Directional Bias For The Day:

• S&P Futures are higher at 8:15 AM; up almost 100 points from the 4:30 PM low of 4148.25; rising since 6:45 after a small retreat
• The odds are for an up day with elevated volatility; watch for a break below 4226.25
• Key economic data report due during the day:
  • JOLTS Job Openings (10.96M est.; prev. -10.93B) at 10:00 AM

Directional Bias Before Open:

Key Levels:

• Critical support levels for S&P 500 are 4198.03, 4157.87, and 4114.65
• Critical resistance levels for S&P 500 are 4276.98, 4291.77, and 4318.98
• Key levels for E-mini futures: break above 4249.50, the high of 8:00 AM and break below 4226.25, the low of 6:45 AM

Pre-Open

• On Tuesday at 4:00 PM, S&P futures (March 2022) closed at 4165.25 and the index closed at 4170.70 – a spread of about -5.50 points; futures closed at 4168.75 for the day; the fair value is -3.50
• Pre-NYSE session open, futures are higher – at 8:00 AM, S&P 500 futures were up by +79.75; Dow by +533; and NASDAQ by +297.75

Markets Around The World

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

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

• Commodities (Compared to two weeks ago):
  • Energy futures are higher
  • Precious metals are higher
  • Industrial metals are higher
  • Soft commodities are mixed
• Treasuries (Compared to two weeks ago)
  • 10-years yield closed at 1.872%, down -7.6 basis points from two weeks ago;
  • 30-years is at 2.244%, down -0.9 basis points;
  • 2-years yield is at 1.605%, up +4.3 basis points;
  • The 10-Year-&-2-Year spread is at 0.267, down from 0.386
  • The 30-Year-&-10-Year spread is at 0.372, up from 0.305
• VIX
  • At 33.06 @ 7:00 AM; down from the last close; below the 5-day SMA;
  • Recent high = 37.79 on February 24; low = 23.88 on February 16
  • Sentiment: Risk-On (High-Volatility)

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

Previous Session

Major U.S. indices closed mostly lower on Tuesday, March 8, in mostly higher volume. Russell 2000 closed higher and Dow Jones Transportation Average traded in lower volume. Major indices opened lower and then traded sideways for a couple of hours before advancing deep into positive territory. However, the indices declined in the afternoon and closed near the lows.

From Briefing.com:

The S&P 500 lost 0.7% on Tuesday in a volatile session driven by geopolitical headlines. The Nasdaq Composite (-0.3%) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.6%) joined the benchmark index in negative territory, while the Russell 2000 (+0.6%) closed higher. Nine of the 11 S&P 500 sectors closed lower, including the defensive-oriented consume staples (-2.6%), health care (-2.1%), and utilities (-1.6%) sectors at the bottom of the standings. The energy (+1.4%) and consumer discretionary (+0.1%) sectors closed higher. […] The 2-yr yield rose nine basis points to 1.63%, and the 10-yr yield rose 12 basis points to 1.87%. The U.S. Dollar Index decreased 0.2% to 99.06. […] The trade deficit widened in January to $89.7 billion (Briefing.com consensus -$87.5 billion) from a downwardly revised $82.0 billion (from -$80.7 billion). Exports were $3.9 billion less than December exports and imports were $3.8 billion more than December imports. […] Wholesale inventories increased 0.8% in January, as expected, following a revised 2.6% increase (from 2.2%) in December. The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index for February decreased to 95.7 from 97.1 in January. […] Dow Jones Industrial Average -10.2% YTD S&P 500 -12.5% YTD Russell 2000 -12.6% YTD Nasdaq Composite -18.2% YTD Overseas:  Europe: DAX -0.0%, FTSE +0.1%, CAC -0.3% Asia: Nikkei -1.7%, Hang Seng -1.4%, Shanghai -2.4% Commodities:  Crude Oil +4.49 @ 123.76 Nat Gas -0.30 @ 4.57 Gold +50.80 @ 2047.30 Silver +1.00 @ 26.76 Copper -0.01 @ 4.74