It was a real non-event for the S&P and Nasdaq, so it was left to the Russell 2000 to take up the slack. The Russell 2000 ($IWM) posted a solid gain to keep the momentum going from its successful 50-day MA test. If there was a concern it was that buying volume was a little disappointing, although today's trading registered as accumulation, continuing a trend of weakening volume since the initial sell off spike. Technicals for the Russell 2000 are also net bearish, despite today's gain.

A bit of a non-event for the S&P and Nasdaq as both indices closed with tight doji near their highs. There isn't a whole lot more to add for these indices.

I got burned badly on my day trade expectations for Friday, but it was another solid end-of-week for market bulls. For the S&P, this meant further gains in relative performance over the Russell 2000 ($IWM) on overbought stochastics. The Nasdaq took a slightly longer route to banking its weekly gain, experiencing a weekly intraday spike low. The Nasdaq is outperforming the S&P (outperforming the Russell 2000) and like the S&P it enjoys solid technical strength. I had expected more from the Russell 2000 ($IWM) but it spent another week experiencing further indecisiveness, closing with a "spinning top". However, the end-of-week finish is close enough to $195 support to consider support as holding. Technicals are a little more mixed with On-Balance-Volume switching to a 'sell' trigger as the index underperforms relative to peer indices. As a final note, one index performing well is the Semiconductor Index. It has defended its 20-day MA wi...

It was a good finish for the Russell 2000 ($IWM) as the index closed the day with a bullish 'hammer' at its 50-day MA. Taken in combination with yesterday's red candlestick makes a bullish harami, a reliable reversal pattern. The appearance of this candlestick when intermediate stochastics [39,1] are at the midline is another bullish marker. The only negative against a possible bullish day tomorrow is the fresh 'sell' trigger in the MACD.

It was a nice trade if you banked it for the Nasdaq 100, although all indices did well. Harder to know what may come next, but a challenge of the January 24th high looks a good prospect for the former index.

My experiment in day trading continues. Having burst out of the gates with some good success I have found myself treading water the last few weeks. Tomorrow offers an opportunity to get out of this rut. There is no significant economic data to move the needle, so action should be more technical in nature. The Nasdaq 100 ($NDX) closed the price gap from January 24th in a successful test of support, but also registered a breakout in On-Balance-Volume accumulation. Momentum is oversold and the MACD is working off an earlier 'buy' signal, although a it's a signal that triggered below the bullish zero line, so it's a "weak" buy. However, collectively, I'm optimistic for a long trade near 17,400 if you can get it with an initial target of 17,600 - although I suspect it will go higher (for a number of days).

Early buying momentum from pre-market through to morning trading had the potential to stamp bulls authority on markets, but by the close we are again looking at bearish 'black' candlesticks for the Nasdaq and S&P, with a bearish 'cloud cover' for the Russell 2000 ($IWM). For the Nasdaq, we are perhaps looking at an opportunity to test breakout support of 15,150 although this process will likely take a 2-3 days of selling to achieve. Tomorrow is a logical place for this selling to start. Technical strength is bullish with little in the way of bearish divergences to indicate pending weakness, so it will be down to pre-market to determine if there will be a gap down.