Your Trading Week Ahead — February 27th

Welcome to Your Trading Week Ahead for February 27th. Here’s what you need to know before you go…

Quick recap

Equity markets experienced a ton of volatility last week after Vladimir Putin ordered Russian forces to conduct a “special military operation” to invade Ukraine. It came after weeks of aggressive posturing from the Russian president and warnings from western leaders.

News of the invasion sent the VIX spiking to a high of 37.79 during premarket trading on Thursday as the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) hit a low of $410.10 — a level not seen since May 2021. Needless to say, investors were spooked.

But Warren Buffett famously said “Be greedy when others are fearful”. And many traders decided to follow that advice by immediately hitting the bid following the opening bell. SPY closed Thursday near $428, up 4% from session lows. The ETF jumped another $10 Friday after sanctions were levied on Russia from countries all over the globe, finishing the week at $437.75. Check out the wild action in the SPY chart below:

After all that, the S&P 500 ultimately closed the week HIGHER by 0.83% at 4,384. The Dow finished nearly flat at 34,058. Tech stocks followed the S&P to the upside as the Nasdaq closed up 1.08% at 13,694.

While markets managed to stage a historic comeback last week, the Russia-Ukraine conflict appears far from over. In fact, new developments over the weekend such as Russian banks being expelled from the SWIFT global banking system and additional sanctions have resulted in aggressive rhetoric from Putin and Russian officials. And at writing, S&P 500 futures are down 2.2% — so expect more volatility ahead!

What to watch this week

Earnings roundup

If geo-political conflicts, Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s House testimony, and February’s jobs report isn’t enough for you, we’re set for another jam-packed week full of earnings.

We’ll hear quarterly data from Lucid Group, Inc. (LCID), Zoom Video (ZM), Target (TGT), SoFi Technologies (SOFI), Snowflake Inc. (SNOW), Costco (COST), The Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD), Best Buy (BBY), and Dollar Tree (DLTR) just to name a few.

Here’s a full break down of stocks reporting:

Economic calendar

There are several events on the calendar this week with the potential to move markets. Here’s some of the most important things to watch:

• Trade in goods, advance report (Jan.) – Monday at 8:30am ET
• Chicago PMI (Feb.) – Monday at 9:45am ET
• Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic speaks – Monday at 10:30am ET
• Markit manufacturing PMI (Feb. final) – Tuesday at 9:45am ET
• ISM manufacturing index (Feb.) – Tuesday at 10am ET
• Construction spending (Jan.) – Tuesday at 10am ET
• Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic speaks – Tuesday at 2pm ET
• ADP employment report (Feb.) – Wednesday at 8:15am ET
• Chicago Fed President Charles Evans speaks – Wednesday at 9am ET
• St. Louis Fed President James Bullard speaks – Wednesday at 9:30am ET
• Fed Chair Jerome Powell testifies at House committee – Wednesday at 10am ET
• Fed Beige Book – Wednesday at 2pm ET
• Initial and continuing jobless claims – Thursday at 8:30am ET
• Productivity revision (SAAR Q4) – Thursday at 8:30am ET
• Unit labor costs revision (SAAR Q4) – Thursday at 9:45am ET
• ISM services index (Feb.) – Thursday at 10am ET
• Factory orders (Jan.) – Thursday at 10am ET
• Core capital equipment orders (Jan. revision) – Thursday at 10am ET
• Fed Chair Jerome Powell testifies at Senate committee – Thursday at 10am ET
• New York Fed President John Williams speaks – Thursday at 6pm ET
• Nonfarm payrolls (Feb.) – Friday at 8:30am ET
• Unemployment rate (Feb.) – Friday at 8:30am ET
• Average hourly earnings (Feb.) – Friday at 8:30am ET
• Labor force participation rate, prime working age (Feb.) – Friday at 8:30am ET
• Chicago Fed President Charles Evans speaks – Friday at 8:45am ET

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