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

The S&P 500 (SPX) looks set to end flat on the day, but at a fresh new life high weekly close near the 2472 area. The only, barely, established resistance is at the high set this week at 2477.62. As mentioned in other notes here in the past several sessions, it is now the projected top of the price channel at the 2490 area that becomes the next big technical objective before the psychologically important round number of 2500. Support is at the 2460 area. While earnings season is off to a solid start, the sheer flood of names reporting next week makes the next direction anyone's guess. That is the difference between a momentum-driven index environment between earnings seasons, and one that can be brought high or low by the next big name report. Due to an oddity of the calendar the tech name missing for now will be Apple (AAPL), which reports the following week on August 1. For the past week in sectors there is one notable in the top-performers that is worthy of attention. While Technology (XLK) was the standout in spite of IBM (IBM), the Utilities (XLU) came in second. Healthcare (XLV), Consumer Staples (XLP), and Energy (XLE) were the next relative winners. Only the Financials (XLF) were in the red and fractionally at that.