NASDAQ futures are coming into Thursday with a slight gap down after an overnight session featuring normal range and volume. Price briefly traded above the Wednesday high during the globex session before settling into balance. At 8:30am initial/continuing jobless claims data came out better-than-expected.
Also on the economic agenda today we have manufacturing/service/composite PMI at 9:45am, new home sales at 10am, and a 5-year TIPS auction at 1pm.
Starting today the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank will host its 2018 Annual Economic Symposium on the topic of “Changing Market Structure and Implications for Monetary Policy,” in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Fed Chair Jerome Powell will speak on Friday, the second day of the three-day event, and other central bankers from around the globe are also expected to participate. The schedule of speakers and list of participants will be released on Thursday at 8 p.m. New York time.
Yesterday we printed a normal variation up. The day began gap down and an opening auction quickly resolved the overnight gap. Then initiative buyers stepped in and drove price higher. They made an additional push higher near end-of-day but were unable to take out Tuesday’s high.
Heading into today my primary expectation is for buyers to work into the overnight inventory, closing the gap up to 7432 and continuing up through overnight high 7444.75 setting up a move to target the open gap at 7458.25. Look for sellers up at 7461 and two way trade to ensue.
Hypo 2 stronger buyers trade us up to 7465 before two way trade ensues.
Hypo 3 sellers work down through overnight low 7416.25 setting up a move to target 7400. Look for buyers down at 7379.75 and two way trade to ensue.
Levels:
Volume profiles, gaps, and measured moves:
