Directional Bias For The Day:

• S&P Futures are higher
• The odds are for an up to sideways move – watch for a break above 3924.25 for a change of sentiments
• Key economic data report due during the day:
  • Empire State Manufacturing Index (17.4 vs. 14.6 est.; prev. 12.1) at 8:30 AM

Directional Bias Before Open:

Key Levels:

• Critical support levels for S&P 500 are 3937.36, 3925.57, and 3915.21
• Critical resistance levels for S&P 500 are 3955.63, 3960.27, and 3963.29
• Key levels for E-mini futures: break above 3947.75, the low of 5:45 AM and break below 3924.25, the low of 3:00 AM

Pre-Open

• On Friday at 4:00 PM, S&P futures (June 2021) closed at 3933.75 and the index closed at 3943.35 – a spread of about -9.50 points; futures closed at 3932.75 for the day; the fair value is +1.00
• Pre-NYSE session open, futures are higher – at 8:00 AM, S&P 500 futures were up by +1.50; Dow by +82, and NASDAQ by +16.75

Markets Around The World

• Markets in the East closed mostly higher – Shanghai, Mumbai, and Seoul were down
• European markets are higher
• Currencies (from two weeks ago):
  

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

• Commodities (from two weeks ago):
  • Energy futures are lower
  • Precious metals are higher
  • Industrial metals are higher
  • Most soft commodities are mostly down
• Treasuries (from two weeks ago)
  • 10-years yield closed at 1.616%, up 15.6 basis points from two weeks ago;
  • 30-years is at 2.371%, up 18.9 basis points;
  • 2-years yield is at 0.149%, up 2.8 basis points;
  • The 10-Year-&-2-Year spread is at 1.469, up from 1.339
• VIX
  • At 21.46 @ 8:00 AM; up from the last close; below 5-day SMA;
  • Recent high =  31.90 on March 4; low =  21.45 on March 11
  • Sentiment: Risk-On-Neutral

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

Previous Session

Major U.S. indices closed mostly higher on Friday, March 12 in mixed volume. NASDAQ Composite closed lower. Dow Jones Transportation Average and NASDAQ Composite traded in higher volume. Most indices made all-time highs. NASDAQ Composite and Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index did not. S&P 500 closed at an all-time high. NASDAQ Composite continues to show the most weakness. All but one S&P sectors – Technology – closed higher.

For the week, the US indices closed higher in lower volume. Markets in Asia mostly closed up and markets in Europe closed higher. The dollar index closed down, energy futures were down but precious and industrial metals were up. Soft commodities were mostly down. The US Treasury yields were up for the week.

From Briefing.com:

The S&P 500 (+0.1%) eked out a closing record high on Friday, coming back from an early 0.6% decline as it gradually absorbed another sharp rise in long-term interest rates. The 10-yr yield rose 11 basis points to 1.64% to reach its highest level since last February. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.9%) and Russell 2000 (+0.6%) set intraday and closing record highs, while the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.6% amid relative weakness in the mega-cap/growth stocks. To the Nasdaq’s credit, it was down as much as 1.8% intraday due to the initial shock of higher rates. […] The 2-yr yield increased one basis point to 0.14%. The U.S. Dollar Index increased 0.2% to 91.63. WTI crude futures rose 0.7%, or $0.43, to $65.59/bbl. […] The Producer Price Index for final demand increased 0.5% m/m in February, as expected, following a 1.3% increase in January. In turn, the Producer Price Index for final demand, less foods and energy, rose 0.2% m/m, as expected, following a 1.2% increase in January. On a year-over-year basis, the Producer Price Index for final demand was up 2.8%, versus 1.7% in January. The Producer Price Index for final demand, less foods and energy, was up 2.5% versus 2.0% in January. […] The preliminary University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment for March increased to 83.0 (Briefing.com consensus 80.0) from the final reading of 76.8 for February. The March reading is the highest since August 2020. […] Russell 2000 +19.1% YTD Dow Jones Industrial Average +7.1% YTD S&P 500 +5.0% YTD Nasdaq Composite +3.4% YTD