It's holiday season and blog traffic is way down, but while people are away enjoying their vacation those traders left behind have decided to drive a break of resistance in the Russell 2000.  There is no confirmed accumulation, but there was a new 'buy' trigger in the MACD and an outperformance relative to the S&P. 

A bit of a mixed bag on Friday as the Russell 2000 ($IWM) manages to finish the day higher, while both the Nasdaq and S&P close back at the open price, after a day built on promise. The Russell 2000 is the easiest to comment on, but has the longest way to go before we can consider it back to secular bullish form.  Friday's higher close edged back a little on the test of its 20-day MA, although the buying was enough to reverse the 'sell' triggers in On-Balance-Volume and the ADX.  However, at this stage of the base building process, a challenge and break of $188 is needed before we can look at what comes next.

Today's losses for lead indices may have scared some traders, but in reality, this is just a pause in the advance since March. In the case of the S&P and Nasdaq there may be some risk of a double top, but there is plenty of support to work with The Russell 2000 ($IWM) has been the slowest to get going, having only just emerged from a base that ran from March through May.  What today's loss reflects is perhaps action within a new base running between $188 and $179, with added support (and a likely new Golden Cross) at converged 50-day and 200-day MAs.

It has been a positive last couple of weeks for markets.  The S&P and Nasdaq have had it relatively easy with 20-day MAs providing able support.  Friday's gains managed a fresh 'buy' signal for the S&P, returning all of its technicals to a net positive state. Next up is resistance at 4,550.

Currently on vacation, so posting intermittently until after July 4th. Suffice it to say, the S&P and Nasdaq are well on their way to shaping the right-hand side of bases coming off 2021 highs.  There is still a chance these bases can fail, but until I next post, I expect these rallies to continue on weekly timeframes.

It would have been nice to see some volume to go with today's buying, but we don't always get what we want. The Russell 2000 pushed into the early year consolidation, breaking well away from the spring/early summer consolidation that had threatened something alot worse. Technicals for the index are net positive and after a long period of relative underpeformance to the S&P and Nasdaq, it's now the lead index.

After weeks of listless action, the Russell 2000 ($IWM) has suddenly come to life. A second day of strong buying, ranked as accumulation, has offered volume comparable to the selling in March (but now as buying).  Relative performance hasn't fully moved in the Russell 2000s favor, but it's only a day away from outperforming both the strongly performing Nasdaq, and the S&P.  Once it gets to $187s it will start to run into congestion/resistance from the start of the year.