Pre-market update (updated 9am eastern):

• European markets are trading 0.6% higher.
• Asian markets traded 0.9% higher.
• US futures are trading slightly higher ahead of the opening bell.

Economic reports due out (all times are eastern): Chicago Fed National Activity Index (8:30am), Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey (10:30am)

Technical Outlook (SPX):

• A nice rebound from the previous day’s selling, which looks to continue into today. 
• Consolidation continues to be the theme on the daily. We need to see either a break to the upside of 1563, or a break to the downside of 1538 to determine the market’s next move. 
• Recent consolidation has also helped with the market’s overbought readings by pulling off of them some. 
• Volume continues to remain steady over the past week and a half of trading. 
• Dead-cat bounces, like some may determine Friday to be, have really been non-existent of late. Once they bounce, they just keep going higher, no true reversals that takes us lower than the previous lows reached. 
• We have seen the volume flow in much stronger on the sell-offs then on the days when the market rallies.
• VIX is hovering in the 13’s. 
• I don’t recommend using market bounces as an opportunity to reload your short positions at this time. 
• Ideally, we are still in need of a more sustained pullback to 1500-1510 level simply for the reason, that it would once again bring stocks back to a place with more ideal setups and opportunities for trading. 
• Also the amount of margin being used to buy stocks are at levels that historically have led to notable reversals in the market. 
• Both channels (July October 2012) and the price channel we are currently in are very similar in nature. 
• We haven’t seen a market pullback in excess of 4% since October/November time-frame. 

My Opinions & Trades:

• No new positions added on Friday. 
• Remain Long SLV at $27.97, SRPT at $33.07, HOV at $6.19, GG at $33.55
• Remaining patient at these elevated price levels – not going to force position that aren’t there. 
• Here is my real-time swing-trading portfolio and past-performance

Chart for SPX: