Technical Analysis: Resistance Holds

The S&P (first chart below) got turned back at 1164 resistance again today, a level that the bulls will have to take out to extend this rally. The volatile nature of the rally — big up days followed by big down days — is not a promising pattern and suggests a correction in a downtrend. The S&P ended the day right on a short-term uptrend line; any move down tomorrow could bring 1135-1140 back into play. The Nasdaq (second chart) failed to break its steepest downtrend line today, and then broke a short-term uptrend on the way back down. The index has support at 1915-1920 and 1904, and resistance is 1940-1945. The Dow (third chart) has support at 10,130-10,140, and below that 10,000 may come back into play. Resistance is 10,220-10,263.