Last week, the market remained under pressure as the more hawkish than expected FOMC dot plot was still fresh in everyone's mind. The economic data continues to support the soft-landing narrative with Jobless Claims showing a solid labour market and Core PCE trending downwards. The last day of the week, we got a small bounce across the board as the market took a breather after the heavy selloff after the FOMC meeting. We will see if it was just a pullback or the start of a new rally.
Russell 2000 Technical Analysis – Daily Timeframe
On the daily chart, we can see that the Russell 2000 bounced around the 1760 level and pulled back into the key support turned resistance. This might turn in a classic “break and retest” pattern with another selloff taking the price into the 1720 support zone. We can see that we have some strong confluence here as there’s the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level, the red 21 moving average and the trendline. The bears remain in control for now.
Russell 2000 Technical Analysis – 4 hour Timeframe
On the 4 hour chart, we can see that we have a divergence with the MACD, which is generally a sign of weakening momentum often followed by pullbacks or reversals. In this case, we should get just a pullback as long as the price doesn’t break above the trendline, in which case we would have a reversal and the buyers would regain control.
Russell 2000 Technical Analysis – 1 hour Timeframe
On the 1 hour chart, we can see the rally on the last day of the previous week which got rejected at the minor trendline where we had also the confluence with the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level. The sellers should pile in around here with a defined risk above the trendline to target the 1720 support. The buyers, on the other hand, will want to see the price breaking above the trendline to position for a rally into the next major trendline.
Upcoming Events
This week we have many key economic releases that will culminate in the NFP report on Friday. Today, we will see the latest ISM Manufacturing PMI. Tomorrow, we will have the Job Openings data which led to a strong rally the last time as the big miss was interpreted as a good thing due to less labour market tightness and less hawkish Fed. On Wednesday, it will be the time for the ADP report and the ISM Services PMI. On Thursday, we will see the Jobless Claims data, which continues to show a solid labour market. Finally on Friday, it will be the time for the NFP report which is the only one the Fed will see before its next rate decision.
