Trading Plan for 10/17

If not for Bullard”s bullish comments… then Thursday morning”s bounce could have been the session”s last bounce. It was in the process of being retraced — neigh, rejected — when his taper suspension idea triggered a surge to fresh highs. It also cooled sellers for the day.

Pattern points… (Setups and technicals)
So, how did the market do, with sellers cooled. It did well, for awhile. The upper-end of Wednesday”s range and the lower-end of Tuesday”s range were probed. Tuesday morning”s high was probed like it was Tuesday afternoon. Both were probed Wednesday afternoon. 

But buyers weren”t any warmer than that. Probing prior highs was no more productive Wednesday than Tuesday. They didn”t extend, they didn”t gain traction, and they didn”t prevent the close from dipping. Were Bullard”s comments just a delay of game?

Perhaps the afternoon would have recovered more if not inhibited ahead of GOOGL”s earnings — especially after the reaction to NFLX. That”s irrelevant now that GOOGL is out, and the market hasn”t rallied.

Expending a lot of selling pressure Thursday would have made the bearish WedEX more vulnerable to inverting. Whether supported after Bullard, or inhibited ahead of GOOGL, the market avoided new lows and that avoids a durable bottom The question is for how long.

What”s Next… (Outlook and opportunities)
Buyers didn”t gain traction for their efforts Thursday afternoon, so only maintaining a gap up can rally Friday. Being a Friday, especially expiration, the morning”s bias is likely to persist through the noon hour. And being expiration, the opening 15 minutes might define the day”s trend.