Pre-market update (updated 9am eastern):

• European markets are trading 0.6% higher.
• Asian markets traded 1.0% higher. 
• US futures are trading slightly higher ahead of the bell. 

Economic reports due out (all times are eastern): NFIB Small Business Optimism Index (7:30am), ICSC-Goldman Store Sales (7:45am), Redbook (8:55am), Treasury Budget (2pm), State of the Union Address (tonight)

Technical Outlook (SPX):

• The market’s tight range of consolidation, intraday, continued on Friday by trading in less than a 2.5 point range on the SPX. 
• No damage done to the charts, but volume continues to be extremely light across the board. 
• Ideally, the bulls need to push price through to new highs in order to create the follow through that is necessary to maintain the uptrend. 
• 1495 remains as the necessary price level bears need to drive price below in order to get momentum on their side. 
• State of the Union address by President Obama tonight, could be a market mover for tomorrow. 
• At this point, even though it seems completely irrational, the trade is to the long-side until proven otherwise. 
• Market has creeped back into short-term overbought. On mid-to-long-term indicators, we have remained overbought for months now.
• There’s not much in the way overhead of the market not hitting all-time highs from a technical analysis standpoint. 
• A pullback to the 1450-70’s seems possible once in fact the market does determine it is time to pullback. 
• On the 30min chart of SPX, we have a slight breakout. 
• The gappiness in both directions at the top of a major trend is not a healthy sign for the market. 
• VIX is slightly below 13. 
• Worries about European economies starting to re-emerge. 
• The channel that we are currently trading in looks very similar to the channel that we traded in last year from June through September. 

My Opinions & Trades:

• Closed out GNTX yesterday at $19.34 for a -1.8% loss. 
• No new trades added.   
• Remain Long DVA at $116.72, WOOF at $22.12, POL at $23.16..
• Will likely add 1-2  new positions to the portfolio today. 
• Here is my real-time swing-trading portfolio and past-performance

Chart for SPX: