S&P 500 Set To Move Higher As US Economy Weakens

Last week price action for US stocks was remarkable from the start to the end of the week. On Monday we saw US stocks gapped lower on the threat of tariffs on Mexico by Trump. With each trading day we saw weak or negative economic news being released in the US. Yet what we saw was stocks were no longer moving lower. By the end of the week on Friday we had US Non-farm payrolls released and it was a massive miss, coming in at 75k new jobs instead of 177k estimates, but it didn’t matter. By the end of the day stocks continued to move higher, as it followed the momentum of buying that started from Tuesday. So why successive pieces of negative news & economic data being released did the S&P 500 index form a bullish engulfing pattern on increasing volume? The answer in one word is: FED.
 
Last week Mr Powell held its monthly press conference and the general point of the commentary by Powell was that the FED would do what is required to keep growth going in the US. Which the market interpreted as the FED is about to start cutting rates, with the likely hood of several cuts to come by the end of 2019. The reaction by the market was swift, as we saw the US dollar index roll over and break its uptrend, while Gold shot up this week over $100 an ounce as the market digested another pivot by the FED moving forward. Which is why I realized this week that this lows reached at the beginning of the week was likely to be the lowest prices we will see moving forward for the rest of the year.

Looking at the price action of the weekly chart for the SPX index, you can see that we have confirmed another higher low was formed, as the most recent low close was still above the lows reached back in the first week of March this year. This confirms on a weekly chart that the buyers are still in control of US stocks. The other interesting thing is that volume on the previous two weeks of falling prices was below the average volume for the index. With this week bullish engulfing candle stick pattern was formed on slightly above average volume, which also confirms the bullishness of the move.

This week I would be looking to see if there is follow through for the week in higher prices to close the week, to support the bullish pattern. If there is follow though its possible, we could see a move towards 2,930 resistance level either this week. If we see follow through buying then the likely support on a retracement is 2,873-75 level to look for in coming weeks. If we on the other hand see this move as a failed move, then prices would need to move back towards 2,785 support. However this is unlikely now the FED has given the green light for stocks to move higher regardless of how back the economy is. Well at least for now that is.
 
Lastly on a more of longer term look ahead, given the outlook of the FED and the interesting price action for US stocks, it would not surprise me at all if we see new all-time highs reached in the coming weeks or at the least next few months.

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