No Bearish Signs In The Charts

 | Feb 18, 2016 01:07AM ET

The Hoot
Actionable ideas for the busy trader delivered daily right up front

  • Thursday higher.
  • ES pivot 1910.75. Holding above is bullish.
  • Friday bias uncertain technically.
  • Monthly outlook: bias higher.
  • YM futures trader:sold ES position at 16,450. .

After a big two-day run I was worried that the market might not be able to make it three in a row. Turns out there was nothing to be afraid of as Mr. Market just kept right on partying like it was 2003, or 1999, or one of those years. That makes the first time this year we've managed three in a row higher and establishes a new rising RTC.

The technicals

The Dow: The Dow rang the gong on Wednesday with another tall green marubozu that was stopped only by its upper BB. The indicators all continue to march higher towards overbought but are not there yet. The only note of caution here is that we're now right at resistance from last months' highs. Can the Dow push past that? Give that we're a lot less overbought now than then, it wouldn't surprise me. I will add briefly that the Dow daily chart now looks to have put in a nice double bottom.

The VIX: Meanwhile, the VIX continued in as steep a descending RTC as I've ever seen (Pearson (L:PSON)'s = 0.999) with its third gap-down day in a row, this one good for another 7.476% lower. And that still only leaves the indicators halfway between overbought and oversold so there are no bullish signs at all on this chart tonight.

Market index futures: Tonight, all three futures are higher at 12:16 AM EST with ES up 0.26%. ES had another stellar day on Wednesday climbing back up to 1922.75 in a tall green near-marubozu to make it three up in a row for the first time since last December. That leaves it just short of January resistance at 1931 with indicators that have now gone overbought. But the new overnight just continues motoring higher so with the upper BB now at 1945.52, it's not out of the question that we test that level or near it on Thursday.

ES daily pivot: Tonight the ES daily pivot rises again from 1882.17 to 1910.75. Once again, ES remains above its new pivot so this indicator continues bullish.

Dollar Index: Last night I said we should "[l]ook for a retest of the 200 MA on Wednesday." And that's just what the dollar did, trading right up to that level before falling back. The result was an inverted hammer and a bearish dark cloud cover. Though indicators are only recently off oversold, this chart now looks more bearish than bullish, despite a recent descending RTC exit. Check it out: