The headlines may have made it look worse than it was for the S&P and Nasdaq, but the gain in the Russell 2000 was important after a week of indecisive action. Volume climbed to register an accumulation day for the Russell 2000, along with a new MACD trigger 'buy' in support of the earlier 'buy' signals in Stochastics and On-Balance-Volume.

There was little change for markets between Friday and Monday.  Only the Russell 2000 is indicating it might lose more ground, although it hasn't lost support of its 50-day MA yet.  For the Russell 2000, the MACD is still holding to a 'sell' trigger, along with a strong 'sell' in ADX and relative performance.

The S&P kept things moving along with a new closing high for the week. Volume was a little disappointing, but technicals are all bullish. 

Some days markets move, some days they don't - this was one of those latter days.  There wasn't much going with today's index action, with cryptocurrencies hogging the headlines. The Nasdaq remained on breakout support.

Gains for indices were enough to drive new swing high breakouts. There wasn't a whole lot of volume following the Easter holiday, but the intention was clear. The Nasdaq managed a new closing high which cleared both the late February and March swing highs on the back of a bullish cross in momentum stochastics, and a continued improvement in relative performance to Small Caps.

All indices made gains, but only for the S&P was it significant. Even then, the S&P still has trendline resistance to overcome despite the new closing high. Technicals for the S&P are net bullish, and more importantly, the index is a relative leader. Volume could be better, but any gain from here will be enough to clear resistance and accelerate gains. 

Last Thursday's gain in the indices had established the groundwork for consolidations, with the Tech and Large Caps best positioned to gain.  The Russell 2000 may have already run into trouble with its consolidation as today's loss came off its 50-day MA on higher volume distribution. Technicals are mostly bearish, although On-Balance-Volume remains on a 'buy' trigger despite today's distribution.