The Last Week Of May

Good morning. Premarket futures have been volatile ahead of the open and are pointing slightly lower as there are very few market-moving headlines this morning. What negative bias we have is being blamed on North Korea's nuclear testing.

In other headlines, the market continues to prepare for a bankruptcy at GM, the Justice Department cracks down on corporate bribes, reports that mortgage modification programs are having trouble reaching their goals, and Goldman Sachs is apparently pounding the table on commodities and basic materials.

Premarket gainers: CYTK, ARUN, COIN, EMIS, OXGN, BBOX, UTHR, HEB, CTV, EMKR, MDVN, STSI, SHLD, FSYS, MBT, ANDE, GSOL, FEED, QGEN, BCRX, ATVI, ONNN, PALM, Q, VICL, ALTH, AAPL, CKR, CUBA, SEED, CEL, & NVAX.

Premarket losers: GM, ATAC, RRGB, LDK, ZUMZ, CIM, SLM, PSYS, IVN, CSIQ, OGXI, FSLR, AIG, OPEN, KKD, AAI, PSUN, ZZ, AUY, ARMH, PUK, DROOY, DB, STX, & CRM.

Along with the 9:AM S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, at 10:AM we have reports on Consumer Confidence, the State Street Investor Confidence Index, and the Richmond Fed's Manufacturing Index. A half-hour later the Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey is due. Obama will also report Supreme Court Justice Nominee (Sonia Sotomayor) at 10:15.

Technically, the market needs to show some strength this week or risk much lower prices in the short-term. Simply holding the 20 day moving average line will be key as the market awaits comments from Einhorn and other hedge-fund titans this week and we see the return of end-of-the-month window dressing.

I hope your holiday was a good one. As with all four-day work weeks, this should prove to be a challenging one especially as we close out the month of May. Let's make it a great week!