Today’s Trading Plan: Bulls Need To Keep Pushing

Technical Outlook:

• One of the bigger trading ranges of late yesterday on the S&P 500 (SPX).
• Most significant was the fact that SPX didn’t give up all of its early gains as we have seen in recent days. 
• Support continues to exist at the 10-day and 20-day moving averages and reclaimed the 5-day moving average yesterday. 
• Volume is showing signs of returning with an increase again yesterday for the third straight day. But still below recent averages. 
• Nasdaq (COMPQ) continues to consolidate for a fourth straight day. Needs to push out of this range to re-ignite the bulls. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) had new all time highs yesterday but there is still a double top pattern that is not quite negated yet and can still come into play should weakness creep back in.
• SPX 30 minute chart shows price action creeping out of the recent range. A solid positive for the bulls. 
• For the bears: push price back below 2171, and proceed through 2155. 
• T2108 (% of stocks trading above their 40-day day moving average) continues to diverge with only 68% of stocks above the MA. 
• CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) still finding support in the lower 11’s. and could bounce hard here on any weakness. 
• United States Oil Fund (USO) recovered nicely yesterday and looks to extend the gains into today. This is a must if the bulls are going to sustain this rally. 
• The bulk of the earnings season is behind us. No significant disasters from the big names that reported that negatively impacted the market as a whole. 
• Overall, August is the worst performing month for the Dow and S&P 500. 
• At this point, and with the election ahead, I’d expect the market to keep rallying higher. I don’t expect there to be a rate hike between now and the election. To do so would impact the market and thereby the election. I don’t think the Fed wants that, particularly since Trump has indicated that he would replace Yellen. 

My Trades:

• Added one new swing-trade to the portfolio yesterday. 
• Covered JBLU yesterday at $17.15 yesterday for a 0.3% profit. 
• May add 1-2 new swing-trades to the portfolio today. 
• Will consider hedging the portfolio as well with a short position. 
• Currently 70% Long / 30% Cash
• Join me each day for all my real-time trades and alerts in the SharePlanner Splash Zone

Chart for SPX: