Stocks continue to struggle here, and one thing holding them back may be sentiment — we haven’t seen much of a spike in options indicators accompanying bouts of selling. Perhaps stocks have more work to do on the downside, but with the Nasdaq leading and pre-holiday trading generally favorable, the bulls could catch a break in the next few days. Also on the plus side, the S&P and Dow (first two charts below) put in higher lows today, but we’re still waiting for buyers to come in. The S&P (first chart below) has some pretty solid support around 1402-1406. To the upside, resistance is 1416-1418, 1420-1423 and 1428-1432. The Dow (second chart) has support at 12,370, 12,337 and 12,280, and resistance is 12,460, 12,480-12,500 and 12,560-12,580. The Nasdaq (third chart) is bounded by 2418-2420 to the downside, and 2455 and 2471 to the upside. Bond yields (fifth chart) have also been stuck in indecision the last couple of days. The intermediate trend remains up until the index can take out 4.6% to the downside.
