Treasury Auctions, Housing Data, Durable Goods, GDP

Eight trading days have passed since the Dow crossed 10,000 for the first time in over a year. Yet mixed data and third-quarter earnings since then have caused equities to dance around the psychological threshold. On Friday the Dow closed at 9,972; heading into the week futures are pointing slightly upwards. Wall Street is looking for Q3 GDP to climb 3% in Thursday’s release. If that’s the case the markets could gain enough momentum to stop the dance and remain steady in five-digits. However, consumer sentiment, flat wages, and weak spending could all bring stocks down. And that’s not even mentioning the perennial concerns of the jobs market…

Aside from equities, WTI Crude is beginning the week at $79.59 per barrel, Spot Gold is a bit lower at $1053.70, and the 10-year Treasury yield is 3.49%.

Earnings continues this week. Analysts can only hope they keep up with what’s already been reported over the past two weeks.

“So far, 84% of S&P 500 companies have beaten expectations while just 14% have missed—this is as good a performance as we’ve seen in our history of data going back to the early-90s,” said Robert Kavcic of BMO Capital Markets. “Revenues are also coming in better than expected, with 65% of companies beating top line expectations.”

Key Events This Week:

Monday: 

Alas, no significant data…

• Treasury Auctions:
• 11:30 â€