Directional Bias For The Day:

• S&P Futures are higher
• Moving sideways since 9:30 AM on Monday
• The odds are for a sideways to an up day – watch for break above 3202.25 and break below 3192.00 for clarity
• Key economic data due:
  • Building Permits ( 1.48M vs. 1.41M est. ; prev. 1.46M ) at 8:30 AM
  • Housing Starts ( 1.37M vs. 1.34M est.; prev. 1.32) at 8:30 AM

Directional Bias Before Open:

Key Levels:

• Critical support levels for S&P 500 are 3191.08, 3183.63 and 3167.19
• Critical resistance levels for S&P 500 are 3198.23, 3205.01 and 3212.31
• Key levels for eMini futures: break above 3202.25, the high of 8:30 AM and break below 3192.00, the low of 5:30 AM

Pre-Open

• On Monday, at 4:00 PM, S&P future (March 2020) closed at 3196.00 and the index closed at 3191.45 – a spread of about +4.50 points; futures closed at 3198.50 for the day; the fair value is -2.50
• Pre-NYSE session open, futures are mixed- at 8:30 AM, S&P 500 futures were up by +0.75; Dow down by -19 and NASDAQ up by +6.50

Markets Around The World

• Markets in the East closed mostly higher – Sydney and Singapore closed lower
• European markets are mostly lower – Italy is up
• Currencies:
  

  Up	Down
  Dollar index EUR/USD USD/JPY USD/CAD INR/USD	GBP/USD USD/CHF AUD/USD NZD/USD

• Commodities:
  

  Up	Down
  Crude Oil Gold Copper Platinum Sugar Cocoa	NatGas Silver Palladium Coffee Cotton

• Bonds
  • 10-yrs yield closed at 1.892%, up from December 13 close of 1.819%;
  • 30-years is at 2.310%, up from 2.250%
  • 2-years yield is at 1.626%, up from 1.609%
  • The 10-Year-&-2-Year spread is at 0.266 up from 0.210
• VIX
  • Is at 12.09 down from December 16 close of 12.14; below 5-day SMA
  • Recent high was 16.90 on December 10; recent low was 11.42 on November 26

The trend and patterns on various time frames for S&P 500:

Previous Session

Major U.S. indices closed higher on Monday, December 16 in mixed volume. NASDAQ Composite and Russell 2000 traded in lower volume. All but Dow Jones Transportation Average made and closed at all time highs.

From Briefing.com:

The stock market rose further into record territory on Monday, as the Phase One trade deal and an improving Chinese economy helped maintain the market’s bullish bias. The Nasdaq Composite (+0.9%) rose above the S&P 500 (+0.7%), Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.4%), and Russell 2000 (+0.7%).

[…]

China’s industrial production and retail sales figures, which grew faster than expected in November, added to the positive economic outlook also shared by the homebuilders. For instance, the NAHB Housing Market Index hit its highest level since 1999, increasing to 76 in December (Briefing.com consensus 69) from 69 in November.

The S&P 500 energy (+1.4%), utilities (+1.3%), and health care (+1.1%) sectors each rose more than 1.0%. The market also continued to draw influential support from Apple (AAPL 279.86, +4.71, +1.7%).

[…]

U.S. Treasuries finished on a lower note, driving yields higher in a curve-steepening trade. The 2-yr yield increased three basis points to 1.53%, and the 10-yr yield increased seven basis points to 1.89%. The U.S. Dollar Index declined 0.1% to 97.05. WTI crude increased 0.2%, or $0.10, to $60.21/bbl.

[…]

• The NAHB Housing Market Index for December increased to 76 (Briefing.com consensus 69) from 69 in November, hitting its highest level since 1999.
• The Empire State Manufacturing Survey for December increased to 3.5 (Briefing.com consensus 3.5) from the prior month’s reading of 2.9.