As noted in the recent tweet, we had a strong downside momentum day on Monday, with Demand closing at 15 and Supply at 214. The general pattern following such downside momentum days is a bounce one day later followed by subsequent weakness, although this pattern is affected by larger-term market regimes.

Given the significant expansion in the number of stocks registering fresh 20-day lows, I went back to October, 2002 (when I first began archiving the 20-day high/low data) and examined what happens in the S&P 500 Index (SPY) after 20-day new lows make a 20-day new high. The next day, SPY averages a gain of .18% (91 occasions up, 59 down), versus no change for the rest of the sample (818 up, 712 down). Five days after a surge in 20-day lows, SPY averages a gain of .47% (88 up, 62 down), versus .02% for the remainder of the sample (836 up, 694 down).

It’s thus not unusual to get a bounce following significant market weakness. I will be watching to see how we trade relative to yesterday’s pivot level, as well as the usual sentiment gauges of NYSE TICK and volume transacted at bid/offer, to gauge the likelihood of sustaining a bounce on the day today. Alternatively, inability to sustain buying sentiment below the pivot would sustain the downtrend.

10:17 AM CT – I added the above chart of the NYSE TICK with a green 20-minute moving average to show how sentiment has weakened during the trading day, with more stocks transacting on downticks than upticks. Noticing that shift was key to anticipating the move below the overnight low. Should we continue with bearish sentiment, the next target would be S1. The fact that it’s taken us a while to even approach S1 suggests to me, however, that we could see more of a range environment, trading back into the overnight range, in advance of the Fed announcement and Wednesday’s numbers. I’m watching TICK closely to handicap that scenario (but not become wedded to it!)

Last week’s indicator review found that “As long as new lows exceed new highs, we have to look at this as a potential trend shift that could take us well into May’s trading range.” We did, indeed, see those new 20-day lows continue to outpace new highs, taking us briefly below 900 in the S&P 500 Index before bouncing higher late in the week.

The bullish momentum that we saw sustained from the March lows (top chart) has been lost, a situation that commonly occurs during topping processes. New 65-day highs, which peaked early in June, have steadily declined since then and now stand barely higher than new lows (middle chart). Meanwhile, the advance-decline line specific to S&P 500 stocks–a great feature from the Decision Point service–actually broke May lows last week before bouncing.

With a majority of S&P 500 sectors retreating from their bullish trending status, we now stand in a broad trading range between May’s lows and June’s highs. At this juncture, given the relative strength of NYSE Cumulative TICK and intermediate-term new highs/lows, I see this more as a correction within a bull market move than as the start of a fresh bear market. A move below May lows, particularly accompanied by new 65-day lows exceeding new highs, would lead me to re-evaluate that stance.

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Here’s how we look (bottom chart) in the S&P 500 e-mini (ES) contract going into the 7:30 AM CT jobless claim numbers. Note the resistance between 912 and 914, as we continue in a short-term downtrend mode. If the 7:30 AM number cannot move us above that resistance level, I’ll be looking for a test of Wednesday’s lows below 900. Note that we’ll have a few opportunities to move this morning, with Treasury Secretary Geithner talking at 8:30 AM CT and Leading Economic Indicators and Philadelphia Fed reports at 9 AM CT.

I find it worth tracking interest rates and the dollar in response to these releases and events and correlating those moves to stocks to pick up on emerging and continuing intermarket themes. In general, if the numbers cannot move us out of a value range that was established up to that point, I assume that the trend that has been in place will remain intact. Once again, I’ll be tracking all of this intraday via Twitter (follow the tweets here).

8:15 AM CT – Update: We traded higher on the jobless claim numbers, but have stayed firmly within the overnight range. Note in the middle Market Delta chart that we’re now trading above the day’s volume-weighted average price (VWAP; red line), as the dollar has weakened versus the euro and 10-year rates have bumped higher. I’ll be watching to see how we trade around VWAP to handicap the odds of taking out Wednesday’s lows in early morning trade vs stay within the overnight range trade.

10:24 AM CT – I’ve added a fresh Market Delta chart (top) to show how we’ve been accepting value above the VWAP (red line) and around the 914/915 ES resistance. This raises the odds that, rather than trap bulls, we’ll flush out bears by taking the market above that resistance. I’m watching TICK and intermarket themes (weak dollar, strong 10-year rates) to see if that scenario unfolds.
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Interestingly, though we’ve moved back into May’s trading range in the S&P e-mini (ES) contract (pink line above), the Cumulative NYSE TICK has stayed well above May levels. Continued strength in Cumulative TICK would suggest to me that we’re experiencing a correction in a bull market, not the start of a renewed bear.
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