Good day! After a week of heavy trading, the market didn't have much to show for it by the end of the week. On Friday the indices had a particularly choppy session, trading in a rather narrow range throughout most of the day, even though all three of the major indices closed lower. In the end, the S&P 500 lost 8.84 points and the Nasdaq Composite fell 10.03 points. The Dow closed lower by 59.72 points. Most of this selling took place into the open and in the first 45 minutes of the day when the momentum heading into Thursday's close increased.

As the 10:15 ET reversal period rolled around, the market began to show some correction to its morning decline, forming a reverse head and shoulders pattern at lows on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite. While the initial pace on the upside was strong, the momentum quickly stalled at the 5 minute 20 sma resistance and slowed enough to allow the 11:00 ET reversal period to hold extremely well as the S&P 500 hit its 15 minute 200 sma resistance. The Dow also ran into some price resistance at the same time and this pushed the market back lower, retracing more than 50% of the intraday rally before finding support around 11:30 ET. The degree of the retracement helped push the indices into the range that would hold throughout the remainder of the day.

The market continued to show some decent reactions to support in the last 4 hours of the day, but only on the smaller time frames and without the offer of anymore more than scalping ops. Instead, the selloffs within the range continued to dominate and led to a descending triangle now forming on the 15 minute charts. Even though the general belief is that most descending triangles will break lower, the slightly lower low in the middle of the day in the S&P and Dow will serve as a con. There are also a number of support levels from the last week or two that will create the greater possibility of a trading range continuing on the S&P and Dow.

The market will remain under the influence of key earnings reports and economic data, in addition to Middle Eastern concerns, throughout the week. The GDP, Fed Beige Book and home sales data are just a few of the upcoming economic reports of interest. In have a rather even number of long versus shorts that I'll be watching on Monday, although a longer base would be better for the market if it's going to attempt another breakdown Monday. I plan on focusing primarily on gaps for daytrades this week since news can easily influence overnight holds at this time.

Economic Reports and Events
July 24:
July 25: Consumer Confidence for July (10:00 am), Existing Home Sales for June (10:00 am)
July 26: Crude Inventories 7/21 (10:30 am), Fed's Beige Book (2:00 pm)
July 27: Durable Orders for June (8:30 am), Initial Claims 7/22 (8:30 am), Help-Wanted Index for June (10:00 am), New Home Sales for June (10:00 am)
July 28: Chain Deflator-Adv. for Q2 (8:30 am), Employment Cost Index for Q2 (8:30 am), GDP-Adv. for Q2 (8:30 am), Mich. Sentiment-Rev. for July (9:50 am)

Earnings Announcements of Interest
Only stocks with an average daily volume of 500K+ are listed. List may not be complete so be sure to always check your stock's earnings date before holding a position overnight.
July 24: ACL, ALTR, AXP, AMLN, ANAD, ABFS, ATHR, AV, BOH, BLS, COG, CTX, CHB, CNET, CONR, CVD, EXP, GRP, HAS, HXL, KFT, LRY, LNCR, MRK, MICC, NFLX, NTRI, PTV, PRE, PBI, PCL, DGX, RCII, RPM, SNDK, SGP, SLAB, TXN, SSP,
July 25: MMM, ACE, AFL, AGR, AKS, ALK, MO, AMZN, ABC, ASN, ARW, ARTG, T, ATML, AUO, AVY, AN, BJS, BYD, BP, BMHC, BNI, CHRW, CP, CNC, CHE, CME, CB, CL, CYMI, DADE, DBD, DGIN, DOV, ECL, ECA, WIRE, ESV, EZPW, FISV, FSH, FLEX, FRK, FTI, FDRY, BGC, GYI, HMA, HOLX, IM, IDTI, ININ, IPS, JEC, JBLU, KIM, LH, LM, LSCC, LCAV, LVLT, LXK, LLTC, LMT, MCD, MDCO, MDG, MUR, OMM, OMC, OXPS, PNRA, PNR, PLT, PPP, PWER, PCP, QLGC, RYN, RBAK, RFMD, RHI, ROH, RDC, SCSS, SIAL, SGTL, SIRF, SII, STMP, STN, STM, SUNW, MHP, SWK, SWTI, STAI, TRMB, TUES, UPS, X, BER, WAB, WDR, WAT, WBSN, WY, WHR, WHR, WLL, WWY, XRX, XTO
July 26: ABY, ACXM, AMG, AEM, APD, AKAM, ATI, ABK, AMX, AHM, AGP, ASCA, AMKR, NUD, APAC, APPB, ARRS, ASH, ASPV, ATMI, AVB, AVX, BIDU, BEAV, BIIB, BSTE, BDK, BOBJ, CDNS, CRS, CBR, CRUS, CLF, CTV, BVN, COP, DVN, CYTC, XRAY, DDR, DO, DRE, ESRX, FILE, FCL, FBN, GDI, GM, GSK, HLIT, HRS, HPC, HES, BLUD, ICE, ISRG, JNY, JLL, KTO, KEM, KMT, KMB, KOMG, LIZ, LSS, LPX, LSI, LU, MTW, MSO, MTSN, WFR, MTH, MCRL, MIL, MNST, MYL, NABI, NETL, NYB, NSC, NVTL, ORLY, OI, PFCB, PD, PLXS, PX, PSYS, PHM, STR, RADS, RAI, ROK, COL, RES, SFNT, SCUR, SIMG, SMDI, SKX, SMSI, SSCC, SNA, SNWL, STTS, SVU, SYMC, TASR, TMX, TIN, BA, FAF, TBL, TMO, TSCO, TRID, TQNT, TTMI, UARM, UNT, VAR, WOOF, VRTX, WEBX, WLP, XL, ZBRA, ZMH
July 27: ARDI, AET, AAI, ALA, AYE, AEP, AMMD, APCC, APC, ANDW, AU, APA, AN, BLL, BZH, BBI, BWA, BSX, BOW, BMY, BC, BG, CCJ, CLDN, CRA, CELG, CENX, CTL, CF, CHK, CCE, CNXT, CNX, CVG, CAM, CMI, DCX, DLX, DENN, DRH, DTE, EMN, ECIL, EQ, EQT, XOM, FORM, FO, BEN, FBR, GMT, GNSS, GNW, GGC, GR, HAE, HC, HET, HIG, HW, HP, HSIC, IKN, HDE, ICO, ISE, SFI, ESI, JNS, K, KLAC, KLIC, LLL, LIFC, LPNT, LYO, MEE, MBI, MFE, MCK, MSCC, MLNM, MHK, MRH, MPS, NOV, NWL, NFX, NEM, NIHD, NOC, ODFL, OLN, OCR, ONNN, OSI, PMTI, PNP, PENN, PKI, PLUG, POT, PDS, PLD, RACK, RRC, RJF, RACK, RNWK, ROP, RCL, R, STD, SI, SWIR, SIVB, SOHU, SNE, SO, SPF, HOT, SPN, TLM, TNE, TLAB, TEN, TEX, DOW, THQI, TDW, UCBH, LCC, UST, VSEA, WHQ, GRA, WEBM, WDC, WITS, XMSR, YRCW
July 28: ALE, AXL, ANDE, ATW, BHI, BDX, BLC, CVX, CEG, CVH, FPL, GPN, IR, ITT, LEA, HCR, ODP, OS, OSTK, SCG, SRP, SSD, TE, WMI
Note: All economic numbers and earnings reports are in lines with those compiled by Yahoo Finance. Occasionally changes will occur that are made after the posting of this column.

Toni Hansen is President and Co-founder of the Bastiat Group, Inc., and runs the popular Trading From Main Street. She can be reached at Toni@tradingfrommainstreet.com.