As we entered the noon hour, the S&P 500 saw yet another squandered opportunity by the bears to inflict some meaningful damage to the powerful upmove off of the late-Nov lows. Instead, the index, analyzed through its round-the-clock emini contract, pierced yesterday's low at 1228.75 by 1.25 points, but failed to follow through on the downside, and then pivoted to the upside with power.

This tells us that on every dip it seems that a "healthy short position" develops, but is quickly covered upon the slightest "lack of downside progress." And so we see that the e-SPH pivoted off of 1227.50 and has spiked about 10 points to the upside so far, which from a pattern perspectiive looks like a corrective sequence ended, and a new upleg has started.

That said, to really get some traction on the upside, the e-SPH must hurdle yest.'s rally peak at 1239.50. Otherwise, the messy sideways range-trade will continue for a while longer.

 

Mike Paulenoff is a 26-year veteran of the financial markets and author of MPTrader.com.