If you missed the morning opportunity or were waiting for confirmation, well the S&P delivered with a solid breakout, albeit on modest volume.  Today's breakout came with a MACD trigger 'buy' and On-Balance-Volume 'buy' signal, leaving technicals net bullish.

Things are picking up for bulls.  The Nasdaq added a solid white candlestick to make the current move look more like the breakout that started (and stalled a little) last week.  Add to that, Wednesday's buying came with confirmed accumulation.  Technicals are net positive, so it's good news all around for the index. 

No great change on the day.  Buyers maintained control of markets, banking small gains on low volume.  The longer this continues, the better the chances we will see an acceleration to the upside.  The Nasdaq has been slow and steady.  Technicals are net positive with a return to the 'buy' trigger in On-Balance-Volume.  The index is holding on to its outperformance against the S&P and closed at a new high - reversing all of Friday's losses.

The Nasdaq went into the weekend with a breakout, and despite Friday losses it managed to cling on to breakout support.  There was good buying volume on the breakout, and Friday's selling volume was well down on previous buying - confirming the move.  The let down was the lack of price follow through.  Technicals are in good shape, particularly stochastics amd relative index performance. The only disappointment was the relatively lacklustre MACD, which has flatlined a little. 

Hardly inspiring, but a price breakout it was.  The Nasdaq edged itself above resistance, but it will need to do more to confirm.  There was a MACD trigger 'buy' to go with generally improved technicals - although On-Balance-Volume remains bearish. Today's candlestick was not exactly blowing it out of the water, but it did qualify as a breakout

The setup is done, there is only one thing left for the Nasdaq to do, and that's breakout.  We haven't yet got the MACD 'buy' trigger, this will come on the push above 12,250. On-Balance-Volume improved on today's action but hasn't yet switched to a 'buy'.  Other technicals are good.  We were in a similar position this time last week, before markets drifted back.  It's hard to see this happening again, but tomorrow will ultimately decide.

The sense of deja vu strikes once more as we consider yet another attempt at a resistance breakout for the Nasdaq, and potentially the S&P too. The Nasdaq shows solid price action in preperation for a breakout, but the technical picture is a little more muddled.  Momentum (by Stochastics) - the strongest of the indicators here - is firmly bullish. The MACD is flattening a little, but is well above the bullish zero line and on the verge of a new 'buy' trigger.  Not surprisingly, the trend metric, ADX, has flatlined.  However, On-Balance-Volume is drifting lower after a series of distribution days and this opens the door for a potential 'bull trap' *if* there is a breakout.