U.S. / China Tariff Negotiations Fall Short

Index Futures Net Changes and Settlements:

Foreign Markets, Fair Value and Volume:

• In Asia 6 out of 11 markets closed higher: Shanghai Comp +1.30%, Hang Seng -0.04%, Nikkei +0.07%
• In Europe 8 out of 13 markets are trading lower: CAC -0.14%, DAX -0.30%, FTSE +0.08%
• Fair Value: S&P -1.01, NASDAQ +4.22, Dow -46.30
• Total Volume: 1.9mil ESH & 509 SPH traded in the pit

Today’s Economic Calendar:

Today’s economic calendar includes Employment Situation 8:30 AM ET, PMI Manufacturing Index 9:45 AM ET, Robert Kaplan Speaks 9:45 AM ET, ISM Mfg Index 10:00 AM ET, Construction Spending 10:00 AM ET, Consumer Sentiment 10:00 AM ET, Wholesale Trade 10:00 AM ET, Neel Kashkari speaks on Sunday 10:40 AM ET, and the Baker-Hughes Rig Count 1:00 PM ET.

S&P 500 Futures: #ES ‘Melt-Up’

Chart courtesy of @Chicagostock – $ES_F 2 Bull patterns, pointing at the same level if expanded (2917). Daily B/O of Bull flag , Weekly V bottom recovery. Current week low (2622) key for b/o. Lots of overhead to get through against Dec high to overcome.

The S&P 500 futures traded in a range from 2691.75 to 2675.75 on Globex Wednesday night, and printed at 2679.00 on the 8:30 CT open. The first move after the bell was down to an early low of day in the opening minutes at 2676.75. From there, strong buy programs came in and pushed the benchmark futures up to an early high at 2698.25, then after a seven handle pullback, buyers reloaded, helping propel the S&P’s up to a new high of day at 2708.00 after the Euro close.

The rest of the morning into the early afternoon saw a choppy lower trade, as the ES made an early afternoon low of 2695.50, followed by a rally up to 2702.75. The ES eventually rallied up to 2709.00 in the final hour, and went on to settle the day at 2706.75, up +24.25 handles, or +0.90%.

In terms to the markets overall tone, and despite some negative earnings and tariff news, the ES charged higher for the third straight day. In terms of the days overall trade, it was a little slow, only 1.9 million futures contracts traded.  

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