The underlying tone of the market remains bullish, as do the technical indicators.  Having said that, it's certainly been a slow rise.  Despite having made a new, marginal 5-year high on Wednesday, $SPX is essentially at the same price it was on March 16th -- three weeks ago. There is now short-term support at 1305 on $SPX -- with more major support at 1290-1295.  When we say the "tone" of the market is bullish, we mean that 1) it has ignored several potentially bearish negative intraday reversals (the latest of which came last Monday), and 2) it has continued to rise, even after the quarter-end gyrations were finished.

The equity-only put-call ratios remain on buy signals, as shown in Figures 2 and 3.  The buy signals -- which were generated about two weeks ago -- came at fairly high levels on the charts.  That is good, in that they arose from oversold conditions.

Market breadth (advances minus declines) has struggled for nearly all of this year.  Breadth is just not one of the leading indicators right now.

Finally, volatility indices ($VIX and $VXO) have remained at very low levels, and that is conducive to the bullish case. $VIX did rise some on Thursday, but that's just because there is fear that Friday's employment numbers might produce some volatility in the stock market.

The sum of all these bullish indicators should be able to propel this market higher during the rest of April -- the last half of which is a traditional bullish seasonal period.  We are looking for $SPX to rise to the 1320-1325 area, at least.  After that, though, the "sell in May and go away" axiom takes hold, and the market might run into trouble.  But as long as $SPX holds above 1290, the bulls are in charge.

Lawrence G. McMillan is the author of two best selling books on options, including Options as a Strategic Investment, recognized as essential resources for any serious option trader's library.  Sign up today and take an extra 10% off tuition for Larry's 2-Day Intensive Options Seminar on May 20 & 21 in Houston.