Directional Bias For The Day:

• S&P Futures are higher at 8:45 AM; up more than 115 points from 4:15 PM lows of 4296.50
• The odds are for an up day with elevated volatility; watch for a break below 4392.50 and 4345.25 for a change of sentiments
• Key economic data report due during the day:
  • New Home Sales ( 759K est.; prev. 744K) at 10:00 AM
  • FOMC Statement at 2:00 PM
  • Fed Funds Rate ( <0.25% est.; prev. <0.25%) at 2:00 PM
  • FOMC Press Conference at 2:30 PM

Directional Bias Before Open:

Key Levels:

• Critical support levels for S&P 500 are 4411.00, 4349,22, and 4307.06
• Critical resistance levels for S&P 500 are 4426.05, 4443.58, and 4455.44
• Key levels for E-mini futures: break above 4427.50, the high of 9:00 PM on January 23 and break below 4392.50, the low of 5:00 AM

Pre-Open

• On Tuesday at 4:00 PM, S&P futures (March 2022) closed at 4351.00 and the index closed at 4356.45 – a spread of about -5.50 points; futures closed at 4349.00 for the day; the fair value is +2.00
• Pre-NYSE session open, futures are higher – at 8:30 AM, S&P 500 futures were up by +66.50; Dow by +378; and NASDAQ by +306.00

Markets Around The World

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

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

• Commodities (Compared to two weeks ago):
  • Energy futures are mixed
  • Precious metals are higher
  • Industrial metals are higher
  • Soft commodities are mostly higher
• Treasuries (Compared to two weeks ago)
  • 10-years yield closed at 1.782%, up +3.6 basis points from two weeks ago;
  • 30-years is at 2.124%, up +5.1 basis points;
  • 2-years yield is at 1.016%, up +13.0 basis points;
  • The 10-Year-&-2-Year spread is at 0.766, up from 0.860
  • The 30-Year-&-10-Year spread is at 0.342, down from 0.327
• VIX
  • At 28.59 @ 8:00 AM; down from the last close; at/below the 5-day SMA;
  • Recent high = 38.9 on January 24; low =  17.36 on January 12
  • Sentiment: Risk-On

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

Previous Session

Major U.S. indices closed lower on Tuesday, January 25, in lower volume. In the early trading, the major indices declined and then rose to highs for the day before declining again in the last hour of trading. Most indices made Harami candles.

From Briefing.com:

The S&P 500 fell 1.2% on Tuesday in another volatile session. The benchmark index was down as much as 2.8% in the morning, then briefly peaked above its flat line in the afternoon. Growth stocks paced today’s decline and accounted for the underperformance of the Nasdaq Composite (-2.3%). The Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.2%) was unable to hold onto a late gain and closed slightly lower. The Russell 2000 fell 1.5%. From a sector perspective, the information technology (-2.3%), communication services (-2.2%), and consumer discretionary (-1.8%) sectors underperformed with steep losses. Conversely, the energy (+4.0%) and financials (+0.5%) sectors were only sectors that closed higher amid higher oil prices ($85.37, +2.06, +2.5%) and Treasury yields. For emphasis, the energy sector rose 4%. […] The 10-yr Treasury note yield rose five basis points to 1.78% while the 2-yr yield rose five basis points to 1.02%. The U.S. Dollar Index increased 0.1% to 95.98. […] The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index dropped to 113.8 (Briefing.com consensus 112.0) from a downwardly revised 115.2 (prior 115.8) in December. The dip came after three consecutive monthly increases but is still well above the 87.1 reading registered in the same period a year ago. […] The November FHFA Housing Price Index increased 1.1% m/m following a 1.1% increase in October, and the November S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index increased 18.3% yr/yr following a revised 18.5% increase (from 18.4%) in October. […] Dow Jones Industrial Average -5.6% YTD S&P 500 -8.6% YTD Russell 2000 -10.8% YTD Nasdaq Composite -13.5% YTD Overseas:  Europe: DAX +0.8%, FTSE +1.0%, CAC +0.7% Asia: Nikkei -1.7%, Hang Seng -1.7%, Shanghai -2.6% Commodities:  Crude Oil +2.72 @ 85.64 Nat Gas +0.04 @ 3.88 Gold +11.80 @ 1852.30 Silver +0.11 @ 23.99 Copper +0.04 @ 4.47