Directional Bias For The Day:

• S&P Futures are lower;
• The odds are for a down day — watch for a break above 4365.50 for a change of sentiments
• Key economic data report due during the day:
  • Philly Fed Manufacturing Index ( 21.9 vs. 28.1 est.; prev. 30.7) at 8:30 AM
  • Unemployment Claims  ( 360K vs. 350K est.; prev. 373K) at 8:30 AM
  • Empire State Manufacturing Index ( 43.0 vs. 17.9 est.; prev. 17.4) at 8:30 AM
  • Import Prices ( 1.0% vs. 1.1% est.; prev. 1.1%) at 8:30 AM
  • Industrial Production ( 0.6% est.; prev. 0.8%) at 9:15 AM
  • Capacity Utilization Rate ( 75.7% est.; prev. 75.2%) at 9:15 AM
  • Fed Chair Testimony at 9:30 AM

Directional Bias Before Open:

Key Levels:

• Critical support levels for S&P 500 are 4353.38, 4345.87, and 4329.38
• Critical resistance levels for S&P 500 are 4371.10, 4383.80, and 4393.68
• Key levels for E-mini futures: break above 4359.50, the high of 6:45 AM and break below 4345.25, the low of 7:15 AM

Pre-Open

• On Wednesday at 4:00 PM, S&P futures (September 2021) closed at 4367.75 and the index closed at 4374.30 – a spread of about -6.50 points; futures closed at 4367.75 for the day; the fair value is +0.00
• Pre-NYSE session open, futures are mixed – at 8:30 AM, S&P 500 futures were down by -13.25; Dow down by -134, and NASDAQ up by +14.50

Markets Around The World

• Markets in the East closed mixed – Shanghai, Hong Kong, Mumbai, and Seoul closed up; Tokyo, Sydney, and Singapore closed lower
• European markets are lower
• Currencies (from two weeks ago):
  

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

• Commodities (from two weeks ago):
  • Energy futures are mixed
  • Precious metals are higher
  • Industrial metals are mostly higher
  • Most soft commodities are mixed
• Treasuries (from two weeks ago)
  • 10-years yield closed at 1.329%, down -11.4 basis points from two weeks ago;
  • 30-years is at 1.945%, down -12.0 basis points;
  • 2-years yield is at 0.225%, down -3.0 basis points;
  • The 10-Year-&-2-Year spread is at 1.104, down from 1.188
• VIX
  • At 17.50 @ 8:00 AM; up from the last close; above 5-day SMA;
  • Recent high =  21.82 on June 21; low =  14.10 on June 29
  • Sentiment: Risk-Off

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

Previous Session

Major U.S. indices closed mixed on Wednesday, July 14 in mostly higher volume. S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and Dow Transportation Average closed up; NASDAQ Composite, Russell 2000, NYSE Composite, and Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index closed lower. NASDAQ Composite traded in lower volume.

From Briefing.com:

The S&P 500 increased 0.1% on Wednesday in a defensive session led by Apple (AAPL 149.15, +3.51, +2.4%) and the counter-cyclical stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.1%) also eked out a positive finish, while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.2%) closed slightly lower. The Russell 2000 dropped 1.6%. […] Specifically, producer prices for final demand rose 1.0% m/m (Briefing.com consensus +0.6%) while producer prices, excluding food and energy, also rose 1.0% m/m (Briefing.com consensus +0.5%). Year-over-year, they were running noticeably hot at 7.3% and 5.6%, respectively. The 10-yr yield fell six basis points to 1.36%, which was cited by some as a supportive factor for the S&P 500 information technology sector (+0.7%). […] The defensive tone was further corroborated by the positive performances of the real estate (+0.9%), consumer staples (+0.9%), and utilities (+0.8%) sectors. Conversely, the energy (-2.9%) and financials (-0.5%) sectors were pockets of weakness amid the lower interest rates and weaker oil prices ($73.07, -2.17, -2.9%). […] The 2-yr yield decreased three basis points to 0.22%. The U.S. Dollar Index fell 0.4% to 92.37. […] S&P 500 +16.5% YTD Dow Jones Industrial Average +14.1% YTD Nasdaq Composite +13.6% YTD Russell 2000 +11.5% YTD Overseas:  Europe: DAX flat, FTSE -0.5%, CAC flat Asia: Nikkei -0.4%, Hang Seng -0.5%, Shanghai -1.1% Commodities:  Crude Oil -2.21@ 73.11 Nat Gas -0.04 @ 3.66 Gold +16.80 @ 1825.10 Silver +0.18 @ 26.30 Copper -0.02 @ 4.27