The major stock market indexes ended last week in positive territory. On Friday, the Dow gained 0.38 percent, the S&P 500 gained 0.44 percent, and the Nasdaq gained 1.2 percent. For the week, the news was even better. The Dow advanced 2.8 percent, the S&P 500 advanced 2.5 percent, and the Nasdaq advanced 1.1 percent. News on Friday that the European Union appeared to have moved Greece toward some entitlement reforms and that Spain would not need assistance from the EU to meet its debts quelled some of the anxiety investors harbored over the possibility that the global economy might be headed toward a second recession.

Although the Volatility Index declined on Friday, and some good news in the tech sector led to advances in the broader equities market, investors continue to be uneasy over national issues of high unemployment, low demand in the housing market and volatility in the financial market. Friday is quadruple witching, the quarterly expiration of futures and options contracts. Investors can expect to see higher volume and volatility in the stock market at the end of the week as contract holders rework and massage their positions.

Economic data to be released during the week includes, on Tuesday, import prices from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Analysts expect that May prices will have declined by 1.3 percent, compared to April’s gain of 0.8 percent.

On Wednesday, data on U.S. housing starts will be released. It is expected that May’s annualized rate will come in at 650,000, while April’s rate was 672,000. The Producer Price Index will be released that day, too. It is expected that the figure for the overall index will fall by 0.5 percent for May, compared to April when the index fell 0.1 percent. Core PPI, which excludes food and energy costs, is predicted to have risen 0.1 percent in May, compared to April’s rise of 0.2 percent.

On Thursday, the Consumer Price Index will be released. While the overall index for April declined 0.1 percent, the figure for May is expected to show a decline of 0.2 percent. Core CPI for May is forecast to rise by 0.1 percent, the same as April.

Stocks to Watch

Some market strength last week gives us 13 stocks to watch this week for continued strength.

Alaska Air Group, Inc. (ALK)
American Tower Corporation (AMT)
Beckman Coulter, Inc. (BEC)
Crown Castle International Corp. (CCI)
Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (CHD)
InterOil Corporation (IOC)
Jarden Corporation (JAH)
Omnicare, Inc. (OCR)
Red Hat, Inc. (RHT)
Rock-Tenn Company (RKT)
Sonoco Products Company (SON)
Temple-Inland, Inc. (TIN)
Teekay Corporation (TK)

Dave Mecklenburg is the Editor-in-Chief of TigerSharkTrading.com.