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S&P 500 index: Double top with Jackson Hole?



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U.S. equity index futures green; Nasdaq 100 up ~0.9%

Fed Chair Powell Jackson Hole speech at 1000 am ET

Euro STOXX 600 index up ~0.2%

Dollar ~flat; gold, bitcoin gain; crude up >1.5%

U.S. 10-Year Treasury yield edges down to ~3.84%

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S&P 500 INDEX: DOUBLE TOP WITH JACKSON HOLE?

On Thursday, the S&P 500 index .SPX came within 0.5% of its July record intraday high, before then backing away. This, ahead of today's highly anticipated speech by Fed Chair Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium, where markets will look for clues on interest-rate cuts.

In any event, the S&P 500's downside reversal, coming from roughly the same level as its intraday peak, raises the specter of a double top:



A double top pattern can signal that a prevailing uptrend is in the process of reversing over the short or longer-term. There are two peaks that occur in succession, that are generally at the same price level.

Indeed, the S&P 500 hit a high of 5,643.22 on Thursday which was just shy of its 5,669.67 July 16 record intraday high. The SPX then ended at 5,570.64.

It's possible that Thursday's failure, essentially at its prior peak, can be attributed to just how formidable this resistance is, while markets faced the uncertainty of Powell's speech. In other words, a "discretion is the better part of valor" response.

On greater weakness, the August 15 gap requires a decline to 5,463.22 for a fill. The rising 20-week moving average (WMA) is now around 5,350, while the rising 40-WMA is now around 5,135.

In the event of a break of the August trough, the pattern's neckline, at 5,119.26, would solidify the double top, and call for a much deeper decline.

On a forthright thrust to new highs, the benchmark index would then face a log-scale resistance line from the 1929 high, which, on a monthly basis, now resides around 6,000.

(Terence Gabriel)

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FOR FRIDAY'S EARLIER LIVE MARKETS POSTS:


WHAT IF THE RESILIENCE OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMY TURNS OUT TO BE FOOL'S GOLD? - CLICK HERE


STRONG EURO COULD ACT AS HEADWIND FOR EUROPE INC - CLICK HERE


THE VOLATILITY SPIKE THAT IS HARD TO FORGET - CLICK HERE


EUROPEAN SHARES INCH UP, SWITZERLAND UNDERPERFORMS - CLICK HERE


EUROPEAN FUTURES HOLD THEIR BREATH BEFORE POWELL - CLICK HERE


BOJ'S UEDA BOLSTERS YEN. UP NEXT, POWELL - CLICK HERE




(Terence Gabriel is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)

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