Small gains fail to recover yesterday's losses. The trend is down, but losses are still modest - thanks to these regular gains.  The S&P is still clinging on to the neckline of the head-and-shoulder pattern. Volume climbed to register an accumulation day, but the 'spinning top' finish for the day leaves things in a more neutral state. A swing-trade using day's highs/lows as the trigger would be ideal, but an inside day would offer better risk:reward.

Bulls were able to press their advantage with good relative gains. Buyers were able to recover 50-day MAs and take indices back from the brink. In addition to a close above the 50-day MA, the Dow did enough to generate a 'bear trap' - next up will be to break declining resistance from the high. Technicals edge in favour of bears and overall volume hasn't been great either, but because of such conditions, today's buying was harder to achieve.

The Russell 2000 experienced a third day of loses to push below the 50-day MA with technicals net bearish following the loss of stochastics [39,1] below the mid-line. Relative performance (against the Nasdaq) has also been in a downward trajectory since late April and is on the verge of a bear cross.

It was looking bad for a while in early afternoon trading as bears looked to follow through on yesterday's losses.  Bulls did enough to finish the day in neutral territory, although the Semiconductor Index did not benefit from this late day rally. It was a particularly ugly day for the Semiconductor Index. A near 2% loss delivered an undercut of the 200-day MA. The sharp reversal in relative performance - in what was a new high in April - caught many bulls on the wrong side of the trade.

After yesterday's gain it was disappointing to see such quick reversals. The Dow finished with the classic paired reversal. While this is bearish there are bullish factors to consider such as positive On-Balance-Volume, the 50-day MA, and stochastics above the bullish mid-line.

There was a spread of action between bulls and bears, but no big change for any index. The Nasdaq and Russell 2000 had the best of the action, but it was little more than a half-hearted follow through of Friday's gain. The Nasdaq wasn't able to hold on to the highs of the day, closing in the middle of today's high/low range. Technicals are bearish, and trading volume was light.

Friday delivered a positive end-of-week close after a sequence of down days. Volume was not impressive and was below mid-week selling. The S&P dug in at its 50-day MA, but is holding to 'sell' triggers in the MACD, On-Balance-Volume, and -DI/+DI. Relative performance finished the week with Large Cap strength overall Small Caps. Rate-of-Chart moved back to the bullish mid-line in what could offer itself as bullish buyback opportunity.