S&P 500's Trading Range Persists

Friday's discouraging employment report knocked the market down over -3% for the day and, therefore, the S&P 500's trading range between 1106 and 1041 remains intact.

Historically, after a strong rally (March 2009 to May 2010) and a sharp "Flash Crash" tumble, stocks move sideways for 3 to 6 months before the trading range is resolved, either to the upside or the downside.

See our May 2nd post for my previous analysis of this chart...
http://protect-your-assets.blogspot.com/2010/06/s-500-carving-out-trading-range.html

S&P 500 Carving Out A Trading Range

Chart Courtesy of StockCharts.com

This chart shows the performance of the S&P 500 during the 30 days.

The panic "Flash Crash" low occurred on Thursday, May 6, when the S&P printed a low at 1065.79.

A rally ensued and the market retested the low, trading at a correction low of 1040.78 on May 25, but did close up for the day at 1074.03, which was higher than the May 6 "Flash Crash" low.

Since then the market has moved sideways in a volatile 6% range between 1040 and 1104.

Today's +2.6% rally to 1098 puts us at the upper edge of the range, only 6 points below 1104.

A decisive close below or above this range will decide whether the test of the recent lows has been successful or not.