A bad day for earnings, with IBM, United Technologies and Apple all disappointing. With indices at highs (or just shy of resistance) it was going to be a day of easy selling.  With technology particularly hard hit, the Nasdaq did well to cling on to its upside breakout, but given Apple's earnings were after hours it's unlikely to be the same story tomorrow.

Monday was a continuation of Friday's action: gains for S&P and Nasdaq, losses for Russell 2000. The issues in play at the start of the day, remain in play at the close. The Russell 2000 is perhaps the most worrying of the indices. Today's losses took the index back to the 50-day MA, but with the index stuck inside a trading range this moving average is unlikely to play as major support. Technicals are also a little iffy: a 'sell' in the ADX is coming up against a potential 'sell' in the MACD, and relatively neutral CCI and Stochastic. The worst of the action is the sharp relative under-performance against the Nasdaq.

Netflix and Google offered the juice to drive the Nasdaq and Nasdaq 100 to new highs. Other indices aren't there yet, and it remains to be seen what they can offer. Friday's finish in the S&P left it just below resistance near 2,130. Technicals are net positive, and whatever bearish connotations were there from the loss of 2,080 have been firmly put to bed.  Friday's doji marks indecision on the part of bulls and bears, with Large Cap traders looking at whether Tech indices can hang on.

Just when it looked like Greece and/or China were going to bring the long awaited decline of substance, along come bulls to bid up three solid days of gains. Tuesday's rally was enough to register an accumulation day to boot. The S&P is close to tagging declining resistance from the May-June swing highs. Will bears look to attack here? Technicals have seen some improvement with a MACD trigger and Momentum 'buy', although relative underperformance against Small Caps expanded.

While the new bailout hasn't been approved by Greece, a new deal is on the table. China looks to have been pushed to the back of the headlines, but it hasn't disappeared either. Either way, bulls took weekend news to push with Friday's gains. Indices have closed key breakdown gaps which have overshadowed markets in recent weeks. The S&P is back at its 50-day MA and has room to maneuver to declining resistance defined by May and June swing highs. Buying volume has dropped after 2 days of gains, so bulls are not yet convinced by the last two days of action, but remember, rallies climb a wall of worry.

It's not looking good for Greece with Germany holding out , and last week's big swings without any significant change in price is going to change next week. The break down from the end of June looks likely to hold out, and this will keep the intermediate down trend in play. Intermediate trends last from 3 weeks to 6 months, and there is probably enough fuel from Greece and China to keep this going into Autumn. Bulls are not entirely out of the game. The S&P is defending its 200-day MA, with a new 'buy' trigger in On-Balance-Volume, and a continued relative advance against Small Caps. Gap resistance is at 2,085. The Nasdaq also saw an On-Balance-Volume 'Buy' trigger, although the latter volume indicator has flat-lined. Gap resistance for this index sits at 5,038 with the 200-day MA the next target down. The Russell 2000 defended trend-line support, but next week will be a tougher test. Such support is unlikely to survive a fourth test. Tech i

The back and forth continued, except this time pre-market gains could not be held and markets revisited lows. This lows still hold as support, but it's a tough sell to buyers to want to jump in here. The S&P finished below it 200-day MA with a big inverse hammer.  Technicals are net bearish, except today's action hasn't reversed the net out performance of the Large Caps over Small Caps.