Wednesday's FOMC Minutes' release caused the
index markets to begin selling off. Somewhere in the initial bounce of that
history-book reaction, news of a plane crash in NYC hit the tapes. By the time
markets closed, it was well determined to be a tragic accident and not terrorist
related. The markets tipped their hand at what may happen in the near term
ahead.
S&P 500 has spent the past five days
consolidating last Wednesday's ramp. Such is the recent pattern of general
market action: one surge move, days on end of digestion before the next push. We
should see a break of this sideways coil soon... and upside has the nod unless
Wednesday lows are taken out on a daily closing basis. The strong buying off
yesterday lows showed pent up eagerness by dipsters, a bias that will not break
easily right now.
Russell 2000 futures lurched out of their
wide-range roll in a two day rally stretch last week. The next four sessions
that followed have merely marked time before the next push. Again, upside has
the nod until proven otherwise.
Summation
There really isn't much to say right now about
pending market action. Intraday trading remains profitable (as always) but far
from easy. The muted ranges and program-driven surges are much tougher to work
than deliberate swing or directional days. Actually, Monday's holiday session
offered the easiest trading conditions all week. The remainder has either been
news driven surges or sideways consolidation. Today might very well follow suit,
with Beige Book data out at 2:00pm est.
Same storyline as usual: follow the trend when
apparent, trade with caution when charts are muddy. The bias remains upward
overall, but that does not mean an intraday session's trend won't be down hard
somewhere along the way.
Trade To Win
Austin P
www.CoiledMarkets.com
Austin Passamonte is a full-time professional trader who specializes in E-mini stock index futures, equity
options and commodity markets. Mr. Passamonte's trading approach uses proprietary chart patterns found on an
intraday basis. Austin trades privately in the Finger Lakes region of New York.
