The Dow Jones Industrial Average spent the week at the doorstep of 11,150, and on Friday it finally walked through. The Dow extended its eight-week long rally by climbing another 1.7%. The January earnings season brought with it a broad-market pullback that lasted into February, and there was worry the bulls might take a breather this time around, too. Goldman Sachs (GS) fallout lingered, recovery from the recession remains a stop-and-start affair, stocks were due for a pullback following a strong rally from the February low, overseas debt issues continued to weigh, the airline sector was hit broadside by the Icelandic volcano … and yet, the market continued on its journey higher this past week. We’re finally at the stage where each market setback allows the money that has been sitting on the sidelines to come in and scoop up “values”, or stocks that had run right by them only a few weeks ago.  The upward momentum is intact. Support for the SPX continues to be around the 1,195 area. In terms of resistance, many market watchers will be focusing on SPX 1,225, which is a Fibonacci retracement of the October 2007 high and March 2009 low. We will continue to use pullbacks as buying opportunities. We remain bullish and will use pullbacks as buying opportunities.

Weekly Economic Calendar:

Monday

  • No economic reports are due. Caterpillar Inc. (CAT), Humana Inc. (HUM), Sohu.com Inc. (SOHU), Boston Scientific Corp. (BSX), and Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN) will release their earnings reports.

Tuesday

  • Tuesday brings the Case/Shiller home price index for February and the April consumer confidence index. On the earnings front, 3M Company (MMM), DuPont (DD), Ford Motor Co. (F), Lexmark International Inc. (LXK), Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM), Office Depot Inc. (ODP), U.S. Steel Corp. (X), UAL Corp. (UAUA), Under Armour Inc. (UA), United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS), Broadcom Corp. (BRCM), Panera Bread Co. (PNRA), and RF Micro Devices Inc. (RFMD) are scheduled to release their quarterly reports.

Wednesday

  • On Wednesday, the usual report on weekly U.S. petroleum supplies will be overshadowed by a statement on monetary policy by the Federal Open Market Committee. Taking their turn in the earnings confessional are Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX), Comcast Corp. (CMCSA), Corning Inc. (GLW), Hecla Mining Co. (HL), Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCL), The Allstate Corp. (ALL), Baidu Inc. (BIDU), First Solar Inc. (FSLR), Visa Inc. (V), and Xilinx Inc. (XLNX).

Thursday

  • Thursday offers up the usual weekly initial jobless claims. Aetna Inc. (AET), Akeena Solar Inc. (AKNS), Colgate-Palmolive Co. (CL), ConocoPhillips (COP), Eastman Kodak Co. (EK), Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), Fortune Brands Inc. (FO), Kellogg Co. (K), Motorola Inc. (MOT), OfficeMax Inc. (OMX), Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (POT), The Procter & Gamble Co. (PG), Chiquita Brands International Inc. (CQB), KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC), McAfee Inc. (MFE), and MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (WFR) are scheduled to report earnings.

Friday

  • Friday closes the week with an advance look at first-quarter gross domestic product, the April Chicago business barometer and the April University of Michigan consumer sentiment index. Rounding out the week’s earnings reports are Avon Products Inc. (AVP), Chevron Corp. (CVX), China Sunergy Co., Ltd. (CSUN), and Constellation Energy Group Inc. (CEG).

New Trade Idea: 

Read the full article here: http://topequitynews.com/options-update-42510/