A big day for bulls as two key economically sensitive indices make strong moves. Best of the action was given over to the Russell 2000; a 3.5% gain keeps things buoyant but it's also smack bang in the middle of the trading range.

While the indices finished at prices without fanfare, the intraday recovery was very good.  The S&P spiked down to its 20-day and 50-day MA with a bullish hammer. Volume climbed to register as accumulation. Technicals remain net bullish although relative performance eased.

There wasn't a whole lot to say about Friday's trading. The solid move made over the course of the week across indices was maintained with either small losses or doji.  Part of this is because indices are now approaching multi-year highs which will see increased resistance. The S&P posted a small doji as technicals remained net bullish.

Again, anything said here should be viewed in the context of broader consolidations. Leading off is the consolidation breakout in the Russell 2000. I did have concerns the 'bear trap' was about to fail but today's move has helped reduced the risk of this happening. There were some struggles as it reached its 200-day MA but this did at least postpone (indefinitely?) the chance of the 'bear trap' failing.

There wasn't a whole lot to say for Tuesday; indices were down, but there was little to add aside from the Russell 2000 returning to key consolidation support. The 'bear trap' will likely be coming under pressure later in the week.

There wasn't a whole lot to report from Friday with all indices inside dominant consolidation indices. Best of the action belonged to the Dow Industrial Average as it broke out of its mini-consolidation, nested inside its 2-year consolidation. Again, the larger consolidation is dominant, so the significance of Friday's action is reduced. There are existing 'buy' signals for the MACD trigger and On-Balance-Volume but longer term stochastics are still in bearish territory

Markets enjoyed a second day of gains, although volume was down on prior days. Again, with the exception of the Russell 2000, it's still all noise of swings within larger consolidations. The S&P challenged the 'bull trap' with new 'buy' triggers in the MACD and On-Balance-Volume.