Another day where bulls had to dig deep to make back early losses but there was little more beyond that.
The Russell 2000 remains the index most feeling the pressure. It’s trading below the 50-day MA but hasn’t experienced the kind of day where longs will feel pressured to sell. Some traders may take an aggressive long with stops below 1,463 with the index hugging support of the (failing) ‘bull flag’ – although it doesn’t look a particularly attractive trade. Technicals are all net negative and relative performance is very poor (for Small Caps).
A better punt for longs might be the Dow Jones Industrial average. It’s resting on former channel resistance-now-support. Volume action since August has strongly favoured accumulation and the price trend is solidly bullish – only relative performance is a bit of a non-entity.
The Nasdaq is using its 20-day MA to lean on. Narrow doji just above this support on low volume is healthy action. There is a MACD trigger ‘sell’ to monitor although it’s well above the bullish zero line. Other Technicals look okay.
I would say watch the Volatility Index but for 2012 through to 2015 it did very little when it looked like it would spike and the market went on a charge.
For tomorrow, the Dow Jones Index might give longs something to work. Shorts can still linger around the Russell 2000 as any selling is likely to accelerate as a sense of panic could start to creep in.
