Post-open Review… Only noise in the range?

Overnight range fails early attempt to extend gap up.

Gapping up sharply last night only ranged sideways into today’s open. Essentially defined by 2656.00-2662.00, the 2660.00 open soon pierced a fresh high above 2665.00. The fresh high was largely maintained through the opening 15 minutes of volatility to form an anchor. If not extending higher, a pullback would be likely to recover.

That’s being put to the test now. Reacting down fell more than 4 points in only several minutes, reflecting impatient sellers. Only 38.2% of the first reaction down was retraced before probing lower, also reflecting impatient sellers that prevented retracing a more constructive 61.8% first.

Extending down to test 2658.00 is now reacting up. A buy signal at 2661.25 is being tested. Gaining traction would target 2667.25. Otherwise, back under 2658.00 would start to signal a deeper decline underway.

Meanwhile, there’s no “unfinished business above.” This morning’s renewed bias-up environment has met its next targets. The opening print was above all prior highs, but it has now been tested from below — the dip to 2658.00 touched Wednesday’s prior high as support before bouncing back to the open — which neutralizes its attraction above.

Also meanwhile, NDX is plunging into negative territory, continuing the underperformance we discussed during this weekend’s Saturday Review. More so, the Dow continues outperforming by extending to fresh highs while the SPX control group remains range bound. Speculative fervor is cooling. Leaving only the open’s anchor, which doesn’t necessarily have an immediate effect, to recover a drop if the anchor hasn’t been retested already.