Collective Intelligence!
Today started with 220k ESU and 700 SPU traded on Globex, ESU trading range was 1661.25 – 1650.50. Thursday’s regular trading hours (RTH’s), SPU pit session trading range was 1657.50 – 1643.50 before settling at 1654.80, up 18.3 handles. Fed speak: *BULLARD: SAYS FOMC CAN ‘AFFORD TO BE VERY DELIBERATE’ ON QE and *LOCKHART: ‘WOULD BE SUPPORTIVE’ OF SEPTEMBER TAPERING IF THE DATA REMAINS STRONG.
[MSFT] chief executive Steve Ballmer unexpectedly announced his retirement today, sending the stock up nearly 6% as well as goosing the indices to new Globex highs just before the pit session opened.
Stock market whisperer shared: My 2 cents = On the Percent of Stocks on the SPX trading above the 50 day MA chart we are now seeing the RSI and STO rolling over to fresh buys, normally this is followed by the price action crossing back above the over-laid 20 day MA confirming that we are indeed in a new bullish up trend. Currently odds are good that the price action on this chart has put in a short-term bottom HOWEVER! >>….Seriously negative due to hit monday/tues to market via my astro view. Usually when the views are at loggerheads, the technicals get erased when the astro energy has its way…some headline comes in out of nowhere proving the astro right …So all eyes on monday! As for today…weak chop/drizzle down bias to move in as the day proceeds…Most neg looks to be the 11 hour >> 11:37 PT is impt.
Today’s pit hours gapped 5 handles higher to 1644.50 – 1643.50, marking the high before fading back to 1655 area, retesting the previous settlement before dropping to 1652.50 low at 9:03. The 9:00 housing data missed terribly. The Fed has been banging the drum loudly regarding the um, growing economy, jobs and the housing data as leaders in the firming economy… The new home sales data plunged, checking in at 394k vs exp of 490k, down a whopping 13.4% with the median home price standing at a 6-month low – the prior data was revised from 497k to 450k. Following the data the bonds spiked higher by a full point as the dollar fell along with bond yields and created some wiggle room in the Fed’s tapering standpoint – being data dependent. It is hard to imagine the Fed could get more hawkish following the new homes data and gives Sept. 6 a whole new outlook … as all eyes will be on the employment data in front of the next FOMC announcement on 9/19.
william_blount last MONDAY wrote — Overhead the BULLS failed to take out last Thursday’s last hour high of 1661 BIG SPOO 1661.25 mini. william_blount (08/22/2013 – 14:40:12): or the 1660.1 daily pivot dying on the mid a.m. high. This is still first resistance.
william_blount 1657 WANTS TO HOLD — 1651.5 THE PRICE OF THE WEEK NEED TO HOLD, 1647 must hold the BULL DEFENSE — the BULL OFFENSE: what is the WEEKLY PIVOT…weekly pivot 1665.
By 9:57 the S&P 500 retested the opening range/HOD before fading back to 1656 area and grinding sideways to slightly higher in extremely quiet fashion – even for a summer Friday afternoon – from 1656 to 1658.50 area from 10:10 while the sellers were on strike. By 2:30 the SPU matched the opening high of 1660 and printed a new high of 1660.50 by 2:32. After a brief respite, the bulls or the algos tripped some small buy stops and buy programs, lifting the index to a new intraday high of 1662.50. The closing imbalance showed a small $140M net to the buy side. Sam_Easley (14:52) 67% parabolic 1663 es first pause spot normalized on the parabolic move – on its march to 70. The cash close traded 1660.50 area before settling at 1661.40, up 6.6 handles on the day. Last Friday the S&P futures settled at 1651.10.
Butler Research: “Cornering the Market” I am calculating that JP Morgan holds 85,000 contracts based upon previous COT (Commitment of Traders) and Bank Participation Report data. In simple terms, JP Morgan holds more than 25% of the entire COMEX gold futures market on a true net basis. There has never been a more concentrated net long position in any regulated futures market in history.
The U.S. government comes back from vacation on Sept. 9 for both House and Senate. That is 9 legislative days before the end of the fiscal year and before the current spending authority expires. Without action (including a month-long emergency extension) shutdown on Oct. 1.