Another day of gains pushed Indices to new highs and offered a breakout from the accelerated channel for the Nasdaq but it was the Russell 2000 which took the biscuit. The Russell 2000 added nearly 2% as buyers swooped in to take advantage of recent quiet action.  This follow on to the recent breakout sits the index up nicely for further gains.

Since redrawing channel resistance the S&P, Nasdaq and Nasdaq 100 now find themselves up against (accelerated) channel resistance. This may be viewed as an opportunity to take (partial) profits and/or sell covered calls.  Buying volume for the S&P was modest and technicals remain strong but some pause in the buying would look preferable at this point.

The S&P broke upside from one channel to leave it another. This is the third such acceleration in the last six months, leaving the index prone to a parabolic (if not profitable) run. Buying volume was low, but technical strength is good.

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Will this be third time lucky for Semiconductor Index short traders? The last two short trades at the 50-day MA have failed so will the narrow doji at 'bear flag' resistance offer a new opportunity for shorts to reverse the two prior losses? It should be noted, technicals do not support a short position but a stop can be run tight to 1,321 highs as any gain from here will break the 'bear flag'.

As the new year picks up speed traders are returning to a new round of fresh buying. It looks like the last trading day of 2016 selling fade is history as potential shorting opportunities generated by it are reversed. For example, the 'bull trap' in the Nasdaq was blown away as the index closed at new all-time highs. This buying was enough to reverse the MACD trigger 'sell' and accelerate the bullish technical performance of other indicators. The faster upper channel line is the new target as the older, slower one was breached on today's close.

It wasn't a big sell-off but there was a downward break of the bullish squeeze in the Russell 2000. It was associated with a MACD trigger 'sell' although this had effectively flatlined from the middle of December. It will be important for support to hold at 1,500 but aggressive shorts could look to enter here with a stop above 1,550 (or longs could decide now is the time to take profit). When traders come back from their break this weakness could accelerate and you don't want to be on the wrong side of the trade.