On The Fly: Weekly technical notes for S&P 500

For the week, the S&P 500 (SPX) looks to be finishing on the upside. It was not, however, a standout performer and underperformed small caps in spite of very strong fund inflows. The confluence of earnings flow helped push the index up, but left it short of the life high record at the 2400 area. Instead of a bullish breakout, the existing range of 2340 at the low and 2380 at the high is becoming more entrenched. Apple's (AAPL) earnings next week, given the heavy-weighting in the index, will be the determinant of whether there is a breakout or breakdown from current levels. For the bulls, pushing past 2400 becomes more imperative as earnings season begins to wind down, which means good reports and outlooks are a requirement. For the week the sectors that performed best were in descending order Basic Materials (XLB), Technology (XLK), Consumer Cyclicals (XLY), the Industrials (XLI), Health Care (XLV), and the Financials (XLF). Telecommunications Services was exceptionally weak. Energy (XLE) and Consumer Staples (XLP) were flat to down. Without all sectors firing higher, getting a stronger move in the index that is sustainable will prove difficult.