S&P 500 Snapshot: Struggling With Short-Term Resistance

 | Oct 21, 2016 03:08AM ET

US equity markets posted modest losses today, performing worse than most major Asian and European indexes. A 13K rise in weekly jobless claims was no help to the market, and Thursday's plunge in oil was also a contributing factor, with WTIC down 2.30%.

The S&P 500 stuttered at the open and hit its -0.51% intraday low a little over an hour later. Some buy-the-dip action lifted the index to its 0.13% lunch-hour high. it then struggled with the flat-line during the afternoon and closed the day with a 0.14% loss. for the past three sessions the 2144 price level has alternated between support and resistance. We'll see what Friday brings.

The yield on the 10-year note closed at 1.76%, unchanged from the previous close.

Here is a snapshot of past five sessions in the S&P 500.