INC. (PLAY)
    • Tuesday, April 7 (Pre-Market)
    • Estimated EPS: $0.3
  • Schnitzer Steel Industries, INC. (SCHN)
    • Tuesday, April 7 (Pre-Market)
    • Estimated EPS: -$0.08
  • Bed, Bath, & Beyond INC. (BBBY)
    • Wednesday, April 8 (After hours)
    • Estimated EPS: $1.81
  • Pier 1 Imports, INC (PIR)
    • Wednesday, April 8 (After hours)
    • EPS: $0.36
  • Rite Aid Corporation (RAD)
    • Wednesday, April 8 (Pre-Market)
    • EPS: $0.07
  • Ruby Tuesday, INC (RT)
    • Thursday, April 9 (After hours)
    • EPS: -$0.06
  • Walgreens Boots Alliance, INC (WBS)
    • Thursday, April 9 (Pre-Market)
    • EPS: $0.94