SP500 Is On The Edge – What's Next?

Stock market investors are feeling more optimistic now that a deal to temporarily extend the debt ceiling has officially been inked. The deal moves the debt ceiling deadline to December 3, which is also when the recently passed government funding bill runs out.

It’s likely that legislation to fund President Biden’s $4 trillion worth of infrastructure and other spending plans will be moving through Congress around the same time. Those bills are expected to include tax increases for businesses and on capital gains. All of that combined could set markets up for a rocky December but for now, investors are turning attention back to economic data and upcoming earnings.

What to watch next week?

Turning to next week, Q3 earnings “unofficially” kick off Wednesday with earnings from big Wall Street banks, including Bank of America, Goldman Sacks, JP Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo. Other earnings worth noting next week include Fastenal on Tuesday; BlackRock, Delta, and The Progressive Corp. on Wednesday; Alcoa, Citigroup, Dominos Pizza, Morgan Stanley, United Health Group, U.S. Bancorp, and Walgreens on Thursday; and J.B. Hunt, PNC Financial, and Prologis on Friday.

In economic data next week, it’s a packed calendar that will cover all the economic bases from jobs to inflation. Highlights include the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey on Tuesday; the Consumer Price Index on Wednesday; the Producer Price Index on Thursday; and Retail Sales, Empire State Manufacturing, Import/Export Prices; Business Inventories, and the preliminary read on October Consumer Sentiment.

Technical analysis

As we expected SP500 bounced back up last week. The market is reaching a critical point – MA50 retest. There is strong accumulation in this market, while the price holds under daily MA50. In these mixed conditions, its better to stay on the sidelines till the market finds a new direction. 

If accumulation remains and the price starts building the base above daily MA50, the market will attempt to renew an uptrend. On the other hand, if futures lose accumulation and price gets rejected at MA50, SP500 might continue to drift to the downside. The cycles forecast bottom in October. But we need a price action confirmation.