Weekly Binary Options Trading Briefing 5/6-13/2013 – S&P 500 Breaks 1600

Binary Options Trading Recommendations for this week – Markets Information and Trading Tips

S&P 500 rises above 1600 for first time into the Friday close.  Central Banks and Macro Data drive market direction.  Non Farm Payrolls surprise to the upside at 165,000.  Corporate earnings to take back attention next week.

S&P 500 Breaks 1600 on Stronger Non Farm Payrolls

The S&P closed at new all-time highs on Friday, breaking above the closely watched 1600 level for the first time.  The week’s final bull wave was inspired by the positive surprise in the monthly Non Farm Payrolls report out of the US, which shows that the country added 165,000 new jobs for the month of April.  The report was positive for a few different reasons.  The same report last month was especially weak (at 88,000 jobs for March), so the April figures is leading some investors to argue that the poor numbers seen previously were simply a one-off and not indicative of a larger trend.  More important, however, was the fact that other economic reports were giving early indications that the final numbers on Friday would show continued weakness. 

        Most closely watched was the month’s ADP report, which came in at 119,000 jobs (much lower than the 150,000 jobs expected).  Market chatter and rumors started calling for an NFP result in the 125,000 region after these reports, so the final upside surprise caught many traders off-guard.  The re-positioning that came later brought a more forceful reaction and markets managed to hold at the upper end of short term ranges after the break above psychological levels at 1600.  Earlier in the week, the ECB cut interest rates to a new record low (0.5%), and this was another supportive factor for stock values.

The Week Ahead     

In the week ahead, markets will start to turn the focus back to corporate earnings.  Some of the names to watch include ArcelorMittal, Disney, News Corp, Toyota, Sony and Nissan.

My Trade Ideas (Test on CommuniTraders):

1. The EUR/CHF has seen declines in recent sessions before making a bounce off of 1.22 and making another run higher.  This area now marks support (resistance turned support) and should contain prices at least on first test.  Central bank policy from the SNB remains supportive of weakness in the CHF, so any declines should be viewed as buying opportunities.  I will be looking to enter into weekly CALLS in the EUR/CHF at 1.2250, expecting a run back up to at least 1.2350.

2. For stock trades, I will look to play off of last week’s better earnings stories, which was seen with Western Union (WU).  First quarter earnings came in at 0.37 per share (against expectations of 0.32) and with its high dividend yield and excellent P/E ratio (9.4), the stock looks to have more upside.  From a technical perspective, the stock has filled its trading gap to 15.40, so this area should act as support going forward.  Enter into one month CALLS in WU at 15.40, as long term resistance is not seen until the 18 area, making risk to reward highly favorable of the bullish stance.

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