It was a 50:50 play going into the cash open, but in the end there was only one winner. Bulls swept the board, driving what shorts in play into covering their position. Leading the charge was the Russell 2000. It came out of the top of the bearish wedge - negating the double top - while maintaining the relative leadership role it holds against the S&P. Now it needs to put some distance from this new found support.

Yesterday's gains in the indices were able to add a little more upside before coming up against resistance. The S&P finished in the crux of former rising support, declining resistance, and the 50-day MA. Volume declined with technicals net bearish. Tomorrow is decision time for the index: break declining resistance and a retest 2,134 opens up, reverse, and a move to the 200-day MA comes into play. The Nasdaq 100 finished at former bearish wedge support, turned resistance. Despite bullish volume accumulation, technicals remain negative. However, the Nasdaq did enough to regain rising wedge support on yesterday's gain, redrawing support and shifting the index back to neutral. Volume also climbed to register as accumulation. The rally in the Russell 2000 is morphing into a bearish wedge and is fast approaching resistance at 1,278.  Unlike other indices, it lost a little ground to yesterday. While the index is outperforming the Nasdaq and S&P, technicals lik

There was a bit of a hangover to Friday's selling with opening action pushing more downside. However, buyers were able to dig in at yesterday's lows. The S&P found support at 'bear trap' support at 2,072, although technicals are again net bearish. The real need is for the S&P to get out of its 2080/120 range.

Profit Takers return after a two days of buying.  The selling remains confined to broader trading ranges, which remain dominant until breached. In the case of the S&P there is 'bear trap' support at 2,080 and resistance at 2,115 to consider. Friday's action let it in the middle of this range, just below the 50-day MA. Volume was lighter, which weakened the importance of the selling. The Nasdaq is easing back to converged wedge support and 5,038. As with the S&P, trading volume was lighter. Bulls may get some joy with a bounce off converged support with the index close to new all-time highs. The Russell 2000 cleared the tentative downward channel. Friday's action retesting the channel with a neutral 'doji'. Monday could see a drop back inside its channel, but should it do so then the presence of converged 20- and 50-day MA support (1,252/4) could offer the opportunity for bulls to mount another round of buying. If there is an index which

After yesterday's action it was positive to see indices hold their gains. The Russell 2000 had a breakout to protect, and it did so with ease. The 'bull trap' from April will be under pressure if tomorrow sees more gains.

A good day for markets saw buyers turn up in decent numbers, although given the relative gain it would have been good to have seen volume a little stronger. The Russell 2000 had the best of the action, breaking out of its readjusted channel as it continues to outperform both S&P and Nasdaq indices.

A day where the status quo was the end-of-day result after yesterday's selling. This is set up nicely for a rally tomorrow, even if some indices lack a natural support level to work off. Also favouring longs is the lighter volume selling which accompanied today's action. The S&P is net bearish at a technical level, but may find some traction at a minor swing low of 2,067.