Morning Notes – Tuesday September 18, 2018

Directional Bias For The Day:

  • S&P Futures are little changed; at a resistance level
  • Odds are for a down day to sideways move; watch for break above 2904.00 for change of fortune
  • No key economic data due:

Markets Around The World

  • Markets in the East closed mixed – Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul closed up; Sydney, Singapore and Mumbai closed down
  • European markets are mostly down – France and Spain are up
  • Currencies:
    Up Down
    • EUR/USD
    • GBP/USD
    • USD/JPY
    • AUD/USD
    • NZD/USD
    • USD/INR
    • Dollar index
    • USD/CHF
    • USD/CAD
  • Commodities:
    Up Down
    • Crude Oil
    • NatGas
    • Gold
    • Silver
    • Copper
    • Platinum
    • Palladium
    • Sugar
    • Cocoa
    • Coffee
    • Cotton
  • Bonds
    • 10-yrs yield is at 2.958%, down from September 17 close of 3.001%;
    • 30-years is at 3.159%, up from 3.138%
    • 2-years yield is at 2.795%, up from 2.774%
    • The 10-Year-&-2-Year spread is at 0.163, down from 0.227

Key Levels:

  • Critical support levels for S&P 500 are 2886.16, 2882.63 and 2879.20
  • Critical resistance levels for S&P 500 are 2899.34, 2906.32 and 2908.30
  • Key levels for eMini futures: break above 2904.00, the high of 8:30 AM and break below 2895.50, the low of 3:00 AM

Pre-Open

  • On Monday, at 4:00 PM, S&P future (December contract) closed at 2895.00 and the index closed at 2888.80 – a spread of about +6.25 points; futures closed at 2896.00 for the day; the fair value is -1.00
  • Pre-NYSE session open, futures price action is mixed – at 9:00 AM, S&P 500 futures were up +1.50; Dow down by -3.00; and NASDAQ up by +6.25

Directional Bias Before Open

  • Weekly: Uptrend
  • Daily: Uptrend
  • 120-Min: Side
  • 30-Min: Side-Down
  • 15-Min: Side-Up
  • 6-Min: Up

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

Monthly
  • Confirmed Uptrend
  • December 2017 closed higher; index has been higher for the nine straight months; it has only one down month, March 2017, since October 2016
  • Uptrend resumption since Feb 08, 2016 after a pull back of -15.2%
Weekly:
  • The week ending on September 14 was a green candle with almost no upper shadow and small lower shadow; closed above previous week’s high
  • Last week’s pivot point=2893.35, R1=2919.93 R2=2934.87; S1=2878.41, S2=2851.83; S1/S2 pivot levels were breached;
  • An up week following a down week; fourth in last five weeks and eight in last ten weeks
  • Broke above an ascending triangle but retraced back to its upper limit; 100% extension target is near 3070.00 level
  • Broke above a down sloping flag on April 24 2017;
    • flag-low was 2322.25 during 27-Mar-17 week; shorter flag-pole length is 317.19 and longer flag-pole length is 590.88;
    • 100% extension target of shorter flag-pole near 2639.44 and the 161.8% extension target near 2835.46 are achieved; the 261.8% extension target is near 3013.72
    • 61.8% extension target of longer flag-pole near 2687.41 is achieved; the 100% extension target is near 2913.13
  • Broke above a down-sloping flag on November 14, 2016;
    • the flag low was 2083.79 during 31-Oct-16 week; the shorter flag-pole length is 202.13 and the longer flag-pole length is 383.71;
    • 261.8% extension target of shorter flag-pole near 2612.97 is achieved
    • the 161.8% extension target of longer flag-pole near 2704.63 is achieved; the 261.8% extension target is near 3088.34
  • Last swing low, 2322.25, was the low on March 27, 2017; Last swing high, 2872.87, was during the week of January 22, 2-018; the low since the last swing high is 2532.69 during the week if February 5, 2018
  • Above 10-week EMA; above 39-week SMA and above 89-week SMA
  • Uptrend
Daily
  • A relatively large red candle with small upper and lower shadows; 3-day evening star pattern forming – a break below 2886.16 will complete it
  • %K crossed below %D from above 75
  • Above 20-day EMA, above 50-day EMA, 100-day SMA and 200-day SMA
  • Uptrend
2-Hour (e-mini future)
  • Declined from a high of 2917.25 at 2:00 AM on September 14 to a low 2883.50 by 6:00 PM on September 17; rising since then to 2904.00
  • RSI-9 at 55 after touching a low of 16.99 at 6:00 PM on September 17
  • At/above 20-bar EMA, which is at EMA10 of EMA50
  • Bias: Side
30-Minute (e-mini future)
  • Below a downtrend line from a high of 2917.25 at 7:00 AM on September 14; nearing it from a low of 2883.50 at 6:30 PM on September 17
  • RSI-9 rising since 6:00 Pm from a low of 19.86; near 60
  • Above 20-bar EMA, which is at 50-bar EMA
  • Bias: Side-Down
15-Minute (e-mini future)
  • Bollinger Band (20, 2.0) is moving up since 11:00 PM on September 17
  • The band relatively unchanged since 11:00 PM – not narrow
  • RSI above 40 since 9:30 PM on September 17; near 65
  • The Stochastic (9, 1, 3): %K crossed above %D at 8:15 AM after making a double bottom; crossed below %D at 8:45 AM from 100
  • Bias: Side-Up

Previous Session

Major U.S. indices closed lower on Monday September 17 in higher volume. Most are making a 3-day evening star bearish pattern.

  • S&P 500 Sectors
Up Down
  1. Consumer Staples
  2. Energy
  3. Materials
  4. Industrials
  5. Utility
  6. Real Estate
  1. Consumer Discretionary
  2. Finance
  3. Technology
  4. Heath Care
  5. Telecom