Trading Plan for 4/8

Good Friday, Happy Easter, and Happy Passover… Best wishes to you this weekend!

Pattern points… (Setups and technicals)[pay]
It’s difficult to trend on Fridays, especially on Friday afternoons. That is just as applicable when Thursday is the week’s last trading day. And more so ahead of a holiday, and ahead of a high-profile economic report. Check, check, and check.

Wednesday’s bearish three-day weekend indicator tried to stir the pot with an overnight 14-point plunge to 1384.00. But a lot of buying pressure was expended in completely retracing it through the morning. And a lot of buying pressure was satisfied in fulfilling the retracement’s 1395.50 objective.

There’s more, but closing unchanged around 1393.00 on the day underscores it all. This market is already positioned for the news.

Other than Wednesday’s indicator, the only new bearish price action came 3-5 minutes prior to the Thursday’s cash session close. It was spent ranging at or under 1393.75 whose recovery earlier would have triggered a rally into the close. Instead, buyers spun their wheels there, gaining no traction for their efforts.

This setup’s bearishness seemed to play itself out when futures plunged back toward the afternoon’s 1389.50 low. Regardless, the Employment Situation report’s reaction will be interesting, and informative, but not predictive — not when allowed only 45 minutes to react ahead of 2-1/2 days of illiquidity.

[/pay]What’s Next… (Outlook and opportunities)[pay]
This being a holiday weekend, there is no Saturday Strategy Session.[/pay]

Look for at least one update overnight or ahead of the Morning Market Tour… My thoughts on the day’s econ calendar are linked here.