Directional Bias For The Day:

• S&P Futures are higher;
  • they were lower before 9:00 AM; the move up started at 7:15 from 4378.50 level and gained nearly 30 points
• The odds are for an up day with elevated volatility — watch for a break below 4396.25 for a change of sentiments
• No key economic data report due during the day:

Directional Bias Before Open:

Key Levels:

• Critical support levels for S&P 500 are 4400.81, 4382.99, and 4367.73
• Critical resistance levels for S&P 500 are 4418.61, 4423.93, and 4441.55
• Key levels for E-mini futures: break above 4406.25, the high of 8:45 PM and break below 4378.50, the low of 7:00 AM

Pre-Open

• On Thursday at 4:00 PM, S&P futures (September 2021) closed at 4402.25 and the index closed at 4405.80 – a spread of about -2.50 points; futures closed at 4401.50 for the day; the fair value is +0.75
• Pre-NYSE session open, futures are higher – at 9:00 AM, S&P 500 futures were up by +4.75; Dow by +25; and NASDAQ by +45.75

Markets Around The World

• Markets in the East closed higher – Mumbai was closed for trading;
• European markets are lower;
• Currencies (from two weeks ago):
  

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

• Commodities (from two weeks ago):
  • Energy futures are lower
  • Precious metals are lower
  • Industrial metals are lower
  • Most soft commodities are mostly higher
• Treasuries (from two weeks ago)
  • 10-years yield closed at 1.237%, up +5.3 basis points from two weeks ago;
  • 30-years is at 1.870%, up +3.0 basis points;
  • 2-years yield is at 0.209%, up +2.9 basis points;
  • The 10-Year-&-2-Year spread is at 1.028, up from 1.004
• VIX
  • At 21.36 @ 9:00 AM; down from the last close; above 5-day SMA;
  • Recent high =  25.09 on July 19; low =  15.19 on August 13
  • 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 Thursday, August 19 in higher volume. S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite closed higher. Major Index gapped down at the open, bounced back after the gap ad then started filling it up. After a brief decline in the early afternoon, the indices closed near the highs for the day.

From Briefing.com:

The large-cap indices closed little changed on Thursday, as relative strength in the growth/defensive-oriented stocks belied a mostly negative session. The S&P 500 (+0.1%) and Nasdaq Composite (+0.1%) both gained 0.1% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.2%) lost 0.2%. The small-cap Russell 2000 (-1.2%) dropped 1%, posting its sixth straight decline and closing below its 200-day moving average (2152) for the first time since last September. […] Most stocks succumbed to the early selling pressure, as declining issues outpaced advancing issues by more than a 2:1 margin at the NYSE and Nasdaq. The S&P 500 energy sector (-2.7%) was easily the weakest performer, losing 2.7% as oil prices ($63.69/bbl, -1.75, -2.7%) continued to decline. The other cyclical sectors declined by less than 1.0%. […] The counter-cyclical consumer staples (+0.9%), real estate (+0.9%), health care (+0.5%), and utilities (+0.4%) sectors also supported the cause, illustrating a defensive mindset. […] The 10-yr yield decreased three basis points to 1.24%. The 2-yr yield was unchanged at 0.21%. The U.S. Dollar Index advanced 0.5% to 93.57. […] For the week ending August 14, initial claims decreased 29,000 to 348,000 (Briefing.com consensus 370,000), which is the lowest reading since March 14, 2020. Continuing claims for the week ending August 7 decreased 79,000 to 2.82 million, which is also the lowest level since March 14, 2020. […] The Conference Board’s Leading Economic Index (LEI) increased 0.9% in July (Briefing.com consensus 0.8%) after increasing a downwardly revised 0.5% (from 0.7%) in June. […] S&P 500 +17.3% YTD Dow Jones Industrial Average +14.0% YTD Nasdaq Composite +12.8% YTD Russell 2000 +8.0% YTD Overseas:  Europe: DAX -1.3%, FTSE -1.5%,CAC -2.4% Asia: Nikkei -1.1%, Hang Seng -2.1%, Shanghai -0.6% Commodities:  Crude Oil -1.07 @ 63.93 Nat Gas +0.01 @ 3.86 Gold -7.40 @ 1780.50 Silver -0.36 @ 23.13 Copper -0.08 @ 4.04