The economic calendar starts off fairly light during the session on Friday, July 25. Initially, we will have very little in the way of Asian news, but do see a pickup in economic announcement importance once we reach the European session. German Consumer Confidence will be the first announcement that could possibly move the markets, been expected at 8.9 for the month of August, and this could of course move the DAX personally. If we see a number stronger than 8.9, it’s very possible that the buyers will come in and push that particular market higher, perhaps sending the DAX towards the €4500 level, an area that is targeted by intermediate traders.
Moving on to Great Britain, we see the Gross Domestic Product numbers coming out during the day, and of particular note will be the year-over-year number, expected to be 3.1%, which was previously 3.0% for the second quarter. This of course will have an effect on both the British pound, and the FTSE. A higher than expected GDP number will of course be bullish for the Pound and the FTSE, just as a lower than anticipated number will more than likely be quite negative. This will be especially interesting in the currency markets as the 1.70 level seems to be rather important, and support extends all the way down to the 1.79 level in the GBP/USD pair.
Finally, as we get to the American session we see the Durable Goods Orders never come out for the month of June, which is anticipated to be 0.4%, and had previously been released as -0.9%. This will essentially be the largest economic announcement for the US session, as most of the other ones are of very little specific value. The Durable Goods Orders number will certainly have an effect on the S&P 500, as well as the NASDAQ and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. This number does tend to be fairly volatile, so keep an eye out for that particular announcement as it could be the catalyst to finally break above the 2000 level in the S&P, which of course would signal the next leg higher.
For Friday, the markets still look like they are a bit tired at this point, so several of the indices could possibly pull back slightly during the day. Ultimately though, most indices look like they’re ready to go higher given enough time, but follow-through on a Friday is often difficult to get. Without a doubt, the most interesting setup seems to be in the US indices, as they all look ready to break out of major resistance barriers, such as the aforementioned 2000 level in the S&P, the 4500 level in the NASDAQ, and the 17,150 level in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Any move above those levels will send the buyers in and those market much higher.