thursday update

SHORT TERM: consolidation day, DOW -11

Overnight the Asian markets gained 1.0%. European markets opened lower, but gained 0.3%. US index futures were slightly higher overnight. At 8:30 weekly Jobless claims were reported lower: 367K vs 377K. The market opened two points above yesterday’s close at SPX 1326. It then pulled back a bit in the opening minutes to SPX 1323. At 10:00 FED chairman Bernanke gave his economic outlook testimony to the Senate: http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/testimony/bernanke20120202a.htm. The market began to rally. At 11:00 the SPX hit 1329, was quite overbought, and began to pullback. The pullback last until 12:30 when the SPX hit 1322. Then for the rest of the afternoon the market remained in that narrow seven point range, closing at SPX 1326.

For the day the SPX/DOW were mixed, and the NDX/NAZ were +0.35%. Bonds gained 6 ticks, Crude dropped 95 cents, Gold rallied $14, and the USD was higher. Support for the SPX remains at 1313 and then 1303, with resistance at 1363 and then 1372. Short term momentum hit quite overbought early, then pulled back to neutral. Tomorrow, the monthly Payrolls report at 8:30, then Factory orders and ISM services at 10:00.

The market opened higher today, but remained within a narrow seven point range and within yesterday’s SPX 1320-1331 range. Unfortunately, the market did not give any new indication of its next short term move. It’s still at a short term inflection point between Minor 4 completed, or still ongoing. Gold and Silver, which have been leading, made new uptrend highs today. Short term support remains at the 1313, 1303 and 1291 pivots. Overhead resistance remains at SPX 1333, SPX 1347 and the 1363 pivot. Short term momentum is at neutral, and the short term OEW charts remain positive with support at the 1313 pivot. Best to your trading!

MEDIUM TERM: uptrend high SPX 1333

LONG TERM: bull market

CHARTS: http://stockcharts.com/def/servlet/Favorites.CServlet?obj=ID1606987