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

The S&P 500 (SPX) at time of writing appears on course to slip fractionally on the week against Monday's price. In terms of levels, looking ahead it is the 2446 level that is the first significant resistance. So far the index has failed to hold above that level for long. Doing so convincingly is technically important if the index is going to resume its upward path. On a longer time frame going back to the start of the month, the range of 2420 at the low and 2440 at the high contains the majority of the price action. A breakdown below 2420 at a minimum would be necessary to start turning the trend to bearish from neutral. For the week, sector performance was decidedly mixed. Health Care and Technology were the leaders. Energy, Telecommunications Services, and the Financials were the weakest. Better sector breadth is important in terms of having a healthy advance. So far, daily sector rotation - one better sector at a time per day - has kept the index from breaking down. This could continue to be the pattern barring any unforeseen events heading into earnings season, which begins in two weeks.