Mid-day Update… Last gasp, or gassed-up.

Post-open dip recovers back above prior highs.

Today’s great conundrum has been the open’s clearly defined position of strength failing to defend its session-long rally setup from being invalidated. Gapping up and trending up through the open doesn’t require extending higher immediately, but its reactions down tend to be brief and fully recovered.

This morning’s reaction down was substantial — 34 points from above 2581.00 to under 2548.00 — and not recovered. Not, yet.

This afternoon’s bias-up triggered late, but its target is being probed. The 25-point bounce from this morning’s low is now testing 2572.50. That’s 5 points above yesterday’s 2567.50 high, whose recovery through the open has been the basis for any bullish scenario today.

At least maintaining the recovery from having probed temporarily back into 2548.00-2555.00 would be bullish, but only for not letting sellers gain more traction. The bear market rally would remain intact, next targeting 2606.00. Closing above yesterday’s high would be optimal, but a lot could be said for having absorbed the intraday dip.

Otherwise, another downleg upon exiting this afternoon’s bias environment could be attracted back down to oversold RSIs at this morning’s low. And as late as it would be, another downleg upon exiting this afternoon’s bias environment would be difficult to find sponsorship for a recovery.