Good morning! The indices put in another fairly narrow range day on Tuesday, holding up very well throughout the day. The morning began with a bit of an upside gap, confirming the lack of strong sell patterns going into the day. Since the gap was right into the closure of the prior morning's gap, however, that resistance served to hold for the first 15 minutes or so of the day as the SP500 pulled into its 15 minute 20 sma support and the Dow Jones Ind. Ave. into its 5 minute 200 sma support.

The market turned back over intraday as the SP500 formed a small 2B setup going into 10:00 ET and it continued with a 2 minute cup with handle into 10:15 ET in the NASDAQ. The breakout took the SP500 into prior highs from Friday while the Dow retested morning highs. The NASDAQ showed the best relative strength and made significantly higher highs before the Dow hit its resistance and the market pivoted. The pace on the pivot off highs assured the market of a trading range going into lunch and the SP500 and Dow pulled all the way back to intraday lows.

The price support hit around 11:15 ET and, since the pace was on the strong side overall, the market only managed to move back into its 5 minute 20 sma before the range tightened into the early afternoon. As the 13:00 ET reversal period hit the NASDAQ broke higher on a 5 minute cup with handle while the low basing SP also pulled back up into opening highs. As these price levels hit, the market stalled once more. The NASDAQ had managed a barely higher high, creating a reversal pattern on the 15 minute charts going back into the 15 minute 20 sma support, but overall the pace was gradual and the indices held up well coming out of the 14:00 ET reversal period. The SP500 and Dow even managed to create some small continuation patterns out of the 15:00 ET reversal period before hitting the strong resistance on the 15 minute charts again from Friday.

The market still doesn't have much for setups intraday for shorting action. The NASDAQ is acting comparable to late May/early June on the daily charts. This time it will be more susceptible to earnings, however, and at this point the market is down rather well after-hours coming out of Monday's post-market releases.

VAR is the main stock that stood out in my scanning for potential as a swingtrade buy. For the most part stocks that caught my eye were not quite basing long enough or were already on the move from last week, so it does not appear to be an ideal time to enter a lot of new swingtrades.

Economic Reports and Events
July 20: -
July 21: Initial Claims 07/16 (8:30 am), Leading Indicators for Jun (10:00 am), Philadelphia Fed for July (12:00 am), FOMC Minutes (2:00 pm)
July 22: -
July 25: Existing Home Sales for Jun (10:00 am)
July 26: Consumer Confidence for July (10:00 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 stocks' earnings dates before holding a position overnight. (A) = Earnings after the close, (B) = Earnings before the open, (?) = Earnings time not specified at the time of this writing
July 20: ACXM (A), EYE (B), ALGN (B), ADS (?), MO (B), ABK (B), DOX (?), AMR (B), T (A), COF (A), CIT (B), CMA (B), CAL (?), DCN (?), ET (A), EK (?), EBAY (A), FFIV (A), GD (B), GM (08:00 am ET), GNTX (?), GDW (B), HON (B), HMT (B), HBAN (B), RX (B), JPM (B), LRCX (?), MACR (A), NYB (B), NTRS (?), OI (A), PMTC (B), PFE (B), PLCM (A), QLGC (A), QCOM (?), RDN (a), RYL (A), STJ (B), SVU (B), SNV (?), TASR (B), TCB (?), ALL (A), BK (B), TSCO (?), UIS (B), UTX (B), VRSN (4:15 pm ET), WHI (?), WM (A), WYE (07:00 am ET), ZHNE (A)
July 21: AFFX (?), AWA (?), ABC (B), AH (A), BAX (B), BRCM (A), CAT (B), CLS (a), CX (B), CPWR (A), CAM (B), CY (B), DHI (B), DHR (B), DAL (?), DOV (A), DJ (B), LLY (B), EMC (B), ENDP (B), FISV (A), FLIR (B), FDRY (A), GNSS (A), GOOG (?), GDT (?), HLIT (A), HTCH (A), HYSL (A), ITW (B), INFA (A), IR (B), IGT (B), ISIL (A), XXIA (a), JBLU (B), JCI (B), LVLT (?), MCD (B), MEDI (?), MRK (B), MSFT (A), NXTL (B), NOK (?), NCX (B), NUE (?), ODP (B), PKTR (A), PMCS (?), PVN (A), RBK (B), RHI (A), ROH (B), RSAS (A), SNDK (?), SAP (B), SBC (08:00 am ET), SGP (B), SFA (A), SHW (B), SIMG (B), SWKS (A), SLM (B), SDS (A), SY (B), ERICY (01:30 am ET), TPX 8A), TXT (B), KO (B), NYT (B), TMA (A), TQNT (?), UCBH (?), UNP (?), UPS (B), VIGN (07:30 am ET), VTSS (A), WY (B), WHR (06:00 am ET), XLNX (?), ZION (A)
July 22: BDX (B), CMI (B), EXC (B), FO (B), FPL (B), HAL (B), KMB (?), MYG (B), OXY (?), SLB (B), SLAB (B)
July 25: ACE (A), ALTR (4:15 pm ET), APCC (A), ACI (B), ASH (B), AV (A), AVP (?), BLS (08:00 am ET), CD (A), CNET (A), DST (A), ECL (B), LNCR (?), MVK (A), NFLX (A), OMM (A), ONNN (A), PBI (4:00 pm ET), PCL (?), PLAY (A), DGX (B), SII (B), TXN (A), TRI (B), VRSO (A), XRX (B), AFL (A), AGR (?), AAI (B), AKS (B), AKAM (A), AW (A), AMZN (A), ATML (A), ADP (B), BIIB (A), BSTE (A), BJS (B), BDK (B), BYD (?), BP (02:00 am ET), BNI (B), CTX (A), CME (B), CB (A), CTXS (A), GLW (A), CFC (?), DD (B), ELNK (B), ERTS (A), ESV (?), FLEX (A), HMA (B), IMCL (?), N (B), INSP (a), ISSI (?), IP (B), LLL (B), LAB (B), LCAV (B), LXK (B), LLTC (?), LMT (B), MHS (B), MCHP (A), NWAC (B), PKI (A), PNM 8A), PPP (?), RFMD (A), SWY (?), SANM (A), SEBL (A), SGTL (A), SSTI (A), SSCC (B), SO (B), SWN (A), HOT (B), STM (A), STK (?), SUNW (?), TMX (A), MHP (B), TMO (A), TDW (B), TSM (08:00 am ET), X (?), VLO (?), WOOF (A), VZ (B), WAT (B), ZRAN (?)

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.