Directional Bias For The Day:

• S&P Futures are higher
• The odds are for an up day with a good chance of  a sideways to down move from pre-open levels around 4205.00 day – watch for a break below 4198.00 for clarity
• Key economic data report due during the day:
  • Unemployment Claims ( 553K vs. 545K est.; prev. 547K) at 8:30 AM
  • Advance GPD ( 6.4% vs. 6.8% est.; prev. 4.3%) at 8:30 AM
  • Advance GDP Price Index ( 4.1% vs. 2.6% est.; prev. 2.0%) at 8:30 AM
  • Pending Homes Sales ( 4.2% est.; prev. -10.6% ) at 10:00 AM

Directional Bias Before Open:

Key Levels:

• Critical support levels for S&P 500 are 4201.53, 4181.78, and 4176.22
• Critical resistance levels for S&P 500 are 4208.58, 4215.63, and 4240.03
• Key levels for E-mini futures: break above 4207.75, the high of 6:30 AM and break below 4198.00, the low of 1:30 AM

Pre-Open

• On Wednesday at 4:00 PM, S&P futures (June 2021) closed at 4178.00 and the index closed at 4183.18 – a spread of about -5.25 points; futures closed at 4176.25 for the day; the fair value is +1.75
• Pre-NYSE session open, futures are higher – at 8:15 AM, S&P 500 futures were up by +29.50; Dow by +145, and NASDAQ by +147.50

Markets Around The World

• Markets in the East closed mostly higher – Seoul was down; Tokyo was closed
• European markets are mostly higher – Germany and Switzerland are lower
• 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 higher
  • Precious metals are lower
  • Industrial metals are mixed
  • Most soft commodities are mostly higher
• Treasuries (from two weeks ago)
  • 10-years yield closed at 1.620%, down -1.8 basis points from two weeks ago;
  • 30-years is at 2.300%, down -2.5 basis points;
  • 2-years yield is at 0.145%, up +0.7 basis points;
  • The 10-Year-&-2-Year spread is at 1.456, down from 1.481
• VIX
  • At 16.95 @ 7:45 AM; down from the last close; below 5-day SMA;
  • Recent high =  19.90 on April 22; low =  15.38 on April 14
  • Sentiment: Risk-On

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

Previous Session

Major U.S. indices closed mostly lower on Wednesday, April 28 in mixed volume. Russell 2000 and NYSE Composite closed higher. Dow Jones Industrial Average and NASDAQ Composite traded in higher volume. Most major indices continue to make small indecisive candlestick formations and the day’s price range remains small.

From Briefing.com:

The S&P 500 decreased 0.1% on Wednesday in another tight-ranged session, as the broader market showed little reaction to the Fed’s policy decision or earnings news. The Nasdaq Composite (-0.3%) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.5%) also closed lower, while the Russell 2000 (+0.1%) closed slightly higher. […] The communication services (+1.2%) and energy (+3.4%) sectors saw notable strength today, […] Conversely, the information technology sector (-1.0%) was the weakest link with a 1% decline, […] U.S. Treasury yields declined from session highs, settling little changed, following the release of the FOMC statement and Fed Chair Powell’s affirmation of the Fed’s view that inflation will be transitory. The 10-yr yield was unchanged at 1.62%, and the 2-yr yield was unchanged at 0.17%. The U.S. Dollar Index decreased 0.4% to 90.58. […] The Advance report for International Trade in Goods for March showed a deficit of $90.6 billion versus $86.7 billion in February. The Advance report for Retail Inventories for March decreased 1.4%, while the Advance report for Wholesale Inventories for March increased 1.4%. The MBA Mortgage Applications Index decreased 2.5% following an 8.6% increase in the prior week. […] Russell 2000 +16.7% YTD S&P 500 +11.4% YTD Dow Jones Industrial Average +10.5% YTD Nasdaq Composite +9.0% YTD Overseas:  Europe: DAX +0.3%, FTSE +0.3%, CAC +0.5% Asia: Nikkei +0.2%, Hang Seng +0.4%, Shanghai +0.4% Commodities:  Crude Oil +0.80 @ 63.79 Nat Gas +0.02 @ 2.96 Gold -4.90 @ 1773.30 Silver -0.38 @ 26.02 Copper -0.01 @ 4.48