The XJO is expected to edge higher on open this morning following a flat night in the U.S. Their futures have edged into the green this morning.

As expected, markets have continued trading in a way where we see one or two sessions of volatility, followed by rather lackluster sessions of sideward movement.

This ultimately makes markets hard to trade and predict, however we must assume the trend will continue to push markets higher.

We continue to hold the trend line. Our open this morning should have us test iterum resistance at roughly 7,750.

We have U.S retail sales tonight. In recent history, this type of news would have been more important, but at the moment, the U.S has continued to move higher regardless of the numbers.

US Markets

US shares closed mostly lower overnight, with the SP500 and NASDAQ finishing lower, while the DOW JONES finished higher. There was a lack of major economic data overnight, and instead prices fluctuated around the recent peaks. Tonight we will see US retail sales and producer prices, which will be influential in feeding into the inflation and interest rate narrative. The main event will be next week however, with the US Federal Reserve meeting for March. Though the Fed is unlikely to move interest rates at this meeting, traders and investors will be looking for clues around the potential for rate cuts this year.

Seven of the eleven sector groups of the SP500 closed higher overnight, with Energy the strongest performer, followed by Materials stocks. Technology stocks saw the most selling, followed by Real Estate stocks.

Technically, the SP500 is stalling out around the all-time high resistance level at approximately 5,170. This level would have to break before further gains look likely. Overall the index remains on an uptrend and between the uptrend line and this resistance level, it is in the point of an ascending triangle. We will need to see which way this triangle breaks.

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