WTWA: Background on Weighing the Week Ahead

There are many good sources for a list of upcoming events.  One that I regularly follow is the weekly calendar from Investing.com. For best results you need to select the date range from the calendar displayed on the site. You will be rewarded with a comprehensive list of data and events from all over the world. It takes a little practice, but it is worth it.

WTWA is different.  I highlight a smaller group of events, including some you have not seen elsewhere.  My weekly theme is an expert guess about what we will be watching on TV and reading in the mainstream media.  It is a focus on what I think is important for my trading and client portfolios. Each week I consider the upcoming calendar and the current market, predicting the main theme we should expect. This step is an important part of my trading preparation and planning. It takes more hours than you can imagine.

My record is pretty good. If you review the list of past titles it looks like a history of market concerns. Wrong! The thing to note is that I highlighted each topic the week before it grabbed the attention. I find it useful to reflect on the key theme for the week ahead, and I hope you will as well.

The WTWA series is unlike my other articles  where I develop a focused, logical argument with supporting data on a single theme. Here I am simply sharing my conclusions. Sometimes these are topics that I have already written about, and others are on my agenda. I am putting the news in context.

Readers often disagree. Do not be bashful. Join in and comment about what we should expect in the days ahead. This weekly piece emphasizes my opinions about what is really important and how to put the news in context. I have had great success with my approach, but feel free to disagree. That is what makes a market!

Rules for Last Week's Data

Each week I break down events into good and bad. Often there is "ugly" and on rare occasion something really good. My working definition of "good" has two components:

1. The news is market-friendly. Our personal policy preferences are not relevant for this test. And especially -- no politics.
2. It is better than expectations.

This section is for current news, data and events -- not a general background concern with no recent change in status.

The Silver Bullet

I occasionally give the Silver Bullet award to someone who takes up an unpopular or thankless cause, doing the real work to demonstrate the facts.  Think of The Lone Ranger.

Nominations are always welcome!

Comments

[Steve]

Would you add to this description the good and bad values and other critical points for the values in the quant corner.

[Ray]

The biggest factor in effect next week will not be Oil or 'The Fed' it will be geopolitical. It will be Putin's reaction to the up and coming further USA Sanctions and supply of arms to Ukraine, to which you made no mention.

Trust the Grand Old USA to ruin Christmas !!! why couldn't they wait until after Christmas ????

All the hype about Oil ??? Of course the price is going down, it has been way too high for way too long, again this is a proper and foreseeable reaction to an over supply situation of Oil made worse by the advent of fracking in the USA. Market hype and sentiment will probably drop Oil price below $40 before it normalizes in the mid $50 region.

Mr Market is operating in its usual efficient manner for the time being. When stocks are over priced the price will retreat, when commodities are overpriced the price will retreat - until the next cycle.