The market looks like it wants to go higher, but nobody wants to be first through the doors. Modest gains covered the decent intraday recovery: whatever about end-of-day gains, intraday action is firmly with bulls. The S&P reversed its On-Balance-Volume 'sell' and is about to do the same to the MACD signal. Be ready for upside on Monday.

It proved to be a tougher day for Tech stocks than Large Caps. The upside follow through didn't occur, but there was a divergence between losses for Tech stocks and a more neutral, flat day for Large Caps. The S&P did lose out in morning action, but was able to recover those losses by the close. 'Sell' triggers for the MACD and On-Balance-Volume remain, but the former looks set to whipsaw if the S&P posts even a small gain.

The day set up nicely for an afternoon follow through by bulls, but it never arrived.  However, bulls did manage to do enough to set up a follow through for tomorrow. Bulls could push this from the off in morning trading; if so, a break of Wednesday's lows can be used for stops. The S&P is nicely poised for gains. The MACD is ready to bounce despite the negative cross, and On-Balance-Volume is about to trigger a 'buy'. It looks a relative low risk play on the long side for a push to new highs. But be prepared if lows are taken out quickly.

Indices staged a modest recovery, stemming a brief sequence of losses. Long traders can use yesterday's lows as a risk measure, working a potential swing low.  The bounce in the S&P occurred well above support, but it's looking like a good opportunity.

Today saw further small losses, to the point the Nasdaq is making a test of channel support, and the Nasdaq 100 is down at its 20-day MA. The Nasdaq 100 also saw 'sell' triggers in its MACD and On-Balance-Volume.

Next week will set the real tone for the year, but for Friday it was yet another day of modest losses. The only index to escape the selling was the Russell 2000.  It managed to finish with a small gain as it started the day nearer to support. The gain in the Russell 2000 didn't change the technical picture a great deal, although it did enjoy a substantial jump in relative strength against Tech indices, and to a lesser degree, Large Caps.  Will this shift help reverse a two month relative underperformance to these indices?

A modest loss on light volume to start the year was not surprising given the end-of-year gains leading up to 2014. This hangover may see indices come back as far as their 20-day MAs, but there wasn't enough on offer to suggest panic is going to take hold.  Taking profits on gains booked over the last few months remains the most pragmatic approach to adopt until support levels are tested. The S&P registered a modest 'sell' trigger for On-Balance-Volume.