Indices enjoyed one of their best weeks in a long time. The Nasdaq finished with over a 3% gain to leave the index with a breakout from its rising channel. Technicals remain in good shape, although there is a bearish divergence taking shape in the MACD histogram - which will catch up with the index eventually - but it will take a 'bull trap' to confirm (a drop below 3850 on the weekly chart would probably suffice).

Looks like the Dow didn't get the memo; all indices continued their advance, except for the Dow, which headed south until pulled back in the afternoon. The Nasdaq pushed forward with higher volume accumulation.  It finished the day at channel resistance, but with the breakout to back the bullish picture.

So, the can is kicked down the road for another few months and buyers were willing to give the indices another boost.  The net effect was to erase much of the bearish creep in supporting technicals of the indices, but it has driven some indices back to resistance. Best of the action belonged to the Russell 2000.  The 'bull trap' was negated on yesterday's gain. The MACD trigger 'sell' was revered back to a 'buy', and the index offers plenty of upside room before it gets to channel resistance. Long traders will probably find the most joy here in the near term, with shorts looking for a second 'bull trap' before they have something to work with.

After three days of gains it was going to be difficult for markets to secure a fourth given debt ceiling fears. Volume climbed to register a distribution day, although overall volume was not particularly high (just high relative to recent buying volume). The S&P finished with a 'bearish engulfing pattern', look for further losses tomorrow.

On the third day. bulls were finally able to take out the Russell 2000's 'bull trap' created by September's breakout. Technicals improved without taking out the MACD trigger 'sell'.  Those smart enough to have bought the test of channel support will have done well.  Next target is channel resistance.

My fundamental review of Array Biopharma is available on the Motley Fool ; it didn't go down too well with some shareholders... My initial assessment (not the publish date of the article), was "bullish", but the last few days have tempered this somewhat. My original opinion was for a stock which had handily cleared $6.00 resistance on big volume, and (successfully) backtested the breakout gap at $5.50 before recovering.

Good news for bulls, the Russell 2000 is only 4 points away from negating the 'bull trap' and re-establishing the rally from June. Technicals are just a MACD 'buy' trigger away from returning to their net bullish form. Cyclical bull markets are heavily dependent on leadership from more speculative, growth focused stocks as found in the Russell 2000. And given the action of Thursday and Friday it's clear it didn't take much to bring bulls back to the trough.