Stocks are facing a rough time to start the new week and we are seeing S&P 500 futures fall lower by 43 points, down 1.1%, on the day currently. This is accompanied by a 1.4% drop in Nasdaq futures and a 0.8% drop in Dow futures as we continue to digest the market mood in European morning trade.
In the case of the S&P 500 index, the retreat in futures sets up yet another rejection at the 4,100 mark despite dip buyers looking for a more bullish breakout last week. The jump above the 200-day moving average (blue line) and key trendline resistance (white line) was extremely encouraging but there's just this one last hurdle to clear.
As mentioned last week here, I'd be more convinced of a further upside break if the S&P 500 can clear 4,100 - so as to break the prevailing pattern of lower highs, lower lows. And it looks like we might not get there until after the major central bank decisions coming up later this week.