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US Stocks: Wall Street Preview

VIX, MS, GS, XLF

Tuesday before the open the following companies are scheduled to report earnings:

BZ, RSH, PEI, EME, GTI, TRS, ASTE, CDI, CIE, ECL, PCS, RBA, AMT, HSII, CAS, EXH, GPX, RRD, SHOO, UTHR, MSO, UNS, AKRX, AMED, CMLP, CRZO, EXPD, SRE, VSI, AUXL, HFC, M, TDS, THC, USM, AMCX, IPCC, SPRD, SSP, HD, SKS, AG, TSL, CBRL, UNFI, AZO, BMO.

US Futures were higher after hours Monday: S&P 500 futures are +1.24 from fair value of 1485.96 and NAS100 futures are +1.88 from fair value of 2700.37.

Watching the VIX: Today’s selling caused the CBOE Volatility Index VIX 19.18, +5.01 to rise over 35.0% and climb above its 200-Day MA. The near-term volatility measure finished at its highest level of the year.

To be released:

1) Case-Shiller 20-city Index (Consensus 6.5%) and

2) FHFA Housing Price Index.

US Major Market Indexes Technical Analysis

Date

Symbol

Price

Technical Analysis

Support

Resistance

25 Feb 2013

QQQ

66.31

Neutral (0.06)

65.22

66.89

25 Feb 2013

DIA

137.66

Neutral (0.05)

136.00

139.22

25 Feb 2013

SPY

149

Neutral (0.05)

147.07

149.54

Monday Recap

DJIA -216.40 at 13784.17, NAS -45.57 at 3116.25, S&P 500 -27.75 at 1487.85

Equities endured a broad sell off on heavy volume which saw the S&P 500 drop 1.8%. Bearish sentiment built into afternoon trade as the likely deadlock in the Italian general election weighed on markets.

The financial sector was the day’s weakest performer due to its heightened sensitivity to sovereign debt. In addition, banks are one of the main lines of defense in the face of economic or political uncertainty. The SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF NYSEArca: XLF 17.26, -0.48 shed 2.7% and Morgan Stanley NYSE:MS 22.03, -1.55 was the weakest performer among the majors. Goldman Sachs NYSE:GS 147.65, -6.44 fell 4.2% after it was reported that the investment bank will begin a fresh round of job cuts later this week.

In addition to financials, other cyclical sectors underperformed as well. The materials sector saw weakness for the majority of last week and Monday’s selling caused the sector to turn negative for the year.