• This Treasury document is seen as an indicator.

"One last thing."

 - Lt. Columbo

According to Zero Hedge, the Treasury's Quarterly Refunding Statement and Marketable Borrowing Estimates almost guarantees a tapering in the months ahead.

• Thanks for reading my diary and enjoy your evening.

Today was a bit of a departure from the down morning/up afternoon pattern of the last few days.

Let's see what manana brings.

Thanks for reading my diary and enjoy your evening.

• How much to buy?

My mavens on the floor of the Exchange see only $50 million to buy on the close.

In terms of sectors, the largest buys are energy and financials at $35 million each, and the largest sells are materials and industrials at $20 million each.

Lorillard (LO) has $65 million to buy, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) has $35 million to buy, and Lowe's (LOW) has $27.5 million to buy. Pfizer (PFE) and Philip Morris International (PM) each have $15 million to sell.

• The real estate maven scrutinizes today's data.

Real estate maven Mark Hanson pooh-poohs the housing data this morning:

Pending sales were good in June.  BUT because of several market and fundamental factors this particular data release is mostly worthless and provides little indication of present conditions or how July/Aug Existing Home Sales "closings" will turn out.

That's because:

1)  in the first half of June rates were only half way through the "surge" (10s average 2.15% through the 15th).  Rates completed their "reset phase" -- or at least took a breather before the next leg higher -- in the back half of June/1st week in July. Therefore, in the first half of June the "surge" was having a far lesser negative effect than in the back half of June or in July.

2)  We know "historically" that fence sitters and panic buyers tend to "jump" when rates "rise".  This effect lasts a few weeks to a couple of months.  But, the rate "Surge Catalyst" was unlike anything in history.  In short, rates didn't "rise" over three quarters to 1.5 years like they usually do...they "surged" -- by a greater percentage than at any time in the past several decades -- over 6 short weeks. This is a completely different animal, which narrows the window through which "fence sitters" can squeeze, tremendously.

3)  We also know that when rates "Surge" significant organic buyer contract fall-out occurs for various reasons mostly surrounding rates, loan locks, affordability, qualification etc.

4)Therefore, with respect to the bull hopes of a "buying spree" from "fence sitters" carrying home sales for several months, it's a non-starter.  In sum, no "net home sales" increase will occur because the rate "surge" happened so quickly and was so large there will be more "fall-out" from existing contracts than panic buyers able to go into contract over such a short period of time.

5)Going forward -- in the context of much higher bond yields and rates that make a 3% yield on a rental seem risky as a bond replacement trade -- the housing "demand composition" of Pendings and Existing Sales will change, quickly.  That is, fewer investors in the market tripping all over each other to "over pay for houses to rehab/rent by 10% to 20%" will not only cause an immediate air-pocket under volume AND prices but lead to a weakening in the "pendings to closing" ratio.

The "Pendings to Closing" ratio has been strong post Twist/QE3 due to investors and other all-cash, quick-close buyers. This is in contrast to the period following the sunset of the Homebuyer Tax Credit in mid-2010 and beginning of the Twist/QE3 inspired investor short-squeeze in real estate that began in 2011 when far fewer Pendings turned into "final closed sales".

In short, as the "demand composition" moves incrementally back "towards organic" from "investor" and "distressed" (beginning immediately) final sales will decrease at a much greater pace than Pendings...the spread will widen. Prices will also suffer greatly, as investors and "distressed" have been responsible for the lions' share of the past years' price gains.

A big Inflection Point...when Existing Sales drop MoM AND YoY:When July Existing Sales (May and June Pendings contracts) are reported by NAR in a few weeks, they will once again be lower MoM but up YoY...albeit the YoY "gains" will continue to shrink. However, the "August" Existing Sales (back-half June and July Pendings contracts when rates were really surging) -- reported in the third week in September -- is when Existing Sales will print their first negative MoM AND YoY results since May 2011.  And by this time NAR reported house prices will also be down two months in a row....and sharply.   Also by September, New Home Sales will be in their second month of disappointment, as the "Surge" will be fully factored in starting in July. On New Home Sales over the coming months, they will continue to exhibit weakness in new orders, an increase in past months' "sales" contract fall-out, and weak prices due to the "surge". But I do not expect a YoY decline this year.

Fewer Distressed Houses and Investors = A Clear Negative for "this" housing market.  (Refer to my 6/13/2013 report entitled "Foreclosures are the Solution, not the Problem")

Remember, more organic buyers and fewer investors/"distressed" -- the latter who have been tripping all over themselves to overpay by 10% to 20% and rehabbing / flipping houses causing a sharp spike in prices (house "valuation" reporting firms count materials and labor as "appreciation") -- is a clear negative for the macro housing market.  That's because with ~50% of all mortgage'd homeowners Zombie renters of their own house unable to sell or rebuy -- due to negative equity;  "effective" negative equity;  a legacy HELOC never charged off by the bank;  or lack of sufficient income/credit needed to get a mortgage loan -- the market is "structurally" broken.  And it will remain that way until such time it is allowed to de-lever and spend a subsequent period of years in a consolidation phase.

• My most mistaken investment or trading idea.

Navin R. Johnson (Steve Martin): The new phone book's here! The new phone book's here!

Harry Hartounian (Jackie Mason): Boy, I wish I could get that excited about nothing.

Navin R. Johnson: Nothing? Are you kidding? Page 73 -- Johnson, Navin R.! I'm somebody now! Millions of people look at this book everyday! This is the kind of spontaneous publicity -- your name in print -- that makes people. I'm in print! Things are going to start happening to me now.

(The Sniper points to Navin's name in the phone book.)

Sniper (M. Emmet Walsh): Johnson, Navin R. -- sounds like a typical bastard.

-- The Jerk

Today, with this post, inaugurates a weekly column called "The Jerk." Modeled after Navin R. Johnson in the movie, "The Jerk" (played by Steve Martin), it will chronicle my most significant boner, mistake and plain jerky investment or trading idea.

Importantly, it will offer a lesson learned.

Please fell free -- in the comments section -- to offer up your idea of my most stupid move during the week. (Note: There will be a special prize that I will be working on and will be completed this year for the one selected! And I don't mean some "pencils, some hula dolls, or even an ashtray.")

The first "Jerk" goes to my reluctance to re enter my Altisource Portfolio (ASPS) long (a few months ago), even though I was so close to the company and the story and of the view that next year's earnings would almost double to more than $9 a share. As some of you might recall, I was concerned that 2013 Street estimates were too high (they were), and I thought I could pick up the shares under $70 a share.      

Of course when the shares sold off to under $70 a share in early April, 2013, I chickened out.

Last sale: $119 a share. (Here is a six-month chart on the shares of Altisource.) 

While ASPS, my stock of the decade (anointed in late 2009), was a huge winner, I screwed up and deserve getting "The Jerk" award for the miscue.

The lessons learned on Altisource  was that (1) I shouldn't be so precise in my entry point, (2) I should have recognized that the shares would bottom out BEFORE analysts took down their estimates as the intermediate-term outlook was so exquisite and (3) sometimes one gets too close to a situation and abandons common sense.

Truck Driver Picking Up Navin: St. Louis?

Navin R. Johnson: No, Navin Johnson.

• The weakness in selected financials and the Russell 2000 makes it different than the past two trading days.

Today is the third day in the row that we have seen a 8-10 S&P 500 drop in the morning.

The first two days witnessed a nice recovery in the afternoon, and many expect the same today.

But to me, the weakness in selected financials and the Russell 2000 makes it different.

I would add that "the easy trade" (a rally in the afternoon) was also seen by many of my hedgehogger friends in the Nikkei. Not such a great two days in that market.

• The yield on the 10-year U.S. note is now at 2.61%.

Interest rates have begun to climb back a bit today.

The yield on the 10-year U.S. note is now at 2.61%.

I suspect the "line in the sand" at which the 10-year yield will negatively impact the equities market is roughly 2.65%.

• Midday musings.

Here are some midday musings from Sir Arthur Cashin:

Market shows general indifference to both mergers and data.  Tokyo slump has little impact since Friday's ultimately had little impact.

Judge's "Bernanke can testify" ruling spooked some bids but brought no sellers.  Ten year yield benign - below 2.6 (2.61 = alert; 2.8 = warning).  Other assets meander independently.

Summer Monday volume.  Run rate projects to an NYSE 540/620 final.

• I don't see the shares' appeal at current prices.

There is an upbeat conversation on Caterpillar (CAT) on "Fast Money" now -- in part because of an announced $1 billion stock buyback.

Frankly, I don't see the relevance of the buyback within the context of a $55 equity market capitalization.

I don't see the shares' appeal at current prices - I am in Jim Chanos camp on this one.

Value trap.

• Doing little after my earlier short rentals.

Though a thin-reed indicator, for sure, the market continues to look tired at midday.

Doing little after my earlier short rentals.

• A deeper look.

June pending home sales (which typically foreshadow new-home sales) fell by -0.4% and that compares to the May rise of +6.7%.

During June, according to Bankrate.com, the average conventional 30-year mortgage rose from about 3.65% to 4.2%. This, along with the continued rise in home prices is "taking some of the momentum out of contract activity in June," said the chief economist of the NAR. He also said, "The persistent lack of inventory also is contributing to lower contract signings."

This, combined with below-consensus exisitng-home sales last month are further evidence that housing demand and rise in home prices is ebbing.

As I have written, housing affordability is weakening this year (higher mortgage rates and new-age purchases have lifted home prices), the rate of growth in new-home prices have already begun to decelerate, and, as Jim "El Capitan" Cramer has suggested, several homebuiilders (e.g. Pulte (PHM) and D.R. Horton (DHI)) have begun to warn that they have been adversely impacted by higher mortgage rates.

With rates now rising (albeit, still historically low) and prices increasing at a rapid clip because of low inventory in large part due to investors that have taken thousands of homes off the market, home purchases are being impacted, whether for a new or existing home. Likely soon, the home price gains should slow as the internal rate of return on investor buying shrinks to unattractive levels from here and price rises start to follow income gains. On mortgage rates, all eyes are on the Fed and the U.S. Treasury market. The Fed needs to back off, but nothing is for free regardless of what they do at this point.

I believe that the emergining weakness/pause in housing could be market-impactful.

• Currently, only two out of 85 stocks that I have mentioned in my diary are eligible to buy.

Jerry(Jerry Seinfeld): (To Kramer and Morty) What is this about?

Kramer(Michael Richards): I'm completely changing the configuration of the apartment. You're not gonna believe it when you see it. A whole new lifestyle.

Jerry: What are you doing?

Kramer: Levels.

Jerry: Levels?

Kramer: Yeah, I'm getting rid of all my furniture. All of it. And I'm going to build these different levels, with steps, and it'll all be carpeted with a lot of pillows. You know, like ancient Egypt.

Jerry: You drew up plans for this?

Kramer: No, no. It's all in my head.

Morty(Barney Martin): I don't know how you're going to be comfortable like that.

Kramer: Oh, I'll be comfortable.

-- "Seinfeld," The Pony Remark

Below is an updated list of buy levels on selected stocks that I have mentioned on Real Money Pro.

I would now rate only two out of 85 stocks (compared to five out of 84 stocks in late June) as attractive to buy at current levels. They are Monitise (MONI.L) and Northwest Bancshares (NWBI).

Let me explain the distinction in the two different approaches I use in addressing a portfolio and to the portfolio's individual stock construction. I would describe this morning's levels exercise as more of a bottoms-up approach toward selecting individual securities, as compared to my calculation of the S&P 500's fair market value (I am still grappling with this calculation!), which is a top-down approach toward the broader market. The two approaches will often yield different results. In the case of levels, 3% of the monitored stocks are eligible to buy (compared with 6% at June's "Levels").

1. AIG (AIG), under $42
2. Altisource Asset Management (AAMC), under $255
3. Altisource Portfolio Solutions (ASPS), under $98
4. Altisource Residential (RESI), under $18.50
5. American Express (AXP), avoid
6. Apple (AAPL), under $425
7. Avon Products (AVP), under $21
8. Bank of America (BAC), under $13.50
9. Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B), avoid
10. Bridgepoint Education (BPI), avoid
11. Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY), under $42
12. Broadcom (BRCM), avoid
13. Caterpillar (CAT), avoid
14. Charming Shoppes (CHRS), acquired
15. Chimera Investment (CIM), under $2.80
16. Chubb (CB), under $82.50
17. Citigroup (C), under $48.50
18. Cohen & Steers (CNS), under $32.50
19. Colgate-Palmolive (CL), under $56
20. Clorox (CLX), under $82.50
21. ConocoPhillips (COP), under $58.50
22. CSX Corporation (CSX), under $23
23. Danaher (DHR), avoid
24. Dell (DELL), under $12.00
25. Disney (DIS), under $60
26. eBay (EBAY), under $50.50
27. E*Trade (ETFC), under $11.50
28. ExxonMobil (XOM), under $89
29. Facebook (FB), under $30.50
30. Ford (F), under $15.50
31. Fortinet (FTNT), under $19
32. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX), under $26.50
33. Fusion-io (FIO), avoid
34. General Motors (GM), under $32.50
35. Goldman Sachs (GS), avoid
36. Grand Canyon Education (LOPE), avoid
37. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR), avoid
38. Groupon (GRPN), avoid
39. Henry Schein (HSIC), avoid
40. Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), under $21.50
41. Home Depot (HD), avoid
42. Home Loan Servicing Solutions (HLSS), under $23.50
43. IBM (IBM), under $192
44. Infoblox (BLOX), under $28
45. Intel (INTC), under $21
46. International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF), under $73.50
47. iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index Fund (FXI), avoid
48. J.C. Penney (JCP), avoid
49. JPMorgan Chase (JPM), under $52.50
50. Kellogg (K), under $62.50
51. KKR Financial (KFN), under $10
52. Legg Mason (LM), under $32
53. Lincoln National (LNC), avoid
54. Loews (L), avoid
55. Lowe's (LOW), avoid
56. MetLife (MET), avoid
57. MGIC Investment (MTG), under $6.50
58. Microsoft (MSFT), under $29
59. Monitise, under 39*
60. Morgan Stanley (MS), avoid
61. Nationstar Mortgage (NSM), avoid
62. Northwest Bancshares, under $14.15*
63. Oaktree (OAK), under $49.50
64. Och-Ziff (OZM), under $10
65. Ocwen Financial (OCN), under $42.50
66. Peabody Energy (BTU), avoid
67. PepsiCo (PEP), under $80
68. Pitney Bowes (PBI), avoid
69. PNC Financial (PNC), under $69.50
70. Procter & Gamble (PG), under $77.50
71. ProShares UltraShort 20+ Year Treasury (TBT), under $68
72. iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond Fund (TLT), avoid
73. Prudential (PRU), avoid
74. Market Vectors Retail ETF (RTH), avoid
75. Qlik Technologies (QLIK), under $28.50
76. Schwab (SCHW), avoid
77. Sourcefire (FIRE), acquired by Cisco
78. SunTrust (STI), under $30
79. Target (TGT), avoid
80. T. Rowe Price (TROW), under $70
81. Waddell & Reed (WDR), under $45.50
82. Walter Energy (WLT), avoid
83. Wells Fargo (WFC), under $40
84. XL Group (XL), under $28.50
85. Yahoo! (YHOO), avoid

*Eligible to buy at current levels

(Note: "Avoids" are eligible to short/sell at certain levels.)

• I still think that the Russell 2000's weakness could presage a general market drop.

The Russell 2000 is the weakest of the major Indices.

While I observed late last week that iShares Russell 2000 Index Fund (IWM) weakness could presage a general market drop (and I was wrong), I am sticking to this notion.

• I continue to suggest that a pause in housing is at hand.

Pending home sales are down -0.4% (another disappointment).

I continue to suggest that a pause in housing is at hand.

Namely, SPY and RTH.

I have added to my SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) short at $169, and I am pressing my Market Vectors Retail ETF (RTH) short.

• Stay tuned.

With refinancings evaporating, housing activity decelerating and the savings rate at a five-year-plus low, my next short target becomes the retail sector.

I have already been accumulating shorts in Market Vectors Retail ETF (RTH), Home Depot (HD) and Lowe's (LOW).

That group will be expanded with new names in the days ahead as I believe the sector will catch up to the schmeissing seen recently in homebuilders.

Stay tuned.

• If I were long, I would take profits.

Bank stocks look tired. (Note: I had been focused on Bank of America (BAC) as a market tell.)

I would expect a rollover from the group, particularly the mortgage-centric players.

If I were long, I would take profits.

• Jeff Saut starts his day by quoting Sonny Kleinfeld's The Traders.

Sir Jeff Saut at Raymond James (who is also looking for a market top) starts this morning's commentary with a terrific quote (and trading lesson) which I am restating below:

I asked the obligatory question: How do you decide when to make a trade? "Through experience," he says, propping his foot up on a small fold-out seat screwed to his post. "Over the course of eighteen years as a specialist, I've had every type of experience -- up market and down market, people getting shot, wars, you name it -- and you learn how to react based on those experiences. I guess I've had everything happen, and I guess you store it in the computer in your head. You don't have a lot of time to decide, that's for sure. And you have to anticipate. You have to look at the tape and anticipate -- two months or three months, maybe a day or so, maybe two or three seconds before someone else. That's what makes you a good trader.... People talk a lot about their bellies. I guess that has something to do with it, too. You do feel something in your gut."

He clears his throat with a loud harrumph and goes on: "You watch the tape. There's a talent to reading the tape. Later today, either the market is going to go further down or it's going to rally. It's down fourteen now, at eleven-thirty. You have to anticipate when the rally will start and end. An outsider looks and sees the market down six points for the day. A student of the market looks at what the market was doing over the course of the day. Here, we live and die by the moment. The market is constantly breathing during the day. You have to breathe with it and sense its pulse. That determines whether you're a successful trader or an unsuccessful trader."

Do you ever hold on to a bad trade and hope for a rebound? I ask. "Live in hope," Milton says ruefully, "and die in despair." He goes on to say, "You try to stretch your profits and limit your losses. The worst thing you can do in this business is try to protect a bad trade. You do this and they carry you out of here. This reminds me of the kid who (poops) in bed and gets it all over his legs trying to kick it out of the crib. You see, a bad trade is like a diseased piece of meat. You don't want it any more of it. Throw it away. Bury it. Burn it, just get the damned thing away from your mouth. When you're breaking in a new trader, the hardest thing to learn is to admit that you're wrong. It's a hard pill to swallow. You have to be man enough to admit to your peers that you are wrong and get out. Then you're alive and playing the game the next day. A lot of traders don't learn that and they fail."

-- The Traders by Sonny Kleinfield (1983)

• Southwest Securities' Mark Grant writes about the shifting sands of the municipal market.

Southwest Securities' Sir Mark J. Grant, who started his career in the municipal business, writes about the shifting sands of the municipal market this morning.

I began my career in this space. Fresh off my internship I was assigned to cover small banks in Missouri and Kansas and sell them Municipal Bonds. My fondest recollection was of a small bank in western Kansas that said he couldn't buy bonds now because, "There are green bugs in the milo." I had no idea what green bugs were then and wasn't too sure about milo.

Almost forty years later and having supervised the municipal trading/sales and banking areas at four different investment banks I still am on the watch for the green bugs in the milo. Munis are the most decentralized and still the most "good old boy" part of the Capital Markets. Relationships are paramount in the municipal markets, and in non competitive situations, who you know often trumps what you know in doing business. Municipals are a unique space.

For many years people and institutions paid less attention than they should to the financial statements of municipalities. This was because the mono-line insurance companies dominated any credit considerations. Then, as these companies wandered off and insured various mortgage bond transactions, they went bust or awfully close to it. The sands shifted, people started looking at balance sheets once again.

Detroit is now teaching us several lessons and you can feel the sand shifting yet again. The normal credit analysis performed by many money managers is insufficient in my estimation and because of this losses will be taken. The issue here is the pension funds that may have priority over the general obligation bonds. This is made clear, as an example, in the Michigan State laws and I am expecting new laws and new State and Federal regulations to be passed to guarantee this priority. Pensions will trump the bond holders and General Obligation bonds must now be viewed in the light of a subordinated position. This may shift ratings but it will certainly shift the appreciation of risk in Municipal Bonds and will most probably cause them to widen against both Treasuries and other forms of debt.

General Obligation bonds no longer have the first call on assets.

Specifically, if you are analyzing a Municipal credit, you should look carefully at the size of their pension obligations and calculate the ratio for pension obligations divided by their G.O. debt. Then you should examine the unfunded pension liabilities, add them to their pension obligations and divide that number by their G.O. debt. These calculations will help you get a more realistic handle on the risk that you are assuming when buying the G.O. debt of a municipality. It is not enough, any longer, to examine a Municipal credit in the same way that you examine a corporate credit because Detroit is setting a new standard where pension obligations have the first call on assets and General Obligation bonds have been pushed into a secondary position.

The psychology of the Municipal market is also shifting in the sand. It was once a widely held belief that the State would stand behind any large Municipal credit in its domain. Detroit is proving this to be an inaccurate observation. There was even the notion that if the Municipal credit was large and systemic enough that the Federal government might step in to help. Detroit is exemplifying that this was a second mistake in thinking. We are now learning that each Municipal credit is a stand-alone situation which is a break from the traditional thinking of days past.

I think it is true that Municipalities can meander along longer than corporate credits and certainly than mortgage credits because they can increase their taxes and/or increase what is taxed. So the time-line is longer when a credit is in trouble but, if a Municipal credit falls over the edge, the consequences for debt holders have now become more severe. Detroit brings Chicago to mind and then my caution widens as you look at other large cities. Greater care must now be exercised and I would suggest that many of you should begin a re-examination of what you own and whether you wish to keep owning it.

Do your homework now before another Detroit pops up its head and takes a chunk out of your posterior.

• I am looking for a down week.

I added to SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) short at $168.77 just now.

I am looking for a down week.

• Let's start by taking a peek at the overnight and early-morning price action of the major asset classes.

The rundown:

• S&P futures -4;
• Nasdaq futures -;
• Nikkei schmeissed for second day in a row, -3% and at the lowest level in three weeks (is Abe retracting previous fiscal pledges?);
• Shanghai -1.7% (near yearly low);
• European markets + small (Danone ++, earnings beat);
• euro +;
• gold +$10;
• crude -$0.15; and
• the 10-year U.S. note's yield stays elevated at 2.58%.

Worth mentioning:

• The love affair with stocks continued on Friday as the bears' hearts remain broken.
• I remain bearish and continue to raise my short exposure on a scale.
• I continue to see a 2013 market high possibly being put in this month.
• The Nikkei, falling and S&P 500 rallying is relatively unprecedented and could lead to a weakening U.S. stock market based on history.
• I have argued that profit margins are a mean-reverting economic series and, as such, are vulnerable to contraction. According to my estimation, a lower effective tax rate and diminished financing costs have accounted for about 25% of the record expansion in margins. The Wall Street Journal seems to agree with me this morning.
• The Fed'sbalance sheet will exceed $4 billion by year-end if there is no tapering.
• Lacker the hawk.
• The July Fed meeting -- full of sound and fury signifying nothing?
• Abenomics is challenged, as June retail sales drop (-2% compared to +0.8%).
• More evidence of suspicious Chinese economic data? A nationwide audit?
• Chinese corporate profits ebb as growth slows.
• Jim Chanos notes that more companies are trading over 3x book value now than in March 2000.
• John P. Hussman: "Valuation Note -- Shiller earnings = 6.3% of current S&P revenue vs. historical norm of 5.3%. At normal margins, Shiller P/E would now be 29. And nonfinancial corporate debt has increased by over $1.093 trillion in just the past seven months."
• Bank of America: "Institutions have never dumped more stock onto retail investors as they have in the past four weeks."
• SAC faces the threat of clawbacks.
• Ryan Newman kisses the brick.
• Jeter baseball and hello, and the New York Yankees welcome back to Alfonso Soriano.
• Meryl Streep's daughter is great in HBO's "The Newsroom." (Note: I am watching last night's episode as I type. You might ask why I didn't watch it last night. I was obviously watching "Devious Maids." I love Rosie.) 

In the press:

• AP -- "Signs of Declining Economic Security."
• The Wall Street Journal -- "Obama's Fed Circus"; "Fed Is Delaying Day of Reckoning"; Blinder likes Yellen. 
• Financial Times -- "What the Federal Reserve Needs"; "New Glass-Steagall Would Help to Keep Lenders in Line."
• The New York Times: Bill Keller asks if it is the President's job to confront racism.

Here are some potential economic and other catalysts that could influence trading today:

• Greece is expected to obtain next tranche of aid money on Monday July 29.
• RBA's Stevens speaks (Monday night)
• U.S. pending home sales for June (10:00 a.m. EDT, -1% estimate)
• Dallas Fed (7.3 estimate)
• Earnings before the open: Armstrong World Industries (AWI), Franklin Resources (BEN), Danone, Komatsu, Loews (L), Reckitt Benckiser, Sohu (SOHU), Simon Property Group (SPG), Tenneco (TEN) and TNT Express
• Earnings after the close: Amkor Technology (AMKR), Anadarko Petroleum (APC), Compass Minerals (CMP), Express Scripts (ESRX), Sourcefire (FIRE), General Growth Properties (GGP), Hartford (HIG), Herbalife (HLF), Masco (MAS), Manitowoc (MTW), PMC-Sierra (PMCS), Post Properties (PPS), PartnerRe (PRE), Bankrate (RATE), Sonus Networks (SONS), Veeco Instruments (VECO), Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) and XL Group (XL).