Trading Plan for 7/9

[pay]About that close (How the prior session ended)
Thursday finally rallied back to the morning’s high. The afternoon held tests of the 1056.50 area to avoid sellers gaining control. A 10-point surge to 1066.50 eventually extended to probe the morning’s 1067.75 high by 2 ticks. But that came after the cash session close, and it was rejected to also close under the morning’s high.

Pattern points (And technical influences)
Wednesday’s cash session had peaked just short of touching the bear market rally’s 1058.00-1059.00 objective. Thursday morning’s rally was its first test, and it peaked at 1067.75. The high held when its resistance was probed after having dipped to 1058.00-1059.00.

So the afternoon’s buying was only noise. Had the afternoon’s rally stopped short of touching the morning’s high, then buying would not have failed. Had the probe of the morning’s high been broken at the close, buyers would have gained traction. But buyers didn’t gain any traction for their herculean effort.

The rally can extend higher either by resuming without delay Friday, or by limiting any early dip to the 1061.00 area. Having robbed buyers of their traction upon testing 1058.00-1059.00, the path lower should quickly fall back under it.

Bottom line (My underlying premise)
This being a Friday, any initial trending should into the afternoon. A firm open that isn’t rejected immediately could extend higher to the next possible objectives at 1076.00 and 1080.00. Given a good tailwind, a drop could test 1042.00 before the close.[/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.