The broad stock market has been able to consolidate its strong post-Brexit gains. There was a day and a half of selling this week, but a strong upward reversal by $SPX from 2074 on Wednesday leaves the bulls still in control.However, there is frustration for the bulls, too, because $SPX has not been able to assault the all-time highs. A promising Thursday rally failed at the 2110 level, reinforcing the 2110-2120 area as strong resistance.
Stocks had a violent downside reaction to the Brexit vote in Britain. But while the damage was severe, it was short-lived. Over the past four days, a huge rally has emerged that has nearly wiped out the Brexit losses.
$SPX is now back inside the 2040-2120 trading range that had been containing the markets through April, May, and the first half of June. So, the $SPX chart is in a neutral state once again.
Stocks staged an extremely strong rally yesterday, and S&P futures are up another 15 points in overnight trading. This whipsaw action has left traders and investors alike unsure of what comes next. But the rally improved things greatly from a short-term perspective, and may have had some effect on the intermediate-term as well.
The market remained jittery throughout the week in anticipation of the European "Brexit" vote, and the event didn't disappoint. On the heels of the decision for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, the S&P 500 sold off tremendously Thursday night. Hence, the market is once again teetering on the important support level of $SPX 2040. Although today's price action is indeed a bit scary, from a longer term perspective the bulls remain in control so long as that support level holds.
After a strong upside breakout last week from the triangle formation (blue lines in Figure 1), the market has spent this week in a tight range. There has been an improvement in the indicators in general, but the most important indicator -- the price chart of $SPX -- has not really responded.
A clear breakdown and close below 2090 would be a short- term negative, likely calling for a retest of support at 2060. A breakout over 2115 and then 2135 would be very bullish.
The Standard & Poors Index ($SPX) broke out of the triangle that had formed on its chart (see Figure1), and that breakout was strongly on the upside. The bears had plenty of chances to violate the support at 2040 on a closing basis, but were unable to do so. So now we'll see if the bulls can do better with their chance.
The chart of $SPX (Figure 1) shows a couple of things. First, the Index is in a downtrend. It has declined more than 80 points from the mid-April highs, at 2110. But the other fact that we can see from the chart is that $SPX still hasn't been able to close below 2040.
As a result, the two red lines make a triangle on the chart. Usually, a breakout from a formation like this is strong, but it can come in either direction.
This article was originally published in The Option Strategist Newsletter Volume 19, No. 10-11 on June 3, 2010.
In some of our recent hotlines and daily commentaries, we have referred to the total put-call ratio as something that can be useful when extreme selling occurs. It is not a sophisticated measure (as the equity-only is, for example), because it is merely the total of listed puts traded that day divided by the total of listed calls. This includes all volume on the option exchanges regulated by the SEC – CBOE, AMEX, ISE, BOX, PHLX, NYSE – but not any futures options traded on futures exchanges.
...Equity-only put-call ratios temporized yesterday, moving slightly sideways, but they remain on sell signals as they generally continue to be in an uptrend. An interesting piece of data has arisen on the Total put-call ratio, though: its 21-day moving average is now above 0.90. That is an oversold condition that is a predecessor to what is normally a very strong buy signal. The buy signal will occur if either a) the 21-day MA moves back below 0.90, or b) the 21-day MA makes a peak that lasts for 10 days.
