Friday's action was good for what didn't happen. Trading was muted, with action trading inside very narrow ranges, different to what had happened the day before. The S&P probably came out the best of it as Friday's action held Thursday's break of 2115.  Watch Monday's premarket action closely. Assuming no damage in the Europe or Asian session there is a good chance bulls could be let off the shackles. Ideally, one would want an open above 2115 to set the tone.

Is this the breakout markets have been waiting for? Both the S&P and Russell 2000 edged past resistance and the Nasdaq has managed to climb above 5,000, although it's a few days from challenging the high. The S&P needs to follow through higher (very) soon to put this consolidation from February to bed.

Yesterday's recovery followed with further highs, but then buyers went AWOL and things settled back to the day's lows. Rinse and Repeat. The S&P has nestled itself against rising trendline support as today's action registered as confirmed distribution.  Tomorrow, bears will be seeing if they can break the trendline, but I won't be holding my breath.

It was looking ugly for indices at the open, but by the close of business much of the day's declines had been reclaimed. For the S&P, the break of the rising trendline (and 50-day MA) was looking all but certain when sellers hit the index hard in pre-market trading, but Tuesday's finish does give bulls something to work with for Wednesday. Whether they can do anything about it is another matter. On the bright side, selling volume was down on Monday's buying; this kept the 'buy' trigger in On-Balance-Volume intact.