It was another slow session on Wall Street today: Most of the action came during the first 2 hours of the session. The ISM index came in at 44.8 compared to estimates of 44.9; pending home sales came in at 0.1%, compared to estimates of 0.0%. The market reacted positively to this data.

The S&P 500 closed the day at 923, up 0.44%. I would note that 930 has served as significant short-term resistance for the index; both today’s high and yesterday’s high were in the 930 area.

Today on the Buzz and Banter, Professor Jeff Cooper gave his thoughts:

“Yesterday I buzzed that I would continue to give the benefit of the doubt to the upside on a trading basis as long as S&P 920 holds while below 915 deserves a defensive posture.

“915 was briefly and marginally undercut yesterday but held on a closing basis.

“Now, Tuesday’s outside down day has been offset to the up side suggesting the S&P could extend higher.

“The ‘slingshot’ above yesterday's outside down bar suggests a possible move to the high of the low bar for the move which is 939.

“939 was the low of the high bar from the June 11 swing high for the move off the March low.
Short term, if 930 can hold, the S&P could extend to the low of the June 11 reversal day.”

The market never got above 930 today, but investors with “agendas” may be able to move the market in the direction they want. While Professor Cooper sees upside opportunities in the short term, Professor Brendan Rife is seeing a lot of head-and-shoulder patterns forming.

“There is a certain commercial I can't get out of my head when I see S&P 932 fail, Amazon (AMZN) fail (again) Ralph Lauren (RL) fail (again), Transocean (RIG), Flowserve (FLS), Weatherford (WFT), Schlumberger (SLB), Occidental (OXY,) etc.. with shampoo patterns brewing.

“That commercial is the "Just For Men" hair color, with Keith Hernandez and Walt Frazier saying Reeejection.”

Tomorrow will be an important day: Volume should be light, but traders will also get their fair share of economic data. Before the bell, traders will focus on Non-Farm Payrolls (estimated to drop 365,000), the unemployment rate (estimated at 9.6%), Hourly Earnings (estimated at 0.1%), and Average Workweek (estimated at 33.1 hours), which will be released at 8:30 a.m. At 10 a.m., Factory Orders (estimated at 0.8%) will also be released.

As a final note tonight (and as a former resident of the great state of California), I would pay particularly close attention to the Sunshine State right now. It isn't getting a ton of coverage, but this will soon be the most-talked-about story of the second half of the year. Check out Minyan Peter’s thoughts on the subject.

Have a great night!